I doubt screensaver makes my monitor black out
15 Jan 2016 2:54:25 UTC
Topic 198376
(moderation:
I run boinc on my office computer. In the past serval months, I have experienced monitor black-out about 10 times. Numlock and capslock on my keyboard could response to my input. Harddisk was spinning. But the monitor was black and displayed nothing. I had to cut off the computer’s power supply and restarted my computer.
Those all happened when I ran Einstein@home in background and left my seat for a while. On one occasion, I saw celestial sphere screensaver running and moved my mouse to dismiss it and get back to desktop. Then the screensaver disappeared and monitor blacked out.
After that, I uninstalled boinc and monitor black-out never happened.
Recently, I re-installed boinc, running Einstein@home with screensaver disabled. But this morning, when I return to my seat form lab, I found my monitor blacked out again after several minutes idle time elapsed.
I doubt this black out really has some connection with Einstein@home's screensaver. I doubt celestial sphere screensaver will still try to run even after I disabled it.
Win 7 64 bit
Intel G645
NVIDIA GT 620
4GB G.skill RAM and 4GB Micron RAM
I doubt screensaver makes my monitor black out
)
Which driver version are you using with that Nvidia?
What kind of power saving settings have you set for the display in Windows?
RE: I run boinc on my
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These are the sorts of symptoms you would expect to see if some part of the system software/drivers is locking up or crashing. This is quite likely due to the hardware not coping with the stress of running the compute tasks. Some likely causes are too much heat, faulty power, or a RAM fault. Have you checked the following:-
* Have you tried running the machine with the side covers removed to see if that cures the problem? If so, that points to heat buildup inside the case.
* Is the PSU of good quality and capable of supplying good clean power? The easiest way to check it is to replace it (temporarily) with a known good unit if possible.
* How old is the PSU? What is the current rating at 12V? Is it possible to inspect it internally for swollen capacitors?
* Are there any signs of swollen capacitors on the motherboard?
* Have you tried to run memory testing software to check RAM?
* Have you tried to run stress testing software to see if the same blackout problem happens?
It's impossible to diagnose the problem from a distance so you really have to try various things to pin it down.
Sounds like the graphics driver crashing.
Do you have other machines in the office? If so, have you tried contacting the 'blacked-out' machine from another machine to see if the OS is still responding? Can you try to ping the IP address? That should tell you if the machine is still running.
I agree. To test this, just (temporarily) set the machine and monitor to be 'always on'. I don't use Windows so I don't know the precise settings. If the screen still blacks out, it's nothing to to with the screensaver or the energy saving settings.
Cheers,
Gary.