Dell monitor has begun to flicker? 1

[cadenton]

My Dell desktop has worked fairly flawlessly for about 4 years. A few days ago the original 18" LCD Dell monitor has begun to flicker badly. The screen goes black, but the monitor never lose power. It just goes black for about a second or two (it's a "long" one-second flicker; not a split-second flicker). I've restarted several times, with no luck.

The problem seems to usually be intermittently triggered by moving the mouse, clicking the mouse, scrolling the mouse, clicking a Web link, opening a new program or Web page or Tab. In other words, it seems to be brought on by pretty much doing anything related to requesting a change of screen.

Other than this, the computer works fine. All the programs work fine. The Interent connection is good. After the one-to-two-second flicker, the commanded page appears and everhting is fine until I try to do anything again on the screen.

Any ideas as to what might have started causing this -- for no apparent reason?

 

[kjv1611]

1. Have you tried a different monitor to narrow it down to whether it's the monitor or something with your display settings?

2. Do you have any auto-set/auto-correct settings enabled on the monitor?

3. You could try changing the display settings - refresh rate, I'm mainly thinking of, from your display properties, and see if that helps any.

4. Check the Windows System logs to see if any warnings or errors have popped up that could point to anything related.

5. Check the connections - power, dvi or vga connection to PC, make sure all are correct, not loose at all.

6. Did you have any electric surges or anything of that nature that you noticed prior to the effect? A power outage, power flicker? Any fluctuation at all out of the norm..

7. Also, try a LiveCD of Linux or something, to see if you get the same issues with a different OS - that'll help narrow down the cause between hardware and software.

8. Another method to help narrow down the problem - try starting Windows in Safe Mode.

If you do narrow it down to the monitor, you can pick up a pretty nice one for between $100 and $150 on NewEgg.com. For instance, I got a 22 inch Hans G last tax season for $120 or $130 on sale, and it's been a really nice monitor, although someone has already put a nick in it at home.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[cadenton]

I swapped monitors -- and the same problem occurred. Is it possible that the problem is a failed graphics card?

 

[kjv1611]

Sure it could be a problem with the graphics card. It could also be a settings issue. Do you get the same problem in Safe Mode? Also, have you tried booting a LiveCD of a Linux distro as another alternative to narrow down the issue?

So, for now, we know it's not the monitor.

It could be the display adapter - hardware.

It could be a driver for the display adapter - software.

It could be Windows display settings - software. For instance, the refresh rate could be set too high for the graphics card or the monitors... so, maybe youv'e got it set at 85Hz, but the graphics card won't really support over 60Hz - at the current resolution..

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[cadenton]

It works fine in safe mode. No "flickering" problems w/the monitor in safe mode. So I guess the problem is definitely not w/the monitor. Correct?
As far as the other ideas -- I didn't make any changes in any of the display settings/updates/hardware/drivers prior to the problem with the monitor starting last week. This computer has been running perfectly for over 5 years.
What might have caused this problem with the screen to occure for no apparent reason at all?

 

[kjv1611]

It does seem odd that no changes were made prior to the change in the monitor. Well, obviously SOMETHING has changed, just have to figure what.

To see if something software is causing it, another thing you can check is by restoring to a time before the problem occurred, assuming you have system restore points back that far.

If it is a hardware issue - gfx card or PSU, then I'd guess it's just starting, and MAYBE running in "normal" mode, uses just enough resources to cause the issue.

However, since it isn't happening in safe mode, but is in normal mode, my guess is software - driver issue or otherwise.

If you've not had any other symptoms at all, then I'm suspecting the drivers... so if System Restore doesn't work, trying to reinstall the latest gfx driver might.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[FredWagner]

Or check to see if a newer driver is available - it could be that recent OS patches have caused problem with the driver you've been using....

Fred Wagner

 

[626F62]

it could be the hardware... if your GPU chip has a Heatsink and a fan, the fan might of stopped... and normal mode pushes it to heat more than safe mode. i had the same problem and this was the cause, but i could tell it was the fan streight off due to the funky noise it was making...

if you dont know about opening up PC's i would try the drivers and everything else mentioned above first.