My display turns black for a second (or two) in Windows. Then goes back to normal....

[jaffa]

I have an issue with my computer. When using Windows XP (the system has run fine for a long time but not anymore) the system will go completely black for a second or two and then display video as normal.... There is no pattern in this. It can happen after five minutes or after five hours, and sometimes it doensn't happen at all (but normally it will).... The frequency of this temporary "black outs" increases, meaning that it happens more and more often.... Display just goes black for a second then back to normal...

What can be wrong here?

 

[pkme2]

Start backing up your files. Something's coming.
It will not be nice. Your computer is saying something.
Try switching PSU first, next comes a video card......

By the way, what is your PSU?

 

[chairbornrangerx]

yeah I'm with pkme2 on that one, I'd clean up your vid card of any dust.... sounds like it might be overheating, that or the motherboard might be going. Test another PSU, then perhaps throw in a different video card if you can find one to replace yours, and see if the video still cuts out after a certain amount of time. If not, then I'd guess your cards the issue, if it does, then I'd say your mobo is going out.

 

[Mark R]

Monitor cable loose?

 

[jaffa]

Monitor cable has been firmly reseated.

The psu is a 400W noname something.....

Regarding the psu, shouldn't the computer restart completely if the psu had been the issue?
If the psu has an unstable power_ok voltage then shouldn't the system restart instead?

 

[chairbornrangerx]

no it doesn't mean the computer has to restart, a lot of weird things can happen when the PSU is taking a long walk off a short pier.

 

[oynaz]

You might want to grab one of the Linux bootble CDs and run that. This way, you can see if it is your XP installation which has the error.
It does sound like a hardware issue, though.