Blank Screen using DVI

Heritz · March 17th, 2007, 06:45 AM

Hello guys,

I just bought a new monitor, a Samsung 940BW (wide) (I had CRT). I have it configured to 1440x900 @ 60Hz using the DVI cable on my ATI Radeon 9600 PRO 256MB AGP 8x. Last night I had installed the old 1.6.4 NGO Drivers, and every like 10 minutes of using the computer, the screen used to go black and the monitor started to show the ANALOG/DIGITAL window, something like trying to reach which source has the signal. That used to stay in black screen and I had to restart to get video again. I tried the RGB input, and I got no problem at all, no blank screens, just working as hell.

So, I decided to install the latest NGO drivers 1.7.2 because I wanted badly my DVI. Now, I got some kind of the same problem, but a lot less painful: from time to time... my screen just go black for like 2 seconds, and then I get video again. This is happening very randomly, I mean, I've been using the system for like 3 hours, and just happened 2 times.

What do you think is going on? Some wrong config on my video setup? something wrong with the video card?

Thanks a lot guys for your help!

**Regeneration** · March 18th, 2007, 12:21 AM

Try to install the latest driver of your Monitor, and try to use RefreshForce as well.

Heritz · March 18th, 2007, 06:06 AM

Hi, thanks for your guidelines.

Well I have already installed the latest drivers for my monitor. Also, I tried the RefreshForce software that you mentioned, and I set it up for 1440x900 @ 60Hz, but the problem is still there, from time to time the screen is going black for like 2 seconds and then the video comes back.

This is weird, because it only happens if I use DVI, not on RGB.

Dyre Straits · March 18th, 2007, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heritz

Hi, thanks for your guidelines.

Well I have already installed the latest drivers for my monitor. Also, I tried the RefreshForce software that you mentioned, and I set it up for 1440x900 @ 60Hz, but the problem is still there, from time to time the screen is going black for like 2 seconds and then the video comes back.

This is weird, because it only happens if I use DVI, not on RGB.

It sounds almost like it's trying to change Resolution and/or Refresh Rates. OR, it's losing sync and the recover mode is kicking in. OR, there's a poor connection with the DVI. Have you properly secured the connectors using the attachment bolts? Make sure everything is firmly connected and cannot be jostled loose.

Additionally, check the Power settings to make sure the monitor isn't set to turn off after a period of idleness.

Unixlord · March 18th, 2007, 05:45 PM

DVI doesn't seem to have any benefit. My LCD's got both and there's no diff AFAICT.

Heritz · March 18th, 2007, 06:18 PM

Isnt the quality between DIV and RGB better? I mean, I just use the monitor for my computer and play games, I really don't have any DVD or any other digital device plugged to it. So... if I can get the same quality with RGB, I better switch.

Heritz · March 21st, 2007, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dyre Straits

It sounds almost like it's trying to change Resolution and/or Refresh Rates. OR, it's losing sync and the recover mode is kicking in. OR, there's a poor connection with the DVI. Have you properly secured the connectors using the attachment bolts? Make sure everything is firmly connected and cannot be jostled loose.

Additionally, check the Power settings to make sure the monitor isn't set to turn off after a period of idleness.

Well, the connector are good, firmly connected. I also disabled the energy saving stuff, but the black screen is still coming every now an then.

shocked17 · April 5th, 2007, 04:57 PM

u can install ati tray tool and post your configuration. sure someone knows what is a correct set of parameters . btw try to flash your graphics card to the last bios. it could help too

i have the same problem with a 22 wide screen dell monitor. had to flash the bios for the monitor to be able to display boot screens.

Heritz · April 8th, 2007, 06:13 PM

Hi shocked17, thanks a lot for your interest in the post.

Its the first time I heard something about flashing my Video Card. Can you please provide me some link to get more information about it? I mean, where can I find my latest video card bios and stuff... like I said... that will be the first time for me and I could really use some link.

Thanks a lot bro!

shocked17 · April 9th, 2007, 02:58 PM

I have to prevent u that flashing bios is a dangerous operation. so u can get a non working ati card, and u could need a pci card to recover it.

tools i have found are atiflash and winflash, the bios : i found it in sapphire site, as my card is a sapphire. I flashed a bios corresponding (more or less) to my model of card, a 9000 pro, but memory and timings were not the same. i had 275/250mhz clocks and 64MB, while the bios i flashed was 275/275 mhz and 128mb. I have edited the bios i downloaded and changed the clocks settings to the correct values, the memory size i could not touch it with the radedit editor. im still wondering how can i change i.

That difference did not prevent my card from working, and the problem of monitor not recoginzing the card in the boot process was fixed. but it worsened the problem of a blinking monitor again, which i had already fixed using ngo drivers. And the monitor begun to blink ( i mean turn black for a second, then recover image, that every 1 to 10 seconds depending on the kind of application i use) when i "dared" to browse the web , watched movies etc...

i uninstalled directx and the drivers of the card, then selected the recomended driver from ati site, and reinstalled directx, well the latest i could find in microsoft downloads site.

now the monitor continue blinking with some apps, although it allows me to browse the web.

sapphire support did not answered yet to my question. dell support ppl said "your card is broken" "we dont know of an agp card that can work with your new monitor, talk to commercial ppl". i am in the process of RMA the monitor now, because it is incompatible and impossible to use, they are not responding, nice bunch of high lvl brains there in montpellier dell office.

my sapphire unflashed worked well with 3dgames and a 17" crt. it is not fast but worked fine with the games and video.

to flash the card with a new bios:
once u have selected a bios to flash your card, make a DOS diskette, put into it the bios u wanna flash and atiflash program. then use atiflash to download the current bios from your card. after that u flash the new bios and reboot the machine.

if your card does not work after flashing, think it is not damaged, u only need to put its original bios back into it. to do it u have to 1) plug into your comp a pci card 2)change a setting in bios of your computer : to make it use a pci card before agp card, and with the two cards plugged in the system 3) try to flash your old bios into the agp card.

plz dont forget to read the complete help info of atiflash before using it. And dont blame me if u get stuck. as your card and bios are not mine, and who knows?, it may be a fix or may be not, as we cannot know where is the cause of the problem. we dont have a complete diagnostic program/documentation to identify the problems and perform a correct fix.

gl.

shocked17