Monitor doesn't wake up from sleep

[cheasie]

My currently system is a little over 2 years old, running Dell U2412M and XFX Radeon 7870 DD, using DVI port. The AMD driver has been uninstalled and installed to the most updated version. Also running latest Windows 8.1.
There are two problems I'm currently unable to solve despite some heavy googling:

• In Windows setting, I set my monitor to turn off after 10 minutes of inactivity, sometimes, it will not wake up from the auto off. I never set the PC to auto sleep. So I know the PC is on, but monitor won't wake. It'll work if I disconnect the DVIport and reconnect it. So far, I have change the Windows settings to never turn off monitor and PC to solve this problem.

• Recently (within past 2 months), the whole screen would occasionally flash noise (black and white, distorted lines), like something got messed up for a fraction of a second. It'll happen anywhere, desktop, in game, in application, or just browsing web. It only flashes once. Then everything goes back to normal, everything still works when the flash happens (for example, the music would still be playing without interruption while the flash occurs).

My graphics cards has been RMA'd about 2 months ago, but the above problems have been occurring since I built my PC 2 years ago. So I am guessing the Dell monitor is crapping out? Please let me know if you need any more info the above problems, I really want to fix it because as trivial as these problems sound, it really bothers me on daily use. Thanks.

 

[denis280]

Welcome to the forums cheasie.what brand and watt is the psu.

 

[Ketchup]

Try replacing the cable.

 

[inachu]

cable is cheapest way to fix.

Since you are using the DVI port are you using any sort of dongle?

Many video adapter do not say if they pass along the on/off signal and if you do use a dongle maybe it went bad?

 

[cheasie]

I am currently using Coolmax ZU 600W power supply.

The DVI cable doesn't have a dongle.

I don't have another spare DVI cable to try, but I did use the onboard graphics for a day to test out the same scenario. The monitor wakes up every time.

Then I found this thread, http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2322060

I am pretty sure the problem is the AMD card with its software. And as far as I know, there are no fix to this problem other than luck.

 

[Ketchup]

If the problem isn't the cable, it's this:

"Coolmax ZU 600W"

Spend the money and get a good reputable power supply, such as an Antec, Cooler Master, or Corsair.

Why do you think it is AMD software? There are millions of computers out there running AMD graphics and not having the issues you are describing here.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Why do you think it is AMD software? There are millions of computers out there running AMD graphics and not having the issues you are describing here.

You might be surprised. There are quite a few people that ARE having the same problem as the OP, with AMD cards and drivers.

I had the problem myself, and I narrowed it down to either a bad card, or bad drivers.

OP, try 13.12 Cats, those are the only ones that worked for me. Of course, those may not work for Windows 8/8.1.

 

[cheasie]

If the problem isn't the cable, it's this:

"Coolmax ZU 600W"

Spend the money and get a good reputable power supply, such as an Antec, Cooler Master, or Corsair.

Why do you think it is AMD software? There are millions of computers out there running AMD graphics and not having the issues you are describing here.

PSU might not be the best, but the problem isn't likely the PSU.
The thread I linked has tons of other people experiencing the same problem. I am sure it's certain model of the card along with its own software.

 

[cheasie]

You might be surprised. There are quite a few people that ARE having the same problem as the OP, with AMD cards and drivers.

I had the problem myself, and I narrowed it down to either a bad card, or bad drivers.

OP, try 13.12 Cats, those are the only ones that worked for me. Of course, those may not work for Windows 8/8.1.

Thanks, will try it out. But I am planning to get a new card soon, probably Nvidia during black friday.

 

[MustISO]

I've seen this issue on two systems recently, one an HP and one a Dell. The HP uses onboard video, the Dell discreet nVidia card. Both systems have sleep and hibernate disabled but after 10-15 minutes of inactivity the monitor goes off but the PC is clearly still on. There's no way to wake the PC. Both systems have new PSU's.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I've seen this issue on two systems recently, one an HP and one a Dell. The HP uses onboard video, the Dell discreet nVidia card. Both systems have sleep and hibernate disabled but after 10-15 minutes of inactivity the monitor goes off but the PC is clearly still on. There's no way to wake the PC. Both systems have new PSU's.

Monitor sleep is not the same thing as sleep mode for the PC. Windows comes defaulted to turn the monitor off after 15 minutes. So even if you disable sleep and hibernate, it would still do that. It is a mystery why they wouldn't wake up though. Intel and NV, as far as I know, don't have monitor sleep bugs like ATI 7xxx-series cards do.

 

[inachu]

Sometimes a bios patch fixes this issues on a dell. Perhaps on other brands as well.