Question Several monitors go black shortly after windows loads

[Markfw]

So I have several old systems, and I have swapped out every component. This is using Windows XP (required for the game I am playing) They are all Nvidia video cards. 9800 GTX+ and Quadro 4000. Old drivers (they have to be to support these cards). On a 27 inch led monitor all is fine. But I like 16:10 and the only monitors I can find are LCD + led backlight.

So, here is what happens. It loads windows, then loads the game, then all goes black, and the only way to see the screen is to reboot. It will do it every time. This is the oddest problem I have ever seen. And it worked for years. Just a week or so ago, it started doing this all of a sudden.

 

[zebrax2]

1. You have multiple of the said 16:10 monitor and the problem occurs to all of them?
2. Whats the connection?
3. Does the system continue working when the monitor goes black?

Maybe its a weird clock related bug, try turning the system clock a few months/years back.

 

[Markfw]

1. You have multiple of the said 16:10 monitor and the problem occurs to all of them?
2. Whats the connection?
3. Does the system continue working when the monitor goes black?

Maybe its a weird clock related bug, try turning the system clock a few months/years back.

1) well, 2 of them.. Both hann-g
2) vga or dvi on one. Does it on both
3) Yes, I can't see anything, but I think they are working. Sometimes alt-tab works for a nano-second, you see a screen , then black again.

VERY odd, spent 2-3 days dubugging. Put together a Athlon dual-core system from scratch, and it worked for a few minutes, then back to the black screen problem. Its like XP drivers or nvidia drivers are just going crazy. BUT, put it on an led screen, and it works fine. Without even rebooting.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Could the problem be that those games don't support 16:10 fullscreen DirectX mode? What happens if you hit ALT+Enter?

 

[Markfw]

1. You have multiple of the said 16:10 monitor and the problem occurs to all of them?
2. Whats the connection?
3. Does the system continue working when the monitor goes black?

Maybe its a weird clock related bug, try turning the system clock a few months/years back.

I just tried the time thing... It appears to have fixed the problem ! So Dec 24th, 2021 screws up the video drivers for LCD, but not VGA. I will continue testing, but this appears to be it.

Edit: So far an hour and still working. This computer thinks its 2011.

 

[Markfw]

Spoke too soon. After an hour, while I was writing the previous post, it blacked out. Something in the monitors (2 of them, same size and brand) must have some defective part in them. Only affects these monitors.

 

[zebrax2]

Yeah if its probably the monitor. Maybe you can connect it to one of your newer systems just to verify.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Could be the cable. That, or Nvidia cards barely even support 1920x1200 over DVI. I had issues with them occasionally dropping out on my dual GTX 460 rig.

 

[Markfw]

Could be the cable. That, or Nvidia cards barely even support 1920x1200 over DVI. I had issues with them occasionally dropping out on my dual GTX 460 rig.

Whats funny, is that I just realized that the monitor that I am typing on is a 24 inch 1920x1200 DVI monitor ! Not sure if its LED or LCD with LED backlight. These other 2 are 28 inch. And there are a bunch of 24 inch 1920x1200 that say they are WUXGA type.

 

[DaaQ]

Whats funny, is that I just realized that the monitor that I am typing on is a 24 inch 1920x1200 DVI monitor ! Not sure if its LED or LCD with LED backlight. These other 2 are 28 inch. And there are a bunch of 24 inch 1920x1200 that say they are WUXGA type.

Are they 1440p monitors? IIRC they need dual link DVI?

 

[Markfw]

Are they 1440p monitors? IIRC they need dual link DVI?

Nope. As far as 1440p, I have no idea. I don't game using any new games. 1080p or even maybe 720 is fine for me.

 

[DaaQ]

Nope. As far as 1440p, I have no idea. I don't game using any new games. 1080p or even maybe 720 is fine for me.

Just putting it out there, maybe they are 1440p. IIRC 27" monitors back in the day were 1440p and required DL-DVI cables. Again, that is a big IIRC.

Are your cables single or dual link DVI?

Sounds like a resolution incompatibility issue.

EDIT: Can you try enabling 1080p before boot?

 

[Fallen Kell]

Not sure if its LED or LCD with LED backlight. These other 2 are 28 inch.

You do know that "LED" and "LCD with LED backlight" are one and the same? There are no straight LED monitors/TV's (other than OLED, but that is different and not LED). The "LED" is simply standing for the LED backlight.

 

[Markfw]

You do know that "LED" and "LCD with LED backlight" are one and the same? There are no straight LED monitors/TV's (other than OLED, but that is different and not LED). The "LED" is simply standing for the LED backlight.

