# My monitor is intermittently blacking out.



## JamesBJames (Dec 28, 2008)

Hello, everyone, my name is JamesBJames, and I'd like to tell you about my monitor woes. I apologize ahead of time for the wall of text I'm about to unleash upon you all. I have included cliff notes at the bottom of my post if you do not want to read the entirety of this post.

Just as a little preface: This is not the first time my monitor has screwed up. Back about two and a half months ago, I had an exactly similar scenario and posted it on a different forum. It will basically tell you what I'd like to get across here:



> I have a problem with my monitor that I can't seem to be able to fix. It worked fine as of about seven hours ago, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I'll detail as much as I can below about what I've tried.
> 
> I restarted my computer at around 5:00 PM, went somewhere, and got home around 7:00 PM. When I turned my computer on, the problem reared its ugly head. It seemed that after a random amount of time, my monitor would black out (but not completely lose power - the light on it stayed on regardless of what the screen showed). If I tried to turn the monitor back on by hitting the button on the monitor itself, I would be able to see my screen again, but only for about three seconds before it blacked out again. The only way to temporarily fix the problem was to restart the computer and go back to stage 1.
> 
> ...


However, as mysterious as the problem was, it seemed to fix itself after just one night. Even though none of my above aforementioned methods were successful in solving the problem, I apparently had luck on my side, for I didn't have any problems with my monitor until about a week ago. And, of course, that's why I'm making this post.

Two Fridays ago (December 19th), my monitor started displaying similar symptoms to what it had done back in October. However, this time, the problem was not fixed after a day; instead, it has persisted for over a week and is still annoying me up to this minute. The problem is exactly the same as it was last time, and I have tried all the solutions I had tried last time in an attempt to fix it, but to no avail. After a random amount of time (anywhere between a minute and a day and a half...), it will black out, just like before. The only temporary fixes I can find are: turning it off and waiting a while, restarting my computer, and hitting the side of the monitor in frustration (although, this doesn't always work, and when it does, it's not for long).

My monitor is an "AOC LM760 Black 17" LCD Monitor," as featured here: http://www.superwarehouse.com/AOC_LM760_Black_17_LCD_Monitor/LM760/p/658143. It's rather old, and I fear that it's seeing the last of its days as well.

If you got through that wall of text, congratulations: I'm not sure if I could. I appreciate any help that you all might provide.


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*Cliff notes*:
1) 2.5 months ago, my monitor started blacking out, but fixed itself after about a day.
2) Two Fridays ago, my monitor started doing the same things as from 2.5 months ago, but this time, it still persists to the time of this post.
3) Nothing I did before fixes the problem, other than turning the monitor off and waiting, restarting the computer, or hitting the monitor on its side
4) Help?


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## parcifal (Apr 13, 2011)

I have the answer, I'm pretty sure. 
The exact same thing as you describe it here was happening to me just yesterday. I thought it was surely a problem with the monitor, and I even went to a store with discount computer equipment to look over the selection of monitors they had in case I needed to get a new one. 
While I was unplugging and rebooting and all that, I noticed the light on my power outlet block/surge protector was blinking wildly, and this is something it had never done before. 
Then I recalled that earlier in the day a service truck from the electric company (in my area, it's Seattle City Light) was parked just down the, and the workmen were working away at something right across the street from me. I just unplugged everything and waited until I saw them drive away. Then plugged everything back in and rebooted -- Voila! no more blinking surge protector and no more problem with my monitor.
So it's highly likely it was wildly fluctuating current coming into your home which caused the intermittent blacking out of your monitor. Unless you have an actual AC transformer with enormous capacitance, there is no way to deal with this problem.
Watch for the electric utility workers on or near your street, turn off your equipment and just wait til they're done working.


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