Windows event viewer question

[PieIsAwesome]

Recently lost video for a few seconds on my monitor and I am trying to determine whether it was the monitor, computer, or something else.

Nothing showed up in the event viewer, and when the video came back it was as if nothing had never happened. Resolution/color settings/windows theme were not reset or anything. I have experienced videocard problems in the past where the driver would crash and an event would be logged.

Using Server 2008.

This sort of thing seems like a hardware problem, so this may be in the wrong forum, but it would still be helpful to know what hardware problems the event viewer may catch.

UPDATE in case someone out there is looking for answers:

Lost video again a few minutes ago. The LED on the monitor switched from its active green to yellow, suggesting it wasn't receiving input. However, nothing shows up in the event viewer. I did some testing and found that if I unplug the HDMI cable or switch inputs on the HDMI switch an error is logged in the event viewer (unknown EDID thing, no problem). If I simply turn off the monitor nothing is logged. So, if there was a problem with the connection, an event would have been logged, and if there was a problem with the videocard crashing it would be pretty obvious. I am going to conclude for now that the problem is the monitor. This was under Windows XP btw.

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: PieIsAwesome
Recently lost video for a few seconds on my monitor and I am trying to determine whether it was the monitor, computer, or something else.

Nothing showed up in the event viewer, and when the video came back it was as if nothing had never happened. Resolution/color settings/windows theme were not reset or anything. I have experienced videocard problems in the past where the driver would crash and an event would be logged.

Using Server 2008.

This sort of thing seems like a hardware problem, so this may be in the wrong forum, but it would still be helpful to know what hardware problems the event viewer may catch.

You didn't specify the os.

It could be a glitch in the screen saver. xp does this for me randomly - I know the attached monitor's ok.

Did the monitor power light change color? green to amber? or go dark? If it went dark, then it's a monitor problem (hopefully, a loose power cord).

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Originally posted by: seemingly random

Originally posted by: PieIsAwesome
Recently lost video for a few seconds on my monitor and I am trying to determine whether it was the monitor, computer, or something else.

Nothing showed up in the event viewer, and when the video came back it was as if nothing had never happened. Resolution/color settings/windows theme were not reset or anything. I have experienced videocard problems in the past where the driver would crash and an event would be logged.

Using Server 2008.

This sort of thing seems like a hardware problem, so this may be in the wrong forum, but it would still be helpful to know what hardware problems the event viewer may catch.

You didn't specify the os.

It could be a glitch in the screen saver. xp does this for me randomly - I know the attached monitor's ok.

Did the monitor power light change color? green to amber? or go dark? If it went dark, then it's a monitor problem (hopefully, a loose power cord).

I specified the OS but maybe putting it randomly int he middle of my post wasn't a good idea.

Windows Server 2008.

I've been kicking myself for not paying attention to the power light, that would have definitely helped. Going to have to wait for it to happen again, but I'm not very patient and made this thread.

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: PieIsAwesome

Originally posted by: seemingly random

Originally posted by: PieIsAwesome
Recently lost video for a few seconds on my monitor and I am trying to determine whether it was the monitor, computer, or something else.

Nothing showed up in the event viewer, and when the video came back it was as if nothing had never happened. Resolution/color settings/windows theme were not reset or anything. I have experienced videocard problems in the past where the driver would crash and an event would be logged.

Using Server 2008.

This sort of thing seems like a hardware problem, so this may be in the wrong forum, but it would still be helpful to know what hardware problems the event viewer may catch.

You didn't specify the os.

It could be a glitch in the screen saver. xp does this for me randomly - I know the attached monitor's ok.

Did the monitor power light change color? green to amber? or go dark? If it went dark, then it's a monitor problem (hopefully, a loose power cord).

I specified the OS but maybe putting it randomly int he middle of my post wasn't a good idea.

Windows Server 2008.

I've been kicking myself for not paying attention to the power light, that would have definitely helped. Going to have to wait for it to happen again, but I'm not very patient and made this thread.

No way was the line about server 2008 in there when I read it. How did you edit my post? :shocked:

 

[Nothinman]

Event Viewer doesn't catch anything except what's thrown at it. If the video driver reset and didn't log it you won't see anything.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: seemingly random
No way was the line about server 2008 in there when I read it. How did you edit my post? :shocked:

Unless the Forum software is totally screwed, nobody but the original poster or a moderator can edit a post. Also, your post shows no record of ever having been edited. Even I can't edit a post without a "Edited by..." note showing up.

 

[seemingly random]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: seemingly random
No way was the line about server 2008 in there when I read it. How did you edit my post? :shocked:

Unless the Forum software is totally screwed, nobody but the original poster or a moderator can edit a post. Also, your post shows no record of ever having been edited. Even I can't edit a post without a "Edited by..." note showing up.

I know. Just looking for a scapegoat...

 

[JesseKnows]

I had a similar issue with my Win7 installation. The video flickered, seemed to behave as if Aero was turned off for a short time, then resumed proper behavior.

The event log did not show any hardware event

--- but

The event log shown an installation of a video driver update!

Check your event log for updates. Or, check your update history.

 

[Gooberlx2]

The video flickered, seemed to behave as if Aero was turned off for a short time, then resumed proper behavior.

I've enjoyed how Win7 is a bit more elegant with how it handles Aero incompatibility. For me, vista would switch the scheme and leave Aero off, even after the incompatible program was closed. Win7 seems to know when to automatically re-enable Aero.

 

[Snapster]

It's a somewhat similar behaviour to when Vista or W7 resets the graphics driver, although you do usually get a balloon saying that it was after the event and it's also logged in the event viewer. If there is truly nothing then I would suggest a harder error.