mark101

Hi,

I am looking for some advice/help please with an intermittent problem of losing my video signal to my monitor and hence a black screen. I then have to shut the computer down manually and restart where it operates normally again for several minutes to hours before it repeats the process again. The signal loss occurs when I leave the computer alone for a few minutes and the screen goes blank. Sometimes by moving the mouse or touching the keyboard the signal and screen image are present and sometimes not. I have noticed this signal loss happening in both normal computer operational and standbye modes.

I have an HP1190.uk computer running on Windows XP home with

Processor x86 Family 15 Model 3 Stepping 4 GenuineIntel ~3401 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 3.28, 23/01/2006
Total Physical Memory 1,024.00 MB
Video Card RADEON X600/X550 Series

History

1. Immediately prior to this video signal issue I had a problem where the computer would shut down totally intermittently (after between 1 hour and 24 hours operation) then would immediately try to restart itself for a couple of times before either failing totally or me removing the power supply to the machine to stop continuous restarts. If I left the machine alone for several minutes it woud start and operate normally again (for 1 to 24 hours). I subsequently changed the computer power supply and this shut down problem went away to be replaced by the video signal problem (above). Any help/advice would be gratefully received

Eremon1

I don't mean to sound condescending, but have you checked the Screen Saver mode and the Power Save settings? It almost sounds as tho the computer is going to the blank mode and when you move the mouse it wakes the monitor. For the times it's not waking just by moving the mouse it's probably in power saving mode, in that case try clicking the mouse button or pressing a key on the keyboard.

mark101

Thanks for your reply. When I move the mouse or press the keyboard it sometimes wakes the monitor and sometimes does not. When it does not wake then the only way I can get it to work again is to shutdown the computer comletely (by holding the on button for 5 to 6 seconds to shut it down) then restart the computer again and it then works OK...until the next time

vladimirb

Check the temperatures in BIOS...
Also download SpeedFun:

http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php

and check there for temperatures of CPU and graphic card, post it of course...

Open one side of the case and check if it is dusted from inside...
if it is, blow the dust with compressed air...
make sure you clean well heat-sink that resides on CPU...


You might have a heating issue...

mark101

thanks for the advice - have blown some light dust out from the CPU heat sink. Can I access the bios whilst running or do I have ot do this through start up?

vladimirb

When you start PC you will see on POST screen which one key button you need to hit to enter BIOS...
Could be DEL, F1, F2, F10...

mark101

Thanks again for your feedback - I have run Speedfan and it shows 3 fans with the following information on the 'Readings' tab

Fan 1 - 1865rpm CPU temp: 41C, speed 38%
Fan 2 - 1531rpm ambient: 34C, speed 35%
Fan 3 - 0rpm remote: 0C, speed 100%
Fan 4 - 0rpm HDO: 35C

clicking 'configure' then "advanced" tab and selecting DME1737 at $2E on Intel SMBus in the 'chip' window the following is shown in the window below

Fan1 zone/mode - manully controlled
Fan2 zone/mode - manually controlled
Fan3 zone/mode - always on full

I have noticed that the CPU temperature on the 'readings' tab occasionally changes from a green tick to a red upwards pointing arrow as the temperature increases then drops back to a green tick shortly afterwards.

Your advice please

vladimirb

START > RUN... > type DXDIAG and hit enter...
In General tab read what make/model of CPU you got...

41C is good temperature, nothing to worry about, but just in case I want to let us know what CPU you have...

mark101

Since your last post the monitor signal has been lost again so I have restarted and checked the bios on start up.

Here the CPU is Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.40GHz with HT technology, speed 3400MHz/800Mhz

I have checked the CPU tempertaure adn this is currently showing 49C with a fan speed of 1830RPM?

mark101

I have been monitoring the CPU temperature in the BIOS with a maximum of 51C being achieved during a 10 minute monitoring period

vladimirb

Read temperatures in BIOS also...
SpeedFun can not be accurate as well as temperatures in BIOS...
Also make sure you de-check Automatic Fan Speed check box in SpeedFun...

mark101

As per prevous post max CPU temp seen in BIOS is 51C. The Automatic Fan Speed is dechecked in SpeedFan....

Thanks for your help. Please advise on next steps

nonamedsomebody

Are you using on board video or a video card this is usually the sign it's going bad I had my old 9200 do the same thing swapped the card out with new but used one and it fixed the problem. be sure to uninstall the current vga drivers though before changing cards.

vladimirb

Did you redo thermal paste on CPU???
You should do that... Arctic Silver 5 is very good thermal paste:

http://www.arcticsilver.com/#

To do that, remove heat-sink, clean both CPU and bottom of the heat-sink with acohol and apply new thermal paste...

mark101

It is a separate video card (ATI Radeon X600). I didn't want to swap this video card out then find that it was a motherboard problem (or something else) as I have already changed the power supply (see earlier post information).

mark101

I did not redo the thermal paste - should I do this rather than increase the fan speed?

nonamedsomebody

Yes re coat the cpu with a paper thin layer of thermal paste enough to fill the air gap between the cpu and the Heat sink. If you have another card or can borrow a different card i would try that as well.

nonamedsomebody

You still with us? mark101

mark101

Sorry for the gap in replying - I have purchased some thermal paste and replaced the existing CPU and video card paste. The video card showed an uneven spread of paste.
After replacing both sets of paste the video signal has now run longer than before without losing its signal so it looks good. The CPU temperature went up to a max of 62C with some progrms locking up so I separated the heat sink from the CPU again and checked the paste. This showed that I had not gotten an even spread across the CPU/heat sink interface so I have reapplied some to achieve this. It is proving difficult to keeep an even spread due to the securing screws and frame installation limiting the application of an even pressure across the CPU/heatsink interface. I will continue to monitor the CPU temperature - will need to get some more paste though and try again
.

Thanks for your help

mark101

Video card still working after 24 hours (this is longest period for weeks). CPU temperature has average 48C with a maximum of 61C over an 8 hour period. Is this temperature variation
acceptable?