[plug] Query about display problem

[Michael Van Delft]

Hi Bret,

To show some information about your system you can try ‘lspci’ and
‘less /proc/cpuinfo’.

I’m not being patronising so don’t take this the wrong way, but when
trouble shooting I always look at the hardware layer first. Double
check that the power and VGA\DVI cable are securely plugged in. It
wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen a fault like this and the
software is pure coincidence.

Good Luck,
Michael


On Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 5:30 PM, Bret Busby <bret.busby at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 30/06/2011, Bret Busby <bret.busby at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hello.
>>
>> I am running Debian 5, on, I think, an AMD Athlon, and the monitor is
>> a Viewsonic VZ703b 17" 4:3 aspect ratio screen.
>>
>> (I do not remember how to get the displaying of the hardware
>> components (CPU, graphics adaptor/accelerator, display, etc)
>>
>> In the last few days, the monitor has started to "flash" off - going
>> black, with nothing displayed, for a couple of seconds at a time.
>>
>> This can happen repeatedly, with progressively increasing frequency
>> during a session as described below.
>>
>> It seems to happen mostly when I am running alpine, within a terminal
>> window.
>>
>> Apart from it having happened once  just before staring to compose
>> this message, shortly after I opened konqueror, to log into my gmail
>> (which may be the only time that it has happened other than when I
>> have been so using alpine), within a minute or so of my closing down
>> alpine and the terminal window, I do not remember it happening with
>> applications other than when I have been running alpine within a
>> terminal window.
>>
>> Is this an indication that the monitor is likely stuffed, or the
>> graphics adaptor is stuffed, or that the fault lies in the
>> alpine/xterm/gnome combination?
>>
>> A new printer has been installed; a Samsung CLX3185Fw, using the
>> Samsung Unified Driver (which required a replacement of the Samsung
>> Unified Driver, to provide for the printer, which was not available
>> with the previous version of the Unified Driver), which may be about
>> the timing of the start of the problem, but I am not sure of the exact
>> timing of the start of the problem and the installation of the printer
>> - both have been in the last few days.
>>
>> So, I do not know whether the problem could lie with the printer or
>> the printer driver.
>>
>> Thanks in anticipation.
>>
>> --
>> Bret Busby
>> Armadale
>> West Australia
>> ..............
>>
>
> And, while it appeared to be stable (-ish) when I was working using
> the GUI, to send the email message using gmail, when I tried using a
> console (<CTRL><ALT><F2 (I think) >), it happened again, again with
> progressively increasing frequency, while I was trying to compose a
> message using alpine, yet, when I exited alpine and closed that
> console, and (managed to, with difficulty) return(ed) to the GUI, to
> write this message, the problem again disappeared.
>
> Thus, it appears to be a fault within alpine or the xterm/console
> application thingy.
>
> Weird.
>
> --
> Bret Busby
> Armadale
> West Australia
> ..............
>
> "So once you do know what the question actually is,
>  you'll know what the answer means."
> - Deep Thought,
>  Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
>  "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
>  A Trilogy In Four Parts",
>  written by Douglas Adams,
>  published by Pan Books, 1992
>
> ....................................................
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