Monitor going into stand by mode

[Anne_C]

Hello

First of all, I apologise if this question has been raised before. I did use the search function, but did not find any threads that dealt with my particular type of problem.

Yesterday as I was booting up the game I currently play, Guildwars, a patch was instantly downloaded as they usually do - streamlining their updates and patches to their customers. This time, I wonder what went wrong.

Suddenly, my monitor went into the stand by mode when I was playing. It happened again and again. I started up another game (Neverwinter Nights) to find out if this new issue was related to Guildwars, but yet again the monitor shut itself down to stand by.

I checked the power supply units and made sure the settings were there as most of the support websites recommended. I updated the relevant drivers, as per recommendation and made sure I hadn't missed any of the Windows critical updates. But that didn't help. The monitor keeps going blank and I can hear the game running in the background.

This happens only when I'm gaming though, not when surfing and using MS Office etc. This problem only started occuring yesterday after this particular patch/update download.

I read in another thread that changing the settings to 1024x768@75hz helped one person out, so I will try that tonight.

PC specs (sry if these are incomplete, I usually refer to my PC as "the tractor" as it has been so reliable and steady until now)
AMD, 512 RAM, 2500mhz, nvidia geforce fx 5700, Win2k

If anyone might have an idea of whats going on, I'd be very thankful for any help I can get to solve this problem.

Regards, Anne

[azzey]

Hi there, Anne_C, and welcome tohttp://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif Discussion Forums!

If I were to guess, I'd say that the problem is with your video card. Since the problem is only happening in games, that indicated possible a problem with cooling, or perhaps your video card is just going south.

If, for some reason, your video card stops sending a signal, the monitor will go into standby. (It's actually slightly more complicated than that, but this is the easiest way to explain it). So, from this we can deduce that while you're playing your game, the video card stops sending a signal. The monitor responds by going into standby.

Because you can hear the game still going, this also indicates that the rest of your computer is working properly. At least, that's what it appears like.

Do you have a spare video card around that you can use to test the system?

[saphalline]

Does your monitor have more than one output? It could be that your vid card is somehow dying, but it could also be a problem within Windows or even the BIOS. What does Device Manager say? Have any power management settings been changed recently?

[Anne_C]

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question, it certainly pointed me in the right direction.

No, nothing at all had been changed or touched prior to the suspicioius patch download from the Guildwars server. The Device Manager reported no current conflicts or problems.

I've reduced the graphical settings in the game and increased the refresh rate to 75mhz as it worked for another person on this forum. It is too early to say if the problem is solved, but if the problem no longer occurs I will post what I did in more detail in case it might help someone else in the future encountering the same problem.

Regards

Anne C

[saphalline]

Ok, keep us posted...