Weird video problem - need help.

[Steve Reeves]

Hi there,

I wonder if anybody can help. My symptoms are that my monitor displays
goes black (as though the video signal has stopped) randomly for a few
seconds and then comes back. Occasionally it is long enough for the
monitor to go into standby mode so fairly certain the signal is ceasing.

I have tried different monitors (and video cables) same result,
different video card same result, stripped out the machine (RIMMS, Power
cables, cards etc.), cleaned and dusted etc. but still have the same
problem (although this last action seemed to cure it for a couple of
weeks - but now it's back!).

Bizarrely I can also get this problem when in the BIOS, along with
screen corruption so it's not a driver/software issue.

The problem does appear at random, this AM it occurred 45mins after
switch on but with no processes running as such so the machine wasn't
being hit hard. Also had large domestic fans blowing over the
motherboard to see if it was overheating but this make no difference
either!

I'd be really grateful for any opinions on this. Motherboard? PSU?
Running out of suspects! Not exactly a newbie here but this one has me
stumped!

At the stage I likely need to replace a component - but I don't know
which one - arrgghhhh!!! Really appreciate some help.

Spec: P4, 2.53Ghz/533FSB, 2x256Mb RDRAM, GeForce4 Ti4600, WinXP SP2 all
on an Intel D850EMV2 mobo.

Many thanks

 

[David Maynard]

Hi there,

I wonder if anybody can help. My symptoms are that my monitor displays
goes black (as though the video signal has stopped) randomly for a few
seconds and then comes back. Occasionally it is long enough for the
monitor to go into standby mode so fairly certain the signal is ceasing.

I have tried different monitors (and video cables) same result,
different video card same result, stripped out the machine (RIMMS, Power
cables, cards etc.), cleaned and dusted etc. but still have the same
problem (although this last action seemed to cure it for a couple of
weeks - but now it's back!).

Bizarrely I can also get this problem when in the BIOS, along with
screen corruption so it's not a driver/software issue.

The problem does appear at random, this AM it occurred 45mins after
switch on but with no processes running as such so the machine wasn't
being hit hard. Also had large domestic fans blowing over the
motherboard to see if it was overheating but this make no difference
either!

I'd be really grateful for any opinions on this. Motherboard? PSU?
Running out of suspects! Not exactly a newbie here but this one has me
stumped!

At the stage I likely need to replace a component - but I don't know
which one - arrgghhhh!!! Really appreciate some help.

Spec: P4, 2.53Ghz/533FSB, 2x256Mb RDRAM, GeForce4 Ti4600, WinXP SP2 all
on an Intel D850EMV2 mobo.

Many thanks

Check your BIOS power settings. Maybe you've got a monitor timeout set.

 

[Steve Reeves]

Check your BIOS power settings. Maybe you've got a monitor timeout set.

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately the BIOS settings are fine. The
problem, when it occurs, often manifests itself as the monitor going off
for a couple of seconds, back on for a second, then back off for a
second, back on, back off and then comes back on and settles down.

Blooming odd

 

[David Maynard]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately the BIOS settings are fine. The
problem, when it occurs, often manifests itself as the monitor going off
for a couple of seconds, back on for a second, then back off for a
second, back on, back off and then comes back on and settles down.

Blooming odd

Ah. Well, that sounds like a bad monitor cable with a loose wire.

 

[Steve Reeves]

Ah. Well, that sounds like a bad monitor cable with a loose wire.
It does I'd agree. Except that I've swapped out the monitors and cables!

Thanks

 

[David Maynard]

It does I'd agree. Except that I've swapped out the monitors and cables!

Thanks

Well, in that case it sounds like gremlins. LOL

I can't think of any software that would do that but I suppose reinstalling
the driver would be a good idea just to take that off the table. Also
Windows power settings, which monitor Windows thinks it is, and settings in
any 'special' software the driver installed for the video card and/or monitor.

The next step would be to re-seat the video card, check the cooling fan, if
it has one, and, if none of that helps, swap in an alternate video card to
see if it's the card itself.

