Okay, I've been having this problem for a long time now and here's what happens:

I'll be surfing the Internet or even playing VMK and all of a sudden the screen will go black - that's it. There's absolutely nothing you can do but re-start the whole computer. You can't press CTRL+ALT+Delete, it won't work. Okay, so ten minutes later you're back on again but after another thirty minutes or so, it'll do it again! The time before last...I think it was yes. You see, it comes in spurts, the computer will be fine for months but then all of a sudden it'll come and will be like that for days. Anyway, time before last it got down to the point where you couldn't even be on for five minutes without it going blank. It's really odd and frustrating. If you have the sound on, you'll hear it keep going for a few seconds then just stop. Oh, another thing. I have a flat screen and there's this little off button and when it's on, it's green and when it's on Stand By or something, it's orange. There's some buttons below the screen and when you press them (when it's messed up) the screen will say "In Power Save Mode. Press any key or move mouse." So I do that and nothing happens.

I've tried calling Dell but they didn't help, I might call them again though. I reported it to Microsoft with that error report thing and now I'm thinking it has something to do with my Video Driver. But there are no updates. I don't think it's a virus or anything because I've run Ad-Aware and my virus scan. And the reason I bring this up is because it's starting again and I really don't have time for it, you know, with Halloween coming up.

Have any ideas?

~Q/S

you might want to bring it in to wherever you bought the computer and have them check it out. That happened to my computer, and thats all I was able to do.

Run through this simple checklist and let me know if it continues after.

1) Ensure both the monitor cables are secure and free from dust. This includes the data and power cables.

2) In Windows XP hit Start -> Settings -> Control Panel. Open Power Options. Change the "Turn off Monitor" setting to "Never" from the scroll list. This will prevent your monitor from going into auto power save mode. Also, under the Hibernate tab, make sure hibernate is turned off.

If these don't help, you may need to adjust the APAI function in your BIOS, but you will need Dell to walk you through how, because every BIOS is different depending on the manufacture. You might be able to find a step by step guide how to do this on Dell's website.

if you have a program on your computer like limewire or another downloadable program .. or if you visit a certain site or download pictures.. it could have easily given ur computer a virus without even knowing

A virus wouldnt effect your monitor, the ppl who make them really dont care about monitors opposed to finding out ur info or crashing ur comp. If what JeremyV said doesnt work hopefully your comp is still under warantee because itll have to ur monitor. Also look at your monitor options, and try to find the icon that means