Multi monitors / Win7 / black screen repeated flashing

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RedShark

[H]ard|Gawd
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Aug 8, 2003
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Background: I've had exactly one problem with Windows 7 that I still haven't nailed down with over a month's use. System is Win 7 Ultimate X64, nVidia 7600 GT, Forceware 197.45. Three displays: Two LCDs + one TV via S-Video.

The problem: I occasionally need to disable the second LCD so that I can enable the TV, or vice versa. The card supports only two outputs at a time. When I attempt to enable the other display, Windows goes into some kind of loop wherein the screen goes completely black--the backlight shuts off and everything--and then comes back. This loop has a period of a few seconds: black screen/backlight off, black screen with cursor, glimpse of desktop and windows, repeat.

It's not completely locked up. The machine is largely unresponsive, but I can usually execute the commands necessary to log myself off. This process usually causes the flicker problem to stop, and the machine becomes usable once again. It takes some time though--I think the machine is effectively frozen for most of each "loop iteration," but comes back to life for a fraction of a second repeatedly.

The problem is not completely reproducible--enabling/disabling displays normally works. But it fails every 10 times I try it or thereabouts, leaving me terrified each time I hit "apply." :)

No events in Event Viewer, System or Application.

Thoughts?
 
Have you attempted installing the Microsoft approved video drivers via Windows Update?
 
After trying to unsuccessfully enable the other monitor, if you can, run dispdiag and save the resulting .dat file, then share it, I will see if anything odd is logged.
 
Redyouch - 197.45 are WHQL. The problem also occurred with whatever nvidia's driver was on April 11 (the previous version). I never did have the problem on Vista. I've just installed the one from via Windows Update by going to Device Manager, selecting the display adapter, and using "Update Driver / Search for drivers online." I'll let you know if the problem persists.

The "new" version is 191.07 apparently - at least nvlddmkm is.

Tawnos - It's posted here:
http://www.renzelmann.com/temp/dispdiag.dat

This is from the 197.45 driver since I ran it first. How does one analyze this file--it seems to contain binary data. Is there some other tool available for that purpose?
 
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The problem just occurred again, but this time it was a slightly different set of events that brought it about. I was at work and had logged in via remote desktop. When I got home, I was greeted with the "computer is locked" screen, where I have to enter my credentials. However, this screen was flashing.

I had not logged out from work.

I imagine the trigger was related to the resolution/display configuration change that's implicit with remote desktop: at work, I was using 1680x1050, but at home it's 1600x1200. Additionally, at work via remote desktop, I use only one display, but at home I have two. Thus, using remote desktop is effectively equivalent to changing the display configuration.

Any other thoughts besides the driver, as I've now tried three of them?
 
mattsaccount said:
Redyouch - 197.45 are WHQL. The problem also occurred with whatever nvidia's driver was on April 11 (the previous version). I never did have the problem on Vista. I've just installed the one from via Windows Update by going to Device Manager, selecting the display adapter, and using "Update Driver / Search for drivers online." I'll let you know if the problem persists.

The "new" version is 191.07 apparently - at least nvlddmkm is.

Tawnos - It's posted here:
http://www.renzelmann.com/temp/dispdiag.dat

This is from the 197.45 driver since I ran it first. How does one analyze this file--it seems to contain binary data. Is there some other tool available for that purpose?
Click to expand...

I work at Microsoft on the display management team. Though Win7 is now within the scope of WinSE (windows sustained engineering), I can still look at the log files and provide help as appropriate.

There's at least one problem here: nvidia is reporting your svideo connector as an unknown type:
Code: 
 ==================================================================================================================================================================================================
 |  Path  |  Adapter   | Source ID  | Target ID  | Mode Idx  | InUse | Aval  |  Output   | Rotot | Scale | Refresh | ScanLine | Forc | Persist ||    Source Mode    |   Desktop    || Target Mode |
 | Active |   LUID     |            |            | Src | Trg | S | T |       | Techology |       |       |         |  Order   | able |         ||                   |   Position   ||             |
 |--------|------------|------------|------------|-----|-----|---|---|-------|-----------|-------|-------|---------|----------|------|---------||-------------------|--------------||-------------|
 |  Yes   | 0x0000aee3 | 0x00000000 | 0x01000110 | 001 | 000 | Y | Y |  Yes  | DVI       |   0   | Ident |  60 Hz  | Progress |  No  |  None   || 1600 x 1200 32bpp | (   0,    0) || 1600 x 1200 |
 |  Yes   | 0x0000aee3 | 0x00000001 | 0x01000200 | 003 | 002 | Y | Y |  Yes  | Unknown   |   0   | Prefe |  59 Hz  | Int(UFF) |  Yes |  None   || 1024 x  768 32bpp | (1600,    0) ||  720 x  480 |
 ==================================================================================================================================================================================================


Is this file taken after the flashing error has happened/is happening?

If not, can you capture a dispdiag, then cause the error, then capture another dispdiag, and send that second one? Every time dispdiag is run it puts a flag in the log, so I'll be able to tell what is immediately before the flashing problem.
 
Also, what monitor is flashing? The TV, one display, both?

If you hit Windows Key + P when it occurs, does it stop?
 
That file was taken before any flashing had occurred. I shut the machine off every night, so from now on, I'll grab a dispdiag when I start it up, and then will try to recover from the flashing next time it occurs, at which point I can grab another one. Actually--even better--I just set up task scheduler to run it every hour. That will ensure I don't forget. We'll get this nailed :p

Perhaps a better way to characterize the reproducibility is: every few days. When I try to reproduce it by enabling/disabling displays, everything works fine.

Regarding flashing: every monitor that's currently enabled flashes to black and then comes back repeatedly when the problem occurs.

I will try the windows+P trick next time.

Anyway, I'll post back when it occurs next. Thanks for your help!
 
I forgot to mention: the current driver configuration is screwed up ever since I installed the one from Windows Update. When I right click the desktop and try to open the nvidia Control Panel, it fails with a "version mismatch" error--that is, the Windows Update version of the driver did not include all the files that the installation direct from nvidia includes.

Given this problem and the fact that that the Windows Update driver did not resolve the issue anyway, should I reinstall the driver from the nvidia website?
 
mattsaccount said:
I forgot to mention: the current driver configuration is screwed up ever since I installed the one from Windows Update. When I right click the desktop and try to open the nvidia Control Panel, it fails with a "version mismatch" error--that is, the Windows Update version of the driver did not include all the files that the installation direct from nvidia includes.

Given this problem and the fact that that the Windows Update driver did not resolve the issue anyway, should I reinstall the driver from the nvidia website?
Click to expand...

Uninstall all the drivers. Install either the one from WU or the one from nvidia's site, but don't install one then the other.
 
Figured as much. Done that and installed the nvidia 197.45 ones from their site. The nvidia control panel works again.
 
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