my monitor keeps going black

since january, my monitor will randomly go black. i have a desktop ppc G4 from 2003. i tried replacing the cable but that didn't do the trick. i thought that perhaps it was the video card, but a few days ago when it went black i pulled the power cable out of the monitor and plugged it back in and it worked. but then when it happened tonight, it didn't work so i don't know what to think. i put in a new system drive tonight and all was well until i changed the monitor resolution. as soon as i selected the optimum setting, the screen went black. sometimes if i shut down for a few minutes and reboot, it will work.

Nameci said:

It is most probably the back light on your monitor that is failing. Try another monitor.

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my only option for trying another monitor is buying one. problem w/that is i could go a week w/out a blackout. a little concerned about buying a monitor i possibly don't need. having said that, none of the buttons on the monitor are responding, other than the power button. all i get is a "floating" screen saver message that reads, "not the optimum monitor setting. select 1280 X 1024". not sure if those are the exact numbers, but i do know that what it is telling me to select has already been selected.

boynigel said:

my only option for trying another monitor is buying one. problem w/that is i could go a week w/out a blackout. a little concerned about buying a monitor i possibly don't need. having said that, none of the buttons on the monitor are responding, other than the power button. all i get is a "floating" screen saver message that reads, "not the optimum monitor setting. select 1280 X 1024". not sure if those are the exact numbers, but i do know that what it is telling me to select has already been selected.

Click to expand...

no one? really? bump.

adcx64 said:

Sounds like a video card issue then. Try removing the card and re-seat it again.

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i've done that. this has been going on since january. you're probably right- time for a new video card. will this be a hard item to find given that the computer is 8 years old at this point?

cocacolakid said:

It shouldn't be hard to get a replacement. What exact Mac model are you using and what model video card, and how much memory is on the video card? (check in your system profiler for the video card specs)

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VIDEO SPECS ARE:

ATI Radeon 9000 Pro:

Chipset Model: ATY,RV250
Type: Display
Bus: AGP
Slot: SLOT-1
VRAM (Total): 64 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x4966
Revision ID: 0x0001
ROM Revision: 113-99702-131
Displays:
SyncMaster:
Resolution: 1280 x 1024 @ 75 Hz
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Not Supported
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Rotation: Supported
Display:
Status: No display connected

COMPUTER SPECS ARE:

Hardware Overview:

Machine Name: Power Mac G4
Machine Model: PowerMac3,6
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (3.3)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1.25 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB
L3 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 167 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.4.8f2
Serial Number: XXX

Nameci said:

I have that same card as spare and the same machine as well...

Send me PM if you want one...

They are about 30 bucks on ebay.

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i'll let you know. right now i've got yet another problem where all 3 (safari, firefox, camino) of my browsers crash within seconds of loading a page. all this with a brand new empty hard drive. i posted a seperate post for this problem but no responses yet. this computer may be destined for the trash.