Actually, I did not know that, thanks ! I thought there were 3 based on unique descriptions of monitors, LCD, LCD with LED backlight and LED. So there are just 2, LCD and LED ?

 

[DaaQ]

Actually, I did not know that, thanks ! I thought there were 3 based on unique descriptions of monitors, LCD, LCD with LED backlight and LED. So there are just 2, LCD and LED ?

LCD with various backlights, and OLED.

EDIT: Into the weeds would be CRT but that has since passed. Cathode Ray Tube.

 

[Markfw]

Yeah if its probably the monitor. Maybe you can connect it to one of your newer systems just to verify.

I just tried it on a windows 10 machine, latest version. After 20 minutes, it went to screen saver. Touched the mouse, and it came back. Then 10 minutes later, it went black again, won't come back.

But I hit the reset button , and it came back, 5 minutes and running. We will see, but its a driver issue ?????

 

[zebrax2]

Try changing the refresh rate of the monitor. I have a suspicion that the monitor has an issue when it blanks out even for a bit (which is what happens when you enter a full screen game on older OS IIRC). Changing refresh rate/resolution also does this.

Maybe its bad capacitors? I had a TV that would require a few dozen presses to the power button to turn on but would work perfectly once its on. It turns out there are 2 bulging capacitor in its power supply..

 

[Markfw]

Try changing the refresh rate of the monitor. I have a suspicion that the monitor has an issue when it blanks out even for a bit (which is what happens when you enter a full screen game on older OS IIRC). Changing refresh rate/resolution also does this.

Maybe its bad capacitors? I had a TV that would require a few dozen presses to the power button to turn on but would work perfectly once its on. It turns out there are 2 bulging capacitor in its power supply..

Maybe I wasn't clear... It works perfectly under windows 10 ! So it must be the drivers ? Remember, its 2 different LCD monitors.

 

[zebrax2]

I thought you had to reset the computer. I guess you meant pressing the reset button woke the screen up.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Could it be some strange power saving sleep mode or similar kicking in?

 

[Markfw]

Could it be some strange power saving sleep mode or similar kicking in?

Whats funny is it just started all of a sudden, no hardware changes. So I thought the hardware was bad. But after typing almost an identical monitor, then trying them on win 10, it became obvious its a driver problem, and I don't get why setting the date back on the computer didn't fix it. The whole thing is very odd.

 

[Shmee]

It could be a windows/driver thing, if the monitor works fine in win 10. But it sounds like this Windows 10 machine is a different setup, so that is changing additional variables. One thing to try would be see if the exact same setup works fine in a live linux environment(simple boot from a flashdrive). If that has no issues, you know for sure the hardware and cable is fine.

You could also try a new DL DVI cable, to see if that helps. I seem to remember that 1920x1200 is right on the edge of max resolution for a single link DVI cable, but not sure. Whether your cables are SL or DL, it is also possible that some are just flaky cables.

 

[Markfw]

It could be a windows/driver thing, if the monitor works fine in win 10. But it sounds like this Windows 10 machine is a different setup, so that is changing additional variables. One thing to try would be see if the exact same setup works fine in a live linux environment(simple boot from a flashdrive). If that has no issues, you know for sure the hardware and cable is fine.

You could also try a new DL DVI cable, to see if that helps. I seem to remember that 1920x1200 is right on the edge of max resolution for a single link DVI cable, but not sure. Whether your cables are SL or DL, it is also possible that some are just flaky cables.

I use a VGA cable with a dvi adapter. Again, worked fine for YEARS, then one day just went black.

 

[Shmee]

If it worked fine for years, and nothing has changed but time, it sounds like it has to be something in hardware, or possible software corruption of some sort. You said you suspect driver issues, but if you haven't updated the driver, then XP probably has the same driver; I don't think XP ever has or ever will force drivers/updates on you. It could still be the driver I suppose, but not because of updating, but possibly some intermittent hardware or software issue causing a crash.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Just a speculation, but are you sure the problem doesn't happen until the computer's date/time hits Jan 1, 2022 00:00 UTC? The reason I say this is that it fits pretty close to when you posted this thread. There is a time bug with some software if they stored dates in "yymmddHHMM" format to a signed 32bit integer which overflows when Jan 1 2022 is hit. The reason is a 32bit signed integer's highest value is 2^31(the 32nd bit is used to store whether it is a positive or negative value), which means the highest number it can store is 2^31 = 2147483648. Now if you notice, if the software is storing the date in "yymmddHHMM" format into that signed 32bit, the moment we hit Jan 1 2022, the number it tries to put in there is "2201010000" which is higher than "2147483648" and it overflows.