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Aw man, i screen went blank (but i know it's not shot)

post #1 of 20
11/26/03 at 1:48pm
Thread Starter 
An odd thing happened last night once and this morning again. I boot up the Area51m, the Windows start up screen comes on, my desktop comes up for about 5-10 seconds and then the screen goes blank. The screen can't be shot because it shows Gandalf riding Shadowfax in all his glory behind my desktop icons... for a few seconds. Anyone have any idea what could be making my screen go blank? Hmm...
I downloaded a patch for Knights of the Old Republic last night. It's the only thing different about my computer now that it's messing up. I don't see how that could make a difference (like i know anything about it though). I downloaded the 7.93 driver for the Radeon 9600 a few days ago, but had no problem until last night. Could the screen be somehow going into standby or something? I have it set to never go off after any idle time. Oh, i really don't know what it could be. Any ideas?



Thanks.
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post #2 of 20
11/26/03 at 1:54pm
The new drivers aren't the 7.93 drivers. The 7.93 drivers are for the Mobility Radeon 7500 and 9000. Download and install the 7.95 drivers if you can. Here is a link to them:

http://www.alienware.com/ftp_downlo.../ati/ati795.zip
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post #3 of 20
11/26/03 at 6:59pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks mechanic. I click the link above and am taken to the Alienware main page for some reason. I searched quick for the 7.95 drivers on the site and on the net and could not find them.

Maybe i am confused. When i search the Alienware site for drivers for the Area51m notebook, do i look in XP, Mobile, ATI, Radeon? Because if i check Video then Catalyst drivers come up and i see no 7.95.

I'd love to download the 7.95, but the link did not work for me and i can't find them, also want to make sure i don't download the wrong one again.

Thanks again. Sorry.
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post #4 of 20
11/26/03 at 6:59pm
Get the driver from here actually:

http://www.alienware.com/ftp_downloa...ati/ati795.zip
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post #5 of 20
11/26/03 at 9:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mechanic
Good lord...17megs? for drivers?

-Craig
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post #6 of 20
11/26/03 at 9:47pm
I know this is off topic but go to eurocom.com and select future models. Look at that laptop and it is coming out on Dec.15 2003.
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post #7 of 20
11/26/03 at 11:03pm
Thread Starter 
Downloading the drivers right now. Thanks again. Yeah, that laptop on Eurocom. Depressing. Just when you feel good that your computer is near the top of the line, look what happens. Argh.
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post #8 of 20
11/26/03 at 11:13pm
im not depressed one bit...upgradeable GPU! Say it with me UPGRADEABLE GPU!

-Craig
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post #9 of 20
11/26/03 at 11:43pm
Lets hope we will be able to upgrade to prescotts and get a better GPU.
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post #10 of 20
11/26/03 at 11:44pm
Thread Starter 
Upgradable GPU!

Heck yeah. Very true. Not much to be worried about is there.

Oh, my driver adventure continues. The download just finished... at 8 megs! I'll try again. Should be about 17. Grr.
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post #11 of 20
11/27/03 at 7:35am
Hrm I had a lcd monitor do this to me too. At the time I just bought it and it worked great for a while. But then I would turn it on and it would display for a few seconds and automatically turn off. I had no idea what it was doing but ultimately calling up viewsonic they told me to send it back to fix it. They sent me a brand new monitor so I guess it was the lcd that was messed up.

I hope thats not your case and it's just a driver issue.
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post #12 of 20
11/27/03 at 9:31am
Thread Starter 
Thanks, FuFu. I hope so too. The screen came up last evening, even with the old driver. Well, i hope it does not happen again. I hate to think of sending it back to get fixed, the Green Monster.

EDIT: Looks like i'll have to give Alienware a call. The screen did the same thing this morning. I'll use this as an excuse to try out that mooning smiley... even though i am more sad than in the mooning mood. Darn.
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post #13 of 20
11/27/03 at 1:05pm
Its probably the switch for the LCD, if it goes blank again take a pen or something and press on the LCD switch. This thing is causing alot of problems.
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post #14 of 20
11/28/03 at 2:20am
Thread Starter 
That was it, Kowolski. The screen went blank again today, i took a pen and had to sort of push the tiny switch up a bit. It went blank again. Repeat... a couple of times. Well, atleast the problem is pinpointed. Now i wonder what to do with it. You say it's giving alot of people grief? Is there a place on the net were people are talking about it? I'd love to read more. See if it's worth sending back for a new screen that may just do the same. Mostly, i'd like to hear what Alienware has been telling people before i give them a call. Just so i know what to expect or what to say.

Well, any more info on this particular problem would be much appreciated by anyone. Thanks alot. I must say, this board has been an excellent help so far.
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post #15 of 20
11/28/03 at 3:22am
Same thing happened to me.

I got so mad that I hit it on the button and it hasn't acted up yet.

gg super expensive laptop
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post #16 of 20
1/13/04 at 2:17pm

Same Problem

I have the same problem with my laptop and knights of the old republic, can anyone post the link to the alienware radeon 9000 7.93 driver??? Please.
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post #17 of 20
1/13/04 at 7:00pm
This has happened to me also. My desktop shows up after boot then my screen goes all black. I had thought that it went into standby, but it really didnt.

This has happened to me when I had played a DVD, you can still faintly see the movie play but but displayed in lighter and darker shades of black!!

So my guess is that the computer does not go into standby, the only thing that happens is that the screen 'blacks out' while everything else stays normal.

For some odd reason this problem, once being prevalent and very annoying, is now mysteriously/thankfully gone.
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post #18 of 20
1/14/04 at 11:57am
For a $3000.00 computer, I would be pissed!
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post #19 of 20
1/14/04 at 12:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by IH8ALIENWARE
For a $3000.00 computer, I would be pissed!

I am sure that YOU would be. But what does that do help the problem? I had a $50k car that died on the side of the road the day after I puchased it. It just the way things happen in this universe.
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post #20 of 20
1/14/04 at 12:56pm
*cheers* Time-Pilot.

-aurora
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