Should I be worried?

[leapingfrog0]

Today when I was working on my computer the monitor seemed to flick on/off for a quick second. Not completely off, the image on the screen was still visable, but just dark and smaller on the screen for less than a second and it went back to normal. Like a power surge or something, but I didn't notice the lights in the house surge at all.

Should I be worried? Could my monitor be a defect? My vid card? They're both over half a year old!

I've heard this with some other people, but I never found out what it was.

 

[Ryukumu]

Unless it starts happening frequently, I wouldn't worry too much. I'm not sure if it's the vid card or the monitor, but I'm -GUESSING- it'd be the monitor.

 

[altonb1]

Are you in a house or an apartment? Is your monitor close to another device such as TV or monitor, even if it is on the other side of the wall (maybe in another apt?)

Your sympton sounds exactly the same as what we used to see at one of my old jobs. It wasn't really a bad thing, but often, when a person in another cubicle nearby (often just a partition and some desk space) away would turn on their system/monitor, it would cause a neighboring monitor to jump like that. It might be from the degaussing part of the monitor affecting other monitos when it turned on. not sure, but if someone on the other side of you wall flicked on a TV (a newer TV with degauss built in) or a monitor, this oculd have been your problem. Maybe just a fluke. I'd worry only if it starts happening regularly and you can't track the problem down.

 

[leapingfrog0]

I'm in a house. The computer is in the corner of my room, which is next to a bathroom. A TV is in my room, but wasn't turned on it when it happened. The next TV near here would be about 2 rooms away, so I don't think it was that.

If I remember correctly, my monitor has a 3 year warranty from Best Buy, so I'll keep a watch out for it again. Anyone else have problems like this?

 

[shathal]

I would say that by the sounds of it, your monitor has been briefly not been given enough power. Whether that was a problem with the power grid or the Monitor is about to go, is anyone's guess. Keep watching the monitor - if it happens again & so on. Also - are other devices affected (say - an alarm clock resets itself) - anything that would hint towards a local brown-out or similar.

I wouldn't worry though if it is a one-off .

Hope this helps .

 

[shathal]

I would say that by the sounds of it, your monitor has been briefly not been given enough power. Whether that was a problem with the power grid or the Monitor is about to go, is anyone's guess. Keep watching the monitor - if it happens again & so on. Also - are other devices affected (say - an alarm clock resets itself) - anything that would hint towards a local brown-out or similar.

I wouldn't worry though if it is a one-off .

Hope this helps .

 

[leapingfrog0]

Well, it just happened again.. I have no idea what causes it.

 

[tbalon]

one thought, Is your monitor set to go into a power saving mode at any particular time?

try checking your settings and see if it makes a difference.

 

[leapingfrog0]

The *only* power settings I have is to shutoff the monitor after 20min of being idle, and I was actively using the computer when it happened.

 

[dexmanone]

Is it just your moniter? Can you hear if the fans miss a beat? Could it be something from the CPU? If none of these, and from everything else you've said, I'd take it in while you still have a chance.

good luck

 

[leapingfrog0]

Yeah, my fans keep spinning.. everything keeps working fine. It could be a number of things I guess, but how do I tell? How could it be the CPU? How could I tell? The video card? It doesn't happen enough for me to really diagnose the problem. It started happening about a month after I moved my computer into the opposite corner in my room, but how could that effect it? I couldn't have hurt the monitor by transferring it a couple yards, could I?

It's a very odd problem and I wish I could find a cure for it.

If it is a surge of power, what kind of surge protector do you guys recommend? I don't have much right now, really.. it's more of a power strip.

 

[Jason1979]

It might not be a power surge, but a power sage...which the monitor is not getting enough power, which a UPS would solve that problem