Black Screen Problems

[Guest]

Hello!

I'm having an irritating problem lately with my computer, I've had this PC
for nearly two years now and the only hardware problems I've had were with my
hard drives (which I have recently replaced).

The problem is quite strange and difficult to explain, so if it's hard to
understand I will try my best to clarify.

At times my computer's screen will just go black, however everything will
still be running in the background, for example:

I'm doing some work on Photoshop while playing music in the background,
however the screen suddenly goes black, while my work is still there and the
music is still playing, I can also shut down correctly while the screen is
black too. At times when I alt+f4 the program I had open my screen goes back
to normal a few minutes later.

Now, the weird thing is, I would have thought it would have simply been a
graphics driver problem or something, however sometimes when I switch my
computer on (or reboot after I have the black screen problem) the usual
'Intel Pentium 4' thing I get when my system boots as well as the status of
everything (telling you your system specs, etc) and windows logo with the bar
underneath doesn't show and I have exactly the same problem.

I've been having this problem for about 3 days now and it was very difficult
to get the screen to come on at all yesterday.

I'm not very technically minded on these things, but I came to the
conclusion if could either be the graphics card or for some strange reason
the monitor (however, why would the monitor work at all? or appear as on?),
any advice or steering to the right direction would be very much appreciated
as I'm really stumped this time.

My system specs are:

Intel Pentium 4 HT 3.4GHz
2x200GB Maxtor HD
1GB DDR RAM
ATi Sapphire Radeon X600 Pro (256MB)

Thanks

 

[thecreator]

Hi Craig,

Check your Power Options in the Control Panel. Try settings setting to
everything to Always on. Now if the Monitor Screen goes black, the problem
may either be related to the Monitor itself, or with the Graphics Card.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the quick reply,

All my power options appear to be all set correctly.

Would you say that the chances of it being the graphics card quite high? I
noticed that when I attempt to play a game (such as Guild Wars) it usually
goes off in a couple of minutes of playing and when I alt and f4 off it the
screen comes back on again.

It's the only thing I could see it being, but it makes me wonder why it's
working at all.

 

[thecreator]

Hi Craig,

If you don't play any games as a test for a day and your monitor stays
on, and on the next day, you play a game and the monitor goes off, it may be
the Graphics Card is going bad. Look at the User's Manual of the monitor and
check the frequencies the monitor can worked under. The monitor may be
shutting down, because the frequency has changed.

Replace the Graphics Card, that works with your favorite games.

 

[Joe Wright]

Thanks for the quick reply,

All my power options appear to be all set correctly.

Would you say that the chances of it being the graphics card quite high? I
noticed that when I attempt to play a game (such as Guild Wars) it usually
goes off in a couple of minutes of playing and when I alt and f4 off it the
screen comes back on again.

It's the only thing I could see it being, but it makes me wonder why it's
working at all.

Go to the computer or graphics card manufacturer's site and get updated
drivers for the graphics card.

Also borrow and try another monitor for awhile.