 

[BigJIm]

guess you checked all power supply cables, It could be a bad MB agp slot.
Well not actually the slot but the chip set controller. It could be a bad
power supply or one that is going south. good luck

 

[Simon Cussonnet]

I've got exactly the same problem on an Asus A7N8X ver 1.04 for one year and
a half. Never had a clue. Now I'm tired asking averywhere and reading
forums. The display goes blank for one second, no more, only once when it
occurs whatever I'm under DOS or Win98SE. I changed the PSU for a 475W
Enermax, I swapped the monitor, tried different cables on the two vid ports
and both monitor's one (BNC & VGA). Noway.
I decided to live with it.

This post won't bring help but it will show you're not alone in this dark
(for 1 sec ! ) world.

 

[JAD]

have you guys set a 'user' color setting in the monitors OSD?

 

[Simon Cussonnet]

Yes, I have .

have you guys set a 'user' color setting in the monitors OSD?

 

[Mac Cool]

Steve Reeves:

I wonder if anybody can help. My symptoms are that my monitor
displays goes black (as though the video signal has stopped) randomly
for a few seconds and then comes back. Occasionally it is long enough
for the monitor to go into standby mode so fairly certain the signal
is ceasing.

I'm not sure you have the same problem I had but it sounds like it. I
swore it was a hardware problem because I also experienced the problem
in bios and in DOS and Linux environments, so I can't explain why the
solution below worked, but it did. Since you have an Nvidia card, try
the following:
================================================================== "I
was also experiencing these annoying sync-problems. The cause for this
lies in nvcpl.dll - a nvidia dll, which scans for connected TVs.

The first time the dll is loaded, is at windows-bootup
(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE->SOFTWARE->Microsoft->Windows->CurrentVersion->Run).
This causes the first flicker and unfortunately the auto-startup-entry
can't be deleted.

The flicker when right-clicking on video-files is caused by a
shell-extension, which the nvidia-driver installs for all types of
video-files. This shell-extension calls nvcpl.dll everytime you right
click a video file to scan for connected TVs. If a TV is present, the
shell extension shows up in the context-menu as "Play on My TV". I
never tested this, but I suppose when you click it, the video is
directly shown on your connected TV.

This could have been implemented a lot better, this f...ing
sync-flicker is driving you crazy when browsing a video archive.

After scanning the registry, I found the key responsible for the shell
extension. Just search for "PlayOnMyTV" in the registry and you will
find some entries under "shellex" (shell extension). These entries
contain an identifier, {FFB699E0-306A-11d3-8BD1-00104B6F7516} in my
case, I'm not sure if this identifier is static or created dynamically,
so in your registry, it might be another number. Now copy the
identifier and search for it in the registry; delete every occurence
when it's connected to video-file formats (.avi, .mpg, .mpeg and so on)
and afterwards the "PlayOnMyTV"-shellextensions."
================================================================== --
Mac Cool

 

[Mac Cool]

Simon Cussonnet:

This post won't bring help but it will show you're not alone in this
dark (for 1 sec ! ) world.

Try the solution I posted to Steve, it sounds like you've tried everything
else.

 

[Steve Reeves]

Hi Simon,

Sorry to hear you share the same problem as I do Is this on an Nvidia
card also?

The fact we're on different mobos might be interesting/useful. It is
possible that the AGP power supply is faulty on both boards though. Do
you get any other symptons, crashes etc.?

Good to know I'm not alone though!!

Steve

 

[Steve Reeves]

Cheers Jim, I hear what you're saying. Having the same thoughts. Mac
Cool has posted a suggestion in this thread so I'm going to give that a
whirl before I contemplate replacing the mobo!

Is there anyway of testing the chip set controller? For the PSU I
beleive there are ATX specifications that must be met - so I should be
able to find somebody to check it out.

Thanks
Steve

 

[Steve Reeves]

have you guys set a 'user' color setting in the monitors OSD?

Indeed I have! How might this affect the problem?

 

[Steve Reeves]

Hi Mac,

Thanks for this. I have followed your instructions (the identifier
{FFB699E0-306A-11d3-8BD1-00104B6F7516} is the same on my machine by the
way so it looks static) and now rebooted. There are 5 references to this
identifier left - all attached to Nvidia Control Panel thingys - left
them alone

It'll be a while before I know if the problem is fixed. But my GeForce
has VIVO (never used it) so you may well be right! The GeForce itself is
over 2 years old (bought it when it was state of the art but the
problem has only recently shown up. Maybe an issue with the later
certified NvIdia drivers.

