Question

blinking cursor on black screen of death- Occurs when idle for about ten minutes. ?????

Asked by: Andy128

This just started happening. 800mhz machine  XP Home
When the computer sits idle for 10 to 20 minutes it goes to black screen with cursor blinking in corner.  Need to hit reset to start back up.  Everything loads fine and works great until idle.  Has any one had this happen before?  I am thinking either a need for a new motherboard battery or a power supply.  Any thoughts?  Thanks in advance.
Andy

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Asked On
2004-09-18 at 13:52:25ID21136320
Tags

cursor

,

black

,

blinking

,

screen

Topic

General Computer Systems

Participating Experts
2
Points
250
Comments
3

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Answers

 

by: zvitamPosted on 2004-09-18 at 15:11:08ID: 12093330

It seems that something is wrong with the computer's power managment settings.

First, try to compeletly disable Power Managment, in the BIOS, and in the control-panel of windows.

Then, leave the computer idle for a while, and see what happens.

If the computer's screen does not go off, then Power Managment is to blame, and you have to define it's setiings carefully till you get to a point that everything works OK.

 

by: CallandorPosted on 2004-09-18 at 19:30:42ID: 12094012

Your machine may be going into hibernation, which desktops do poorly.  Check the settings in the BIOS, as zvitam suggests.

 

by: Andy128Posted on 2004-09-19 at 07:34:25ID: 12095591

Thanks Zvitam and Callandor-
Your answers prompted me to check a recently installed freeware program- ZoneAlarm.
It apparently changed my power management settings.  Accordingly- I have split the points.  Thanks again- Andy

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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