Monitor shuts off while computer is on...

Hello, a friend of mine referred me here because I'm having this ongoing issue that I cannot figure out. If anyone could help I'd definitely appreciate it. I've had my computer for about 2 months now and this just started happening about a month ago. It has only happened when I play games, doesn't happen all the time but it is very annoying when it does. At first it only did it once in awhile but this past week it has happened at least once per day.

Anyway, when I'm playing my monitor will shut off and will say "no signal". I've also noticed a couple times when that happens my mouse and keyboard shutdown too, yet my cpu is still powered up and running. I've been running core temp, but my temps have been very cool. I have no idea why this is happening, but here are my specs:

Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.080814-1236)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD
System Model: MS-7512
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8500 @ 3.16GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 3072MB RAM
Page File: 869MB used, 4087MB available
Windows Dir: E:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

Card name: ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series (using Catalyst 8.10 driver)
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x9442)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Display Memory: 512.0 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (70Hz)
Monitor: ViewSonic VX922
Monitor Max Res: 1280,1024


Thanks in advance for helping.

 

from what you say, it sounds like your video card siezes under stress and stops displaying to the monitor which then says "no signal"

Try running the burn in test from passmark and see what happens. Hopefully, if the same thing happens, the computer may finish the burn-in test and then the screen will come back up, letting you see the results.

http://www.passmark.com/products/bit.htm

Anyway, post back telling me what you find out.

 

Will it stop automatically or do I need to stop it? It's been running for 10 minutes so far.

 

Ok here goes, it says I failed the test, but it also shows there being a Drive F: which I don't have, so maybe that's why...My monitor didn't shutoff or anything all seemed fine to me.

Another thing I thought of while this test was running. I've only had this happen with 1 game, Warhammer Online, it's not happened so far with any other game, not sure if that helps or not.

Anyway, I'm attaching the log file. Thanks for the help!

 

Sorry about the late reply, hunting. According to the burn-in test, all of your hardware is working fine (note that it does not test your hard drive). Also, it seems to not be an overheating problem since the problem did not arise during the test, and a burn-in test is the most stressful (and most heat inducing) thing you can do to your system. You may run a second test just to verify the results.

Other than running a second test, there are a couple things that I can think of that may be the problem:
1) It's a glitch with the game. To test this, just try playing a different game and see if it happens there.
2) It's a driver issue that only arrises when the graphics are used a certain way. The burn-in test would not address this, since it basically does the same simple graphic repeatedly. To solve this, update your drivers.

In regards to #2, updating your drivers should have been the first thing you did in response to this problem. If you have not done so, do so now. You should be able to get it by going to ATI's site.

I'll see what happens after you try these, good luck.

 

Ya, it hasn't happened in any other game to this point anyway, happens pretty often in Warhammer, so if it were to happen in other games I'd think it would happen by now as I've played some others extensively as well. When this first started happening, I updated my drivers to the ones I have now, I'll check over at ATI to see if there is another one. The more I've been trying to figure this out over the last few weeks and from what you're thinking too, it does sound like it might just be that game. Wonder if it is a driver issue with the game. I'll post back in a couple days to see if new drivers changed anything, thanks again for the help!

 

good luck

 

Make sure you have the latest patch for the game: http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/patches/warhammer40000dawnofwar/patch.html I think is the correct link.

 

The patch auto updates every time you log in.

 

have you tried googling the game name and your video card. See if there are any well known problems with the two?

 

You could reduce the hardware acceleration for the graphics adapter when you play this game.

Right click on the desktop, choose properties> settings > advanced>troubleshooting

 

Ok, quick update. I'm pretty positive it's my Video Card and here is why. Over the last couple days I tried a couple different drivers and then just the other day ATI put out new drivers so I put them on. So far, I haven't had the "no signal" thing happen on the monitor, however I have had ATI's VPU Recover kick in to reset the GPU. For those who don't know what the VPU recover is, here is how ATI describes it:

"VPU Recover allows the ATI display driver to reset the graphics processor in the event that it stops responding to commands from the display driver. Using VPU Recover, the display driver will, in most cases, be able to reset the graphics processor without requiring a system restart."

Now, when this happened my screen went blank for a couple seconds and then everything was fine and I was still in game.

But here is the thing, Warhammer is still the ONLY game this happens with. The other game I play a lot of is Fallout 3, a very new game, and I haven't had either issue happen...

 

Well I spoke too soon, cuz I just had the "no signal" thing happen on my monitor again.

 

Did you try reducing the acceleration?

 

Not yet, which setting would you recommend?

 

It's a sliding scale.
Start at 95% and keep turning it down until problems stops.

A few years ago ATI users became very familiar with this control.

 

Ok, I'll check that out. I just read also that some people have experienced this same issue with the same video card with LCD monitors, I hope that's not the case

 

Sometimes it helps that you're not alone, sometimes it doesn't.

 

try a different video card since you've tried other drivers. If the new video card works fine, then the issue most likely is finding the right driver. Better yet, try a different monitor. And use different resolutions and refresh rates. See if that works.

 

Ok, I just had something new happen today, in addition to the 4 times my monitor has shut off! First of all, after testing out different settings on the ATI settings for the acceleration, I just had a popup saying the display driver wasn't working properly. It then put me into VGA mode at like 640x480 res and told me to restart...