I suppose it might be possible to cause the BIOS to exhibit this problem
if the software makes a video card BIOS setting change (I know they have
BIOS's - but whether they can be messed with or not I have no idea!).

Interesting

Thanks again Mac, will let you know how we go.

Steve

 

[Simon Cussonnet]

- Sometimes the video is locally garbaged when I marh an option within a
menu (typical within Harraps)
- Small green, red or yellow dots (pixels) appear ramdomly elsewhere on the
screen
- Sometimes, I've to refresh the display (E:\WIN98\RUNDLL32.EXE
user,repaintscreen) to recover a correct display.
Not too much bothering.

On the other hand,
- It appears quite often that I've no video at boot. As soon as I can hear
the beep after the post I must turn On the monitor otherwise, waiting for
too long, I can't manage to get the video without turning the PC Off then
On. This pretty much anoying because in some occurrences I had to turn Off
and On the monitor 3 or 4 times in order to get a display.

My display adapter is a Leadtech Winfast A180 DDR TDH MyVivo with two video
ports (Standard VGA + DVI), Video in & Video out sockets, 64 MB RAM. It's an
AGP8x V 3.0 equipped with an Nvidia GeForce 4 chip.
The Monitor is an 19" Liyama Vision Master Pro 450 with a standars VGA port
and 5 BNCs.
What I can say is that the PSU is out of suspicion because I had the
promblem very soon, It failed 8 months later, I replaced temporarilly it by
a second one while the dealer gave me a more powerful waiting for the return
of the original one. Different powers but same behaviours.
Dunno how the AGP voltage is elaborated.

May be, the fact I joined you was a good motivation for the helpers !

Cheers

 

[Simon Cussonnet]

Simon Cussonnet:


Try the solution I posted to Steve, it sounds like you've tried everything
else.

Thanks for the help,

In fact, I've already disabled nvcpl.dll a long time ago, because it was
causing unstability under Win98SE (ISTR) running Nero.
I took the opportunity to clean also other non desired programs.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run-]

[...]
"OWCCardbusTray"="ocbtray.exe"
"WinFast Schedule"="E:\\My_Programs\\Multimedia\\WinFast WFTVFM\\WFWIZ.exe"
"WinFoxV2"="E:\\WIN98\\SYSTEM\\WF2K.EXE"
"WinFast2KLoadDefault"="rundll32.exe wf2kcpl.dll,DllLoadDefaultSettings"
"NvCplDaemon"="RUNDLL32.EXE E:\\WIN98\\SYSTEM\\\\NVCpl.dll,NvStartup"
"nwiz"="nwiz.exe /install"
"nForce Tray Options"="sstray.exe /r"



Then I looked for the value you said (PlayOnMyTV). Unfortunately it's not in
my Registry.


I found two other occurrences of nvcpl.dll :
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{67E0E3C0-3068-11D3-8BD1-00104B6F7516}]
@="NVIDIA CPL EXTENSION"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{67E0E3C0-3068-11D3-8BD1-00104B6F7516}\InProcServer
32]
@="E:\\WIN98\\SYSTEM\\nvcpl.dll"
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"
and

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\CLASSES\CLSID\{67E0E3C0-3068-11D3-8BD1-00104B6F
7516}]
@="NVIDIA CPL EXTENSION"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\CLASSES\CLSID\{67E0E3C0-3068-11D3-8BD1-00104B6F
7516}\InProcServer32]
@="E:\\WIN98\\SYSTEM\\nvcpl.dll"
"ThreadingModel"="Apartment"

Dunno if this helps the diagnostic.

Reading again your post, if, I'm understanding correctly, your problems were
occuring when right-clicking on video files.
The difference with me is that mine occur when i do _nothing_ !

Thanks again

 

[Andrew]

Hi there,

I wonder if anybody can help. My symptoms are that my monitor displays
goes black (as though the video signal has stopped) randomly for a few

Bad power cable? Or bad electric wall box?

 

[Mac Cool]

Steve Reeves:

The GeForce itself is
over 2 years old (bought it when it was state of the art but the
problem has only recently shown up.

I had the problem on a Geforce 3 Ti200, parted that machine out because I
couldn't fix the problem. Then after 2 years the problem showed up with my
Geforce 4 Ti4200, again I couldn't find a fix so I bought a 5900XT. The
5900XT had the same problem and FINALLY I found the solution that I posted
here. Nvidia really needs to address this problem.