Sporadic black screen flickers on Dell UltraSharp U2711

[Lakshmidhar]

I have recently purchased Dell UltraSharp U2711 monitor but I have started getting problem with it very soon. After purchasing I connected it to my laptop which was already connected to a docking station. The connections were proper but still the monitor flickers sporadically after certain period of time and this results into black screen which remains stable for few seconds or minutes and then disappears. I first thought of connections problem but didn't found the culprit. I then thought of graphics drivers but I have the latest one. What else can I do to solve this problem? Is it because of my new Dell monitor or the problem lies with my laptop or somewhere else?

[Jacek]

Couple of questions before suggesting you something. Which operating system you are running? Have you tried using your monitor while the laptop is not connected to the docking station? What happens when you do that? Do you get the display; does your monitor still gives you the problem of black screen? And when your monitor goes black, what happens to your computer; is it still turned on or off?

[Lakshmidhar]

I am under Windows 7 64 bit operating system. Does that really matter when connecting the new monitor to the laptop? Connecting my monitor to the laptop with out any docking station is not at all possible because there is no digital output on the laptop. I only have VGA port on the laptop. So it is not possible for me to change the input type from Digital to Analogue. And when my the screen goes black I can still see the power light ON on the computer. However the green power light begins to flash sometimes. I am forced to unplug the monitor from the docking station and then re-plug it after few seconds to bring it back.

[Jacek]

I think then the problem may lie with monitor resolution. What is the monitor resolution set by your laptop? Did you tried changing it somehow? What happened when you tried to do that? Did you tried connecting this monitor to some other desktop or laptop computer to see if that works? And yes operating system can affect screen display. Its just that you can face the compatibility problem if your operating system in not listed in the support list of the monitor. In such situation either have to change the monitor or downgrade/upgrade your system accordingly to meet the system requirements for the monitor. Ensure that you can use your monitor with Windows 7 based computer with the help of the user manual that came along with the monitor.

[quota]

Ideally monitors works on two modes: alphanumeric mode and graphics mode. The alphanumeric mode is the one which is used in Dos or the BIOS. Over here the monitor's minimum functionality is being used by the system and so you never face any problem, most of the time, when in DOS or in BIOS. If by chance you have the problem over here then the problem lies with either the monitor or the graphics adapter itself. On the contrary, the graphics mode is the place where all the functionality of the monitor comes into consideration. Hence most often the problem of black screen occurs in the graphics mode only. In general, the black screen occurs either when the screen resolution or the refresh rate is set higher than the monitor can handle. To resolve this problem reboot your computer in Safe mode and then change the resolution or refresh rate to something that your monitor can handle.

[MaCiNToSHeR]

Unplug your new monitor and try to use your default laptop screen. Perform a scan of your computer to ensure if there isn't any malicious software on your computer. For this you should use a good and up to date antivirus software. Once you are sure that you don't have any malicious software running on your computer then you can proceed with finding the cause of the problem. Try to visit the Dell site and see if they have any additional driver or something that you need to install in order to use your monitor on Windows 7 computer. I would also suggest you to try to perform Windows Update to make sure if there is any updates available from Microsoft.