Monitor Flickers Once For A 1/2 Sec. Each Time Every 1-2 Hours. Why?

Hello. First off, I do not know where to even stick this question because I do not know the culprit to my issue. I assume this forum topic is best.

For the last few days now (never had this happen before), my monitor on my desktop has been flickering. When I say flickering, I mean that it flickers once quickly. The color of the flicker that I can pick up with my naked eye is just slow enough so it looks black in color. The flicker is about a half a second. This occurs every hour or two, it tends to be random. Always just one flicker with 1/2 second in duration. Nothing happens to my programs that are running when this happens. System appears okay.

I know it could be to a lot of things, but I am sure some of you experts are quick to jump at what actually may be the culprit from experience or knowledge. Please share with me your thoughts and ideas.

How severe is this and could it get worse? Will I need to do something soon like?

Thank you!

 

Hi, you would need to give us a little more information about your computer in order for us to make better recommendations. Computer make, model, CPU, RAM, OS, the usual stuff.

 

Sure. I used Belarc Advisor for the data. I have quickly checked the data you needed. So far looks accurate.

Not in the data: Let you know that my system is custom made. Motherboard: ASUS P5Q (standard version board).

Hope this helps.


Operating System System Model
Windows XP Media Center Edition Service Pack 3 (build 2600)
Install Language: English (United States)

System Locale: English (United States) No details available

Processor
2.85 gigahertz Intel Core2 Quad Q9550
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
12288 kilobyte secondary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (4 total)
Not hyper-threaded

Main Circuit Board
Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. P5Q Rev 1.xx
Bus Clock: 333 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 1004 07/10/2008

Memory Modules
3328 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Slot 'DIMM0' has 2048 MB (serial number SerNum00)
Slot 'DIMM1' is Empty
Slot 'DIMM2' has 2048 MB (serial number SerNum02)
Slot 'DIMM3' is Empty

Drives
1470.47 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
791.22 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-H62L [CD-ROM drive]
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-H62L [CD-ROM drive]
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]

Generic USB CF Reader USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 6
Generic USB MS Reader USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 8
Generic USB SD Reader USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 5
Generic USB SM Reader USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 7
Seagate ST380815AS SCSI Disk Device (80.02 GB) -- drive 4, SMART Status: Healthy
ST3500630NS [Hard drive] (500.11 GB) -- drive 3, SMART Status: Healthy
WDC WD2500JD-22HBB0 [Hard drive] (250.06 GB) -- drive 2, rev 08.02D08, SMART Status: Healthy
WDC WD5000AAKS-00A7B2 [Hard drive] (500.11 GB) -- drive 0
WDC WD5000AAKS-00H2B0 [Hard drive] (500.11 GB) -- drive 1

Local Drive Volumes
c: (NTFS on drive 0) 262.14 GB 47.62 GB free
d: (NTFS on drive 1) 157.29 GB 145.74 GB free
m: (NTFS on drive 4) 36.70 GB 22.13 GB free
n: (NTFS on drive 1) 104.86 GB 73.91 GB free
p: (NTFS on drive 2) 40.34 GB 20.17 GB free
q: (NTFS on drive 3) 104.86 GB 27.69 GB free
r: (NTFS on drive 0) 211.75 GB 115.12 GB free
s: (NTFS on drive 2) 209.71 GB 95.84 GB free
y: (NTFS on drive 1) 185.54 GB 97.30 GB free
z: (NTFS on drive 3) 157.29 GB 145.73 GB free

Display
NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT [Display adapter]
Samsung SyncMaster [Monitor] (19.1"vis, July 2005)

Controllers
Standard floppy disk controller
Intel(R) ICH10 Family 2 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 2 - 3A26
Intel(R) ICH10 Family 4 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 1 - 3A20
Primary IDE Channel [Controller] (2x)
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller] (2x)

Bus Adapters
Generic Marvell 61xx RAID Controller
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 3A3A
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 3A3C
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A34
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A35
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A36
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A37
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A38
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A39
VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller (2x)
VIA USB Enhanced Host Controller

Multimedia
ATI Unified AVStream Driver
AVerMedia C038 USB Capture Card
Creative SB X-Fi

Communications
1394 Net Adapter
1394 Net Adapter #2
Atheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 PCI-E Ethernet Controller

Other Devices
OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller (2x)
APC Battery BackUP
Logitech Driver Interface (2x)
Generic Mount Control Device
American Power Conversion USB UPS
HID-compliant consumer control device
HID-compliant device
USB Human Interface Device (3x)
Wacom HID Digitizer
Wacom HID Pen
Wacom Virtual Hid Driver
Brother MFC-7820N LAN #2
Microsoft USB Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 (IntelliType Pro)
Logitech HID-compliant Marble Mouse
Wacom Mouse
OX16PCI952 PCI UARTs
UIM Drive Backup Image Plugin
Universal Image Mounter Controller
USB Composite Device
USB Mass Storage Device
USB Root Hub (11x)

 

Let me add more information for you to help you that I have observed now:

Now, during last night's flickering, the desktop area of Windows XP (everything above the taskbar) was all solid black for less than a second; at the same time the taskbar's border lines ("Start", the buttons for open applications, and the system tray) were highlighted in a wide light gray boarder with a black area inside each area. After that brief second, it all came back to normal after flickering back to normal as if the images on my screen were generating back to normal. Now today, it is just back to that super fast flicker again every hour or so.

I'll add that if I am reading a long article online and I have not changed the screen for a couple of minutes (no scrolling, mouse, or even keyboard contact), it seems to happen a little more frequent like last night.

Hope this helps.

 

Do you have a program that automatically changes your wallpaper? A similar thing happens to my PC when webshots automatically changes my wallpaper.

 

First, thank you!!!!!! I think you "MAY" have the solution to my issue. I say "MAY"!!! Reason: YES, I DO have a screen saver set to run after 4 mins. When I am reading a long article online, it may be trying to run. Here is the interesting thing: I just installed the new YoWindow (By the way, check it out.) and it has a screensaver function part in it. But, I did uninstall it for now. I may get it later on. However, it was still showing up in my screensaver listing under Display Properties and highlighted as the selected choice. Now, the system may be trying to run it and it can obviously run because it is off my system and causing quirky flickering. YOU MAY BE RIGHT!!! It fits a lot to what is happening, however there are times that it just flickers by itself so to speak. I have to be more aware on the time when I am not touching any keys/the mouse on my system and when it happens again, if it indeed does now.

Thanks for your help and I keep you posted on my results.

Thanks!

 

it could be a transient in the mains supply causing a bit of interference to the monitor, like when the fridge kicks in or something else coming on.

 

Hello. Thanks for your reply, voodoo3rd. That idea crossed my mind. I will still keep an eye on that.

However, I found that the issue is from the screensaver issue I previously said. I have had no flickering going on the last day at all. I SHOULD BE QUIET since things are going great! But, I am happy! It makes sense.

I am satisfied and I consider this topic closed, unless you want to reply.

Thanks for all your help!