Monitor Flashing when Waking from Sleep Mode

[Jeff W]

I have a new Vista 64-bit machine. The monitor/screen flashes 5 times every time I wake the computer from sleep mode. Does anyone know what is causing this and how to correct it? Thanks.

[sporkthedork]

By flashing, do you mean that you can suddenly see your desktop, and then it goes away (5 times)?

Or, is it simply lighting up 5 times (but not displaying an image)?

[Jeff W]

It would be your first scenario, the screen flashes on and off 5 times and you are able to see the desktop/screen each time between flashing.

[bondarnes]

Maybe it's just grumpy until it has had coffee

[sporkthedork]

What graphics card do you have (or is it onboard)? Are we talking about a notebook or a tower?

[Jeff W]

It is a dedicated graphics card (ATI HD4850 with 512MB RAM) and it is in a Tower. Essentially a brand new machine (3 weeks old). Just added the Dell 2408WFP monitor last Wednesday. It was not doing this before I had to re-format/re-install the OS over the weekend because of another issue with my Dell.

[sporkthedork]

That's a nice gc. I have seen similar problems with Vista 32 bit systems with this card. Have you tried reinstalling the software and drivers that came with the card?

If you don't mind saying, what was the reason for reloading the OS?

[Jeff W]

I havent re-installed the drivers yet.

I have had mucho computer problems for the past 2 1/2 months. The latest occurred last week when all of the sudden I lost the ability to reach/connect to the internet. Everything else was working fine on the machine. After spending about 12 hours last Thursday trying various things (switching out modems and ethernet cables; spending time on the phone with my ISP along with my favorite computer company/country, Dell/Phillipines; restoring the system; etc.), I tried one last thing before I was going to get Dell to send me my third replacment computer which was re-installing my OS from the DVD instead of just the factory image. It essentially worked, but now I have this darn flashing thing going on with my monitor when it wakes from sleep mode.

[bdavid50]

I had the same problem (mine only flashed once or twice) when I got my Dell 2408 WFP. I was running it on Windows XP Pro with a Radeon 8400 video card (DVI output). My G/F also got the same monitor but she had a different video card and never saw the flashing problem. Did a little research on the Dell Forums, there were some problems like this reported by other users. Essentially the problem seems to be related to way the monitor receives signals from certain Video cards. I just upgrade to a new computer running Windows Vista 64 bit, the machine has intergrated Video (for now) and I have not had the problem. There may be a Monitor driver update you can download. also the earlier Monitor models had this problem more than the ones produced after Mid 2008. I don't know if your problems is the same but it's worth checking out.

[Jeff W]

Thanks for the feedback. I just purchased my monitor 2 weeks ago and it is Rev. A01, so it is the newer model and firmware. I will try to re-install the drivers for the monitor and maybe video card again to see if it helps before I contact the Phillipines. Maybe I will even try the other DVI output on it too to see if that changes things.

[bdavid50]

One other thing to test, if your video card has VGA as well as DVI you might try the VGA connect. My G/F's older video card only had VGA and as I said she never had the wake up or flicker problem.