Samsung 205BW - display occasionally turns black for a few seconds

I've been having a recurring problem with my monitor for the past 9 months or so. Honestly, I have been convinced that it is the monitor causing the problem, but I have not ruled out the possibility that the video card is responsible.

Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 205BW
Video Card: MSI GeForce FX 5900XT
I've gone back and forth between the MSI drivers and newest Nvidia drivers. It does not make a difference.

This happens regardless of what I am doing. The display will suddenly turn completely black, as if I had just switched the source from digital to analog. I'm not saying it even as anything to do with the source, though. The display stays black for about 1 or 2 seconds, and then everything goes back to normal. The blue power light stays on the entire time.

When I first called Samsung about this, they RMA'd the monitor with little hesitation (the first monitor was actually a 204BW). The replacement did the same thing so I called and they RMA'd it. That replacement is what I am using right now and it still does this.

When I press the menu button and navigate to "Information," the following is displayed:
Digital
65.3 kHz 60Hz PP
1680x1050

Here are the display settings found in DXDIAG:

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: MSI MS-StarForce GeForce FX 5900XT (NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900XT)
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce FX 5900XT
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0332&SUBSYS_93701462&REV_A1
Display Memory: 128.0 MB
Current Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: SyncMaster 205BW/204BW, SyncMaster Magic CX203BW/CX205BW(Digital)
Monitor Max Res: 1680,1050
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.7125 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 1/10/2005 08:32:00, 4033664 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: No
WHQL Date Stamp: None
VDD: n/a
Mini VDD: nv4_mini.sys
Mini VDD Date: 1/10/2005 08:32:00, 3330304 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-4072-11CF-076C-7AB300C2CB35}
Vendor ID: 0x10DE
Device ID: 0x0332
SubSys ID: 0x93701462
Revision ID: 0x00A1
Revision ID: 0x00A1
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_B ModeMPEG2_C ModeMPEG2_D
Deinterlace Caps: {212DC722-3235-44A4-BD29-E1652BBCC71C}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,2) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{212DC723-3235-44A4-BD29-E1652BBCC71C}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_MedianFiltering
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{212DC722-3235-44A4-BD29-E1652BBCC71C}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,UYVY) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,2) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{212DC723-3235-44A4-BD29-E1652BBCC71C}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,UYVY) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_MedianFiltering
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(UYVY,UYVY) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{212DC722-3235-44A4-BD29-E1652BBCC71C}: Format(In/Out)=(YV12,0x32315659) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,2) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{212DC723-3235-44A4-BD29-E1652BBCC71C}: Format(In/Out)=(YV12,0x32315659) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_MedianFiltering
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(YV12,0x32315659) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{212DC722-3235-44A4-BD29-E1652BBCC71C}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,2) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{212DC723-3235-44A4-BD29-E1652BBCC71C}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_MedianFiltering
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
Registry: OK
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled
DDraw Test Result: Not run
D3D7 Test Result: Not run
D3D8 Test Result: Not run
D3D9 Test Result: Not run

Click to expand...

I have searched everywhere to see if anyone else has had similar problems, but to no avail. Can anyone even attempt to diagnose what this may be? If you need any more information, I'll promptly provide it.

Thanks.

I've got a similar problem, it could well be your video card and/or driver. I'm running a GeForce FX5200 and upon WinXP boot up the screen will go black for second and then come back about 2 times over. Kinda like when you change resolutions on the fly. This happened on both my old 17" CRT and new Acer AL1916W 19" LCD, so the problem was the video card/driver.

When I updated to the latest NVIDIA drivers I did experience the same thing when clicking on video files in explorer. Every time you would click on a video file the screen would blink. This was due to the fact that the NVIDIA driver added a extra "Play on TV" (or something like that) menu to the explorer menu. This was easily fixed/removed by a simple registry edit. It didn't fix the blinking at boot up though.

Does it happen to you when you do something in particular?

Also, I'm looking at ditching my Acer 19" because it doesn't support pixel mapping, and when I hook up my Playstation3 via the DVI, I get a slightly stretched image which I don't like. I've been considering the Samsung 205BW, can you tell me if it supports 1:1 pixel mapping? It'll be somewhere in the monitors OSD menu, might be called something like aspect, zoom, expansion...

Thanks.

Hey there. I just wanted to ask if you had resolved your problem with that monitor at all? I'm having what appears to be the same problem. I'll be doing something completely innocent (scrolling to a certain part of the page on a site, for example) and then everything is black. Whats funny is that if I scroll up or down from that exact point, everything is fine, but if I scroll back to that point, it goes black again. Sometimes its as bad as I'll open a window, it'll turn black, I'll hit Windows+D to show the desktop, and it comes back. But if I bring the same window back up, things freak out again.

For reference, I have a 6800 Ultra, with fairly recent drivers (month or two old, tops) and this was happening before that even.

Anyway, I might just have to call Samsung and see if they can help me out. Hopefully other people with this problem will find this thread!