Arch Linux

palmer.dabbelt

Member

Registered: 2009-05-03

Posts: 4

Monitor Blinks

I'm running a 2 monitor setup with nvidia twinview.  At random intervals (between once a month and once every 2 seconds) one of the monitors (it happens on both, but only one at a time) will blink black and reset (like the cable has been unhooked).  This has been happening for a year (and I keep arch relatively updated, so I don't think it's a driver revision problem), but recently it has gotten much worse.  I suspected hardware failure, but I've tried everything I can think of and no change so I've finally ruled it as software.

Any suggestions?

I have tried:
New CPU/motherboard
2 video cards (9600GT and my old 7600GT)
2 different mobo/cpu combinations (Phenom X4 and Core2Quad, AMD and Intel board)
4 different monitors (2 Viewsonic, 2 Samsung -- all 1680x1050)
DVI and power cables.
2 different apartments.

Package versions:
xorg-server 1.7.2-2
nvidia 190.42-1
kernel26 2.6.31.6-1
KDE 4.3.4 with OpenGL compositing

xorg.conf:
Section "ServerFlags"                   
        Option  "AllowEmptyInput"       "off"
        Option  "AutoAddDevices"        "false"
EndSection                                     

Section "Module"
        Load            "dbe"
        SubSection      "extmod"
                Option          "omit xfree86-dga"
        EndSubSection                             
        Load            "glx"                     
EndSection                                       

Section "Files"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/misc/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/TTF/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/Type1/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/local/"
EndSection                               

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "keyboard_usb"
        Driver          "kbd"         
        Option          "AutoRepeat"    "500 30"
        Option          "XkbRules"      "xorg" 
        Option          "XkbModel"      "pc104"
        Option          "XkbLayout"     "us"   
EndSection                                     

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "mouse_main"
        Driver          "mouse"     
        Option          "Protocol"      "ExplorerPS/2"
        Option          "Buttons"       "13"         
        Option          "Emulate3Buttons"             
EndSection                                           

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "monitor"
        HorizSync       31.5 - 82.0
        VertRefresh     40-150     
EndSection                         

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "video"
        Driver          "nvidia"
        BusID           "PCI:1:0:0"
        Option          "RenderAccel"   "true"
        Option          "Coolbits"      "1"   

        Option          "AddARGBGLXVisuals"     "true"
        Option          "UseEvents"             "false"

        Option  "TwinView"
        Option  "MetaModes"     "1680x1050,1680x1050; 640x480,1680x1050; 800x600,1680x1050; null, 1680x1050; 1680x1050,null; null, 1280x1024; null, 1280x960; null, 1024x768; null, 800x600; null, 640x480;"
        Option  "SecondMonitorHorizSync"        "UseEdidFreqs"
        Option  "SecondMonitorVertRefresh"      "UseEdidFreqs"
        Option  "TwinViewOrientation"   "RightOf"
        Option  "Xinerama"      "On"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier  "screen"
        Device      "video"
        Monitor     "monitor"
        DefaultDepth 24

        Subsection "Display"
                Depth           24
                Modes           "1680x1050"
                ViewPort        0 0
        EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier      "desktop"
        Screen          0       "screen"
        InputDevice     "mouse_main"    "CorePointer"
        InputDevice     "keyboard_usb"  "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

palmer.dabbelt

Member

Registered: 2009-05-03

Posts: 4

Re: Monitor Blinks

Fixed it -- it turns out I had two broken monitors.