E1505, X1400 "Black Flashes"?

I have an E1505 with the X1400 graphics card, 1GB RAM and the SXGA+ display. Occasionally the screen will "flash through black" quickly a couple of times, then go back to displaying everything normally. These black flashes aren't related to driving the video particularly hard (they can happen while scrolling through a web page, for instance), nor are they related to anything that might indicate a loose connector (e.g., moving the machine, hard typing). I'm using Dell's drivers - I haven't replaced them with the Omega drivers (yet).

Have other people run into this issue? Is it something to be worried about, or just an occasional nuisance? Any solutions?

Many thanks in advance for all help.

 

I advise changing the drivers; if that does not work, you are probably going to have to send the machine in. There may be a problem with the screen connectors.

 

Just received mine a few days ago.
The 'flash' you said, happened to me once, for no apparent reason.
I also have issues with the screen not turning on with the lid open. Sometimes I have to keep opening the lid up to a certain angle till it powers up.
Yesterday the screen turned off after 3 minutes of no usage, as i chose, then i closed the lid. When I came back and opened the lid, there was no way to get the screen on. I opened , closed the lid infinite times, but nothing happened. I had to restart, and got it working again. I guess it's a windows issue.

 

does it do it when u try to open a video file? mine does every once in awhile when its opening a wmp file. dont know what...kinda annoying at this point

 

I have an e1505 with the X1300 card and it does a black flash thing when windows is loading after you log in, after the flash, the ATI logo icon appears in the system tray.

I have a strange issue with my screen, sometimes when i change the resolution in catalyst, it immediately reverts back to what it was before

 

Thanks for all the replies - some of my feedback thus far:

Chaz, I'll try new drivers - I'll post here if they seem to solve the issue.

MC, I haven't seen the issue you describe (screen not turning on) thus far, so I'm not sure whether it's related or not.

NOSintake, yes, I've seen the wmp black flash occasionally too - not every time, though.

lilredfoxie, I've seen the loading black flash once or twice, but not the resolution issue.

 

which drivers are u using by the way?

 

Im using ATI Catalyst

 

Try updating all your drivers

 

I just updated to the latest version from the Dell site - I'll see whether that fixes matters...

 

i have the same thing but its only started since i updated the drivers, so i belive it is the drivers (x1300) cat 6.6

 

The flashes you see are due to the CCC setting for power saving. Enter the Catalyst Control Center and check your POWERPLAY settings. If you change your high and low battery settings to Balanced, the flashes should stop. I have my settings at optimal/balanced/balanced (power, high and low) and have no flashes.

 

what about the setting when on A/C power?

 

This is what I use.

 

kegobeer, I think you've found the answer - the new drivers did not help, but your tip appears to have done the trick.

Thank you!