So I made a post about this earlier which received no replies, but the problem has gotten worse now. Ever since I got my new monitor (which is an LG 1920x1080), it seems Windows has had a whole lot of trouble remembering what refresh rate I want it on.
Up until yesterday, it was just a nuisance, really - sometimes when I turned my computer on, the refresh rate would be set to 59Hz instead of 60, and I'd have to adjust it after logging in. Also, sometimes when I pressed CTRL+ALT+DEL, or needed to give admin approval to do something, it would also reset to the 59Hz rate. After I'd finished selecting something from the CTRL+ALT+DEL menu or clicking "continue" on the admin dialog, it would then go back to 60. Rebooting would sometimes fix the CTRL+ALT+DEL/admin approval problem, sometimes not; sometimes it would boot with the right refresh rate, sometimes not. If CTRL+ALT+DEL caused the refresh rate to change, then so would the admin approval dialog, but there didn't seem to be any relationship between this and whether or not it booted with the correct rate. These problems are still going on in addition to what I'm about to describe, but like I said, I can live with everything I've described so far.
Yesterday, though, I hit the Sleep button on my computer, and when I returned, the monitor wouldn't pick up a signal despite having woken up the computer. Rebooted and still no signal on the monitor. I had to switch the monitor plug to the other slot to get the signal back. I reproduced this problem successfully a couple more times. It was also triggered by turning off/restarting the computer.
Today, I tried sleeping again, and the problem seemed to have gone away. I installed a couple updates before going to bed last night, so I figured that might've done the trick somehow. But then, I pressed CTRL+ALT+DEL and lost the signal the same way. This time around I didn't have to switch the monitor plug to regain it though...
After rebooting solved this problem, I tried pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL again, and this time I didn't lose the signal, but when I selected "Open Task Manager" from the list, I returned to a solid black screen with just my mouse cursor. The refresh rate was visible on the mouse cursor; it looked like there were horizontal lines moving through it.
Rebooted again, and have yet to see if I can reproduce any of this, cause I wanted to go ahead and make this post to see if anyone can help me with this
I know that was long and perhaps a bit confusing, so I'm going to summarize it a bit more plainly:
Problems: Screen sometimes displays at wrong refresh rate; sometimes monitor loses signal; sometimes screen goes completely black except for the mouse cursor, on which the refresh rate can be seen
Triggers: Sleeping or shutting down PC; pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL or admin approval dialog appearing (proper refresh rate is restored after returning from menu/dialog)
Notes: Sometimes when monitor loses signal, I have to switch the plug in order to get it back, while other times I can simply reboot; While rebooting the PC seems to randomize, if you will, the problems, so that any combination might appear on the next boot, sleeping the PC seems to keep the current settings, meaning if the problem wasn't present before sleeping, it won't be present after, ASSUMING that waking up does not cause the monitor to lose signal.
Based on the new symptoms I experienced today (with the monitor going black after simply pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL, etc), I think that when the monitor loses signal, it's because Windows has set it to some refresh rate it can't display.
This is probably the most bizzare thing I've ever dealt with. I'm very confused as to how Vista can be such a terrible OS as this, that it just plays roulette with my monitor settings every time I do one of an array of things.
Smart Security shows the system has no viruses or malware according to the latest definitions... Could it be something in the registry? I've not messed around with any part of the registry having to do with Windows; the only thing I've ever done with it is delete some of the keys from a program I had uninstalled so that I could reinstall it on a "fresh slate."
Thanks for your time and any help or suggestions you can offer!
Edited by W-Unit, 12 August 2009 - 05:30 PM.
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