My display just goes blank!

mmbarthez

This is a complicated issue it seems. After a random period of time, my display seems to go blank, and says there is no DVI signal. Now, sometimes this happens on start up, sometimes it happens an hour later. I don?t know if I want to try a new (to me, I would get a slightly used card from a friend) and try that, or is it an actual code problem. I am running Tiger on a dual G4 1ghz Power Mac with the original video card (Radeon 9000 I am pretty sure). When I boot off my install CD, the video problem never occurs, or has not appeared.



What complicates the issue is that I sometimes get a blue screen of death on start up, I get past the Apple symbol with the clock type counter thing, and then it just goes blue. I have tried fixing the permissions, and zapping the p-ram. My next step is doing an archive and install to see if it is a code problem??



If anyone has any advice, or something else to try, it would be greatly appreciated.



Thanks in advance.

lundy

Well, the usual first step would be to hook up a known-good display, then change the cable for a known-good cable, etc. But with an intermittent problem this may be frustrating.



When you say "blue screen", do you mean the kernel panic screen with "You need to restart" in several languages? Or do you mean the monitor is still on but the OS isn't doing anything?



One thing I would try which is benign is to reset the Power Management Unit, or PMU. Disconnect the power, open the case, find the battery, and near the battery on the mobo will be a tiny square metal thing with an even tinier round rubber button. Press that ONCE with the tip of a pen (you can feel it faintly click) and then reconnect power, close the case and try to start up.



If that does not work, power down again, remove the battery with a non-metal object if necessary, remember which way the battery was oriented, and wait 15 minutes with the computer unplugged, then reinstall the battery and try again.