VERY annoying blinking black screen!

[Tim]

I just built my new computer system, and it's been running very well so far, and I'm playing WoW on high graphics settings with good frame rates even in areas that are known to bog down the graphics badly.

But there's one annoying problem. The screen will randomly flash to a black screen. It may blink to black for a split second and return, or it may stay black for up to 10 seconds before returning. Sometimes the blinking goes on and on, sometimes it won't do it for an hour or more.

And it doesn't seen to matter what I'm doing. Reading stuff on the internet, playing videos, playing WoW, etc.

This computer has all new parts in it (see parts list on my General Hardware topic), but it has a Visiontek 4870 512 MB graphics card, P45 chipset Gigabyte mb, 4 GB of Corsair ram, 700 watt OCZ power supply. And a new 500 GB Seagate hard drive with a fresh installation of XP Home.

My old NF-7 pc had the same blinking issue with the X850 graphics card, which makes me think it's a driver issue or something in the monitor (Samsung Syncmaster 204B) or the monitor cable is messed up. 2 totally different computers, same annoying problem.

With the 4870 card, I've tried the 8.6 drivers it came with, the 8.12 drivers from Radeon, and now I'm on the 8.10 drivers. It blinks with all 3.

[Thrax]

I think you've identified your problem.

[Tim]

Monitor or its cable?

[primesuspect]

well yeah, you've eliminated video card, software, every piece of hardware in your PC, so.... it's either the monitor or the cable.

[Tim]

I hooked up a 15" Dell lcd monitor that maxes out at 1024 X 768 resolution, and played WoW for about 2 hours today. Not one skip or black blink of the screen ever, although playing WoW on such a tiny monitor was weird, and having to use the DVI-VGA adapter meant the image wasn't as clear as it could be.

I called Samsung, and it turns out the monitor has a 3 year warranty, so I can send it in to be fixed, but not replaced.

Hmmm, should I spend money on fixing this monitor, or go buy a 22" widescreen like I've been wanting lately?:scratch:

I'd rather get a 24" if I'm going to buy a new monitor, but they are too expensive yet.

Decisions.

[mas0n]

You just said that it is under warranty. All you will pay is shipping, one-way.

[Tim]

I'll send it back to Samsumg, they say they can fix it / replace parts. I'll have to use a 15" LCD until it gets back.:confused2

[tc154]

Did this fix your problem? I've got the same issue but my monitor is ASUS. I have a Radeon 4850. The strange thing is that... I first noticed it on XP. I was considering going to vista at the time so I just ignored it thinking I was having problems due to a pretty old xp installation.
I borrowed a non-legit copy of vista 64 from my friend to test it out on my computer as a trial version. I had no black screen issues in several weeks of usage. I think I just had the original drivers installed that came with the card. 8.x
Then I bought Vista 64 off newegg. I've had problems with it ever since. I've been changing my drivers around from 9.1-9.5. All have the same problem. I've even tried using HDMI instead of DVI. It has even once done this annoying blinking in Safe Mode.