2007WFP - cycles on and off

Question

This is an intermittent, recurring problem.

Seems to be associated with MSIE 7.

Event not predictable.

System (desktop and monitor) passes Automated Scan via Dell PC Checkup 2.0

Effect: Monitor will cycle on and off. Duration between cycles is two or three seconds. Monitor will stabilized for maybe five seconds and continue cycling on and off. DVI icon appears in top left corner. Open browser windows may or may not be responsive. Some will close. Others may close but leave legacy image. Mouse pointer works which allows me to open and use Windows Task Manager to reboot.

Restarting clears the problem. During restart, the first screen shows numerous dead pixels. Second screen ("Windows is starting") dead pixels decrease to about 6 or so. At login screen, no dead pixels. Everything works as expected until the event reoccurs.

Have noticed no pattern or repeat tasks performed by MSIE 7 which might point to a cause.

Have repaired and unfragmented all registry entries.

All ideas or suggestions to explain the problem and solution will be most appreciated.

Windows XP Professional SP2 (regularly updated)

Dimension 9150/XPS 400

System memory: 4MB

Video Processor: GeForce 7900 GS 256

Driver version: 6.14.11.6921

Updated monitor driver to 2007WFP (digital)

Software: MS Office 2003

Adobe Web Premium CS3

DELL-Chris M · Answer

kwanah,

* Turn off both your computer and the monitor
* Make sure the monitor is plugged directly into the wall socket to remove any surge protectors or APCs from the troubleshooting equation
* Unplug the monitor video cable from the back of the computer
* Turn on the monitor
* The floating red/green/blue/white dialog box should appear on screen against a black background

If this passes, then the issue is not the monitor. It could be the video card driver, the video card, or some other hardware.

kwanah · Answer

Thanks, Chris;

Monitor passes the test.

Guess I'll be looking hard at rolling back the nvidea drivers next time this happens.

Rather pleased I can eliminate the monitor. I've enjoyed using it too much to trade it in for a warranty replacement. :-)

K.

kwanah · Answer

For those with a similar problem, I had overlooked an XP event which will trigger the problem on my system. Windows XP's "Power Save" option.

Upon waking the system some time after Power Save shut down the monitor, the monitor would then cycle on and off. Thus far, after a day of testing, the correction was to reset the Nvidia 7900GS driver to it's default setting.

For me, the only thing that changed was in the Performance and Quality Settings/Image Settings section. The reset changed the setting from "High Quality" to "Quality."

Dell performed "limited testing" on drivers through version 91.47 and has provided links from their download page. The version I'm using is 169.21.

kwanah · Answer

Turns out, that wasn't the problem or the solution. What is the likely problem and is the likely solution is almost too much for me to believe.

Short version. It was the Geforce GS7900 GS 256 driver.

The interesting version.

Needless to say, the cycling on and off came back. With a vengeance.

I UNINSTALLED the driver, rebooted, and installed version 91, the last Dell "limited tested" version. System was stabilized. So, not content to let sleeping dogs sleep, I decided to reinstall version 169. (91, for some odd reason, only allowed me a maximum resolution 1600 x 900.)

I UNINSTALLED version 91 and rebooted.

A miracle appeared. When Windows restarted it loaded version 84!!! This was the version I used prior to updating to 169. Where it was and why it wasn't removed from the system I do not know. Why it didn't cause conflicts/problems until just recently, I do not know.

I had to check Windows' installed program list just to make sure. Yep. The driver is listed. I have the native resolution of 1680 x 1050. Image and Color settings are what I want. System appears to be stable.

I think I WILL let this sleeping dog lie.

Monitors

2007WFP - cycles on and off

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