The Digital Surgery (computer questions/problems here)

[Suua]

I know in the scheme of things this is an irrelevant issue but its driving me mad because I can't find a reason or fix for this

So.. I have a ms surface laptop that is connected to a monitor through their stupidly expensive surface dock.

All has been working fine for about 2 years and now suddenly every 15 or 20 minutes my screen goes blank for about 1 or 2 seconds.

Its not the monitor since I have swopped them and its still happening.

I have taken out the connections to the monitor and make sure they are in position.

Its not heat as it can happen in morning.

Its random too

Any ideas, anything I can check ?

Thanks in advance

ah

Hello, Have you re-seated all connections?.....Turn your laptop off and unplug the dock.....pull out and push back all connections (to clean them) the dock connections and the monitor connections....basically all connections.
If the issue is happening regularly at 15-20 mins intervals, it sounds like a heat issue....maybe airflow inside the computer has been compromised somehow?....I know my computer has ants crawling in and out of it from time to time....do you notice any ants?....just a thought.

[laser]

So.. I have a ms surface laptop that is connected to a monitor through their stupidly expensive surface dock.
All has been working fine for about 2 years and now suddenly every 15 or 20 minutes my screen goes blank for about 1 or 2 seconds.

-Try to search for model specific issues, others could have the same problem.
-Try Miracast/mirroring (or wireless connection) to a TV. If it's OK, then get a good HDMI cable for the monitor.
-Has the intermittency some regular pattern? Like once the problem starts (anytime/random start after a cold boot or after some use?) it comes at regular (say 15 min or whatever) periods?
-Is the problem occurring for an idle PC, or only when some (many | heavy | certain) applications run?
-It worth to check 'timed' services & settings (power/sleep/hybernate)... even wifi cards have power saving mode. Portables try minimize power use by default via drivers, and issues may arise with software updates.
-Applications installed (or some updated) about 2-3 months ago may be suspected.
-What about rolling back later OS (sorry, 'service delivery platform') patches/fixes/updates?
-Try newer hardware drives/firmware (Bios/motherboard/chipset) updates for both the PC and the docking station.

[lomuamart]

Well, wonders never cease.

For a long time now, disk checking has run every time I've started the computer up - I normally just cancel it within 10 secs. I'd been told that one of my hard drives was dodgy and to expect it to self destruct at any time. However, maybe at least two years later, it was still going despite the disk checking.

As I'm getting a new desk top within the next few days and I've asked the computer man to clean up the one I'm on at present, I decided it was time to unplug everything and try to clean the damn thing a little myself. One side has been off at a slant to help with overheating, again for a long time. As I'm a smoker, the inside was full of crap. Could have had Jurassic Park living in there. I cleaned it as well as I could without disconnecting any wires and put the thing back together again.

Switched on and guess what? No disk checking!! (and I've done it again). Obviously, computers don't like ash, dust, cellophane and dinosaurs. For once in my life, I've fixed a computer - albeit accidentally.

[ahandpatsy]

Update: It seems that the periodic blanking on my screen is due to a trojan called NWJS

I have been running kaspersky (paid for) and malaware (free) and this thing still gets in

Also I have not been able to get rid of it yet despite many hours of research and trying

Anybody with any experience and suggestions on how to get rid would be happily received

[HHTel]

I have problems with the audio track drifting out of sync with the video. It started some time ago and I put it down to HDPrime who have had sync problems.
However, it's spread to other apps. News videos, youtube, even playing movies using VLC

It recovers it's sync if I abort whatever I'm watching, reload and skip to where I left off. It will drift after a while. I've found that a reboot will keep it in sync for longer.

Even watching movies through VLC where you can manually adjust the audio sync, which I have done in the past. However, after a while it drifts off again. Reload the movie and skip to where I aborted it and it's back in sync for a while.

Obviously, this has to do with my laptop. Can anyone tell me what the problem is and if it's fixable?

I'm running Windows 10 by the way.

[hhinner]

Some suggestions as a result of a google search:

https://www.videoproc.com/windows-10/fi ... ows-10.htm

I had a similar problem watching live you tube (such as Sky News) and found changing browser (to firefox) alleviated it greatly. I would reckon that the best possibility before messing around with drivers etc is to change the browser settings to turn off hardware acceleration (suggested in link above).

[HHTel]

Thanks for that. I'll give that a try later.
I usually try google before posting but this time I didn't. I was assuming a hardware problem. Thanks for the search.

[HHTel]

I ran method 1 from your link HHinner. I ran it in realtime while I was playing back a movie that had drifted out of sync. On completion it told me that it had altered some settings in windows. Closed it down, went back to the movie (which had been running throughout) and lo and behold it was in sync.
If it lasts, then it's fixed and I owe you a thank you.
I'll let you know.

[dtaai-maai]

If it lasts, then it's fixed and I owe you a thank you beer.

Just corrected your post, HHTel

[HHTel]

Haha. However it was temporary. An hour or so later it was out of sync again watching a news channel. Back to the drawing board.

[hhinner]

Sorry to hear that. There are still other suggestions that might work. Have you tried a different browser for example?

[HHTel]

Yeh, tried it with Firefox and Microsoft Edge. Same result.

[buksida]

Have you tried updating the drivers for the graphics card and audio, it does sound like its hardware related.

[HHTel]

I've not tried that. Would that be done in the 'Control Panel'?

[HHTel]

Found out how. Device Manager.
I'll let you know if that helps.