Screen going black for a couple of seconds before reappearing
I have an Intel Core2 4400 @ 2Ghz PC, with 2GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 8500GT, & 22" Acer AL2216W Monitor. It is setupto dual-boot Vista SP1 32bit and Win7 32bit (with Win7 running on a separate 40GB partition to the main partition with Vista). I have also downloaded the latest drivers from Nvidia for Win7 which were released 5 May. I am generally finding that Win7 is running smoothly, no crashs, and all my software works really well(except for a known glitch with Norton IS 2009).I am noticing one small glitch which is more annoying than anything. Every so often (randomly, but about 3 times today) the screen goes completely black, and then a couple of seconds later the screen returns as if nothing happened. It doesn't seem to have any effects aside from being irritating. It has happened when Highlighting a range of fields in Excel 2007 SP2, it has happening while reading PDF files with Adobe Reader 9 and it has also happening while surfing on IE8, given this range of programs I can't see that the problem is relating to which program is running. It has however always happening while using the mouse, which is a standard two button + 1 wheel mouse, although this could be a coincidence.Has anyone else experienced this? Could it be the Nvidia drivers (I originally notice the problem on the beta Nvidia drivers and then again with the final Win7RC release drivers)? or is it a bug in win7 itself?
May 10th, 2009 3:59pm

Hi mcgovan Issues such as you are seeing can just be attributed to the fact that we are testing a beta product and the OS, drivers, software have not been optimized yet. You might want to note the exact time that this behavior occurs andimmediately look atthe event viewer for a possible clue.You can also check the Reliability Monitor. Open Control Panel / Action Center. Click on Maintenance / View Reliability History.In the Reliability Monitor, look for any Red X icons that correspond to the date and time when the issue occured. Click that icon to see the details.Also, keep checking often for updated drivers for the installed hardware.Hope this helps.Thank You for testing Windows 7 Ronnie Vernon MVP
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May 10th, 2009 5:29pm

Also check that you have not briefly shifted from aero to basic, because the program is trying to display something that can not be displayed in aero. You will know this because the bottom task bar will change from transparent, to opaque. It will change back again, automatically, when you leave that particular program or display need. The length of the black screen is a function of your display driver - some Nvidia drivers seem to cause a several second black screen, while others only cause a quick flash on the transition from aero to basic. Hope this helps.Kris
May 10th, 2009 6:11pm

Let me relate my experience, and see if it helps you any. I have an HP Tablet laptop with an Nvidia GeForce video adapter that came pre-installed with Vista. When the screen needed to flash or redraw (e.g. for a UAC prompt, or after entering my password upon first logging in), it was very quick and responsive. When I was notified of a driver update for my video, I downloaded and installed it. Then, every time the screen went to fade to black, it would blank out and stay black for several seconds before coming back. This would happen when I used the GeForce drivers from either HP's website or from Windows Update. It corrected itself when I went back to the original drivers (September 2007 release date). When I installed the Windows 7 Beta (and again with the RC), I had the exact same experience. Of course, Win7 only installed a generic video driver and I had to go fetch the correct driver, but the only one that didn't cause my screen to stay blank for several seconds on every fade-out was that original Vista-compatible 2007 driver from HP (which, fortunately, they still make available for download). The newer drivers didn't work as well. I don't know who's "at fault" here, whether it's the video card, the drivers, or the OS. I do know that my wife also has the exact same make & model of laptop, and although she is just running Vista and not Windows 7, she had the same problem when we tried upgrading her video drivers, and we had to downgrade her video drivers to the original 2007 release.
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May 14th, 2009 6:56pm

I too am experiencing the exact same thing. I haveWin7 64 bit RC, with AMD 9500 Quad, 8GB Ram, and the XFX 8200 MB. I am using the built in video displaying through DVI to my 24" Sceptre monitor. As the OP said above, Win7 is very stable and I have found almost no issue with the software I use.At random my screen blacks out and then refreshes 1-3 seconds later. I first was running the driver from XFX's site, but I then download 15.26 from Nvidia. After have the same issue, I started looking for true Win7 drivers. I downloaded 15.37 from guru3d.com which was released from Nvidia on 5/12. I am still having the problems, but maybe not as frequent. I can say that it is not the refresh from areo to basic that is causing the problems (unless IE8 has known issues that would cause the problem), nor is it the mouse. I tried using nothing but the keyboard after the mouse idea was suggested above, but it did not solve the problem.I tend to think this is a problem with the video card drivers. I hope that they recognize it and get it fixed soon!
May 24th, 2009 6:05am

My girlfriend's computer has done the same thing BUT She is running XP. It has since cleared up on its own and is ok now. My guess (since i had replaced the monitor with a brand new one) is that either the pc got a lil hot and the vid card sputtered or the drivers for it weren't up to snuff and MS automatically installed updates for it ~shrugs.As i said, though, everything is fine now.wolfie
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May 25th, 2009 3:24pm

My monitor also goes blank for about 2 seconds, about every 5 minutes, but refreshes okay. I am using an old computer with an nVidia 6600 gt video card, Asus A7N8X mainboard and AMD Barton 3200+ pcu. Perhaps too old for Window 7. I have Win XP Pro as my OS and Windows 7 seems to be a bit faster. Still evaluating 7......js
May 26th, 2009 3:48am

Update: I switched to Basic instead of Aero and the problem goes away. So I assume that it has to do with Areo being enabled in Win7 and the Nvidia Drivers. Wife's machine running Vista Premium 32bit with Nvidia drivers has no problems. Wonder if other 3D video cards are having this problem (ATI, Intel, etc)? MM
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May 28th, 2009 7:40pm

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