Monitor Shuts Off During Games

[Tom Pamin]

Sometimes when playing games on my Dell XPS Gen 4 the monitor will shut
off. The sound of the game continues, but the monitor won't turn back
on. I have to reboot to get video back. I have an 8800 GT video card.
How can I fix this?

 

[Malke]

Sometimes when playing games on my Dell XPS Gen 4 the monitor will shut
off. The sound of the game continues, but the monitor won't turn back
on. I have to reboot to get video back. I have an 8800 GT video card.
How can I fix this?

You forgot to tell us anything about your monitor. Does the monitor's light
actually go amber?

It is more likely that your video card is overheating and/or otherwise
failing. Attach the computer to a different monitor for testing. If the
problem still occurs, you know it's your video card. If the problem doesn't
appear, then you know it's your monitor.

Malke

 

[Tom Pamin]

You forgot to tell us anything about your monitor. Does the monitor's light
actually go amber?

It is more likely that your video card is overheating and/or otherwise
failing. Attach the computer to a different monitor for testing. If the
problem still occurs, you know it's your video card. If the problem doesn't
appear, then you know it's your monitor.

Malke

Yes. the light goes amber. The game sounds still are on, but the monitor
won't come back on unless I reboot. The card is only about 9 months old.

 

[Malke]

Tom Pamin wrote:

Yes. the light goes amber. The game sounds still are on, but the monitor
won't come back on unless I reboot. The card is only about 9 months old.

The fact that the card is fairly new is irrelevant. Generally hardware will
either fail quite soon or go for years. Try what I previously suggested for
your first troubleshooting steps.

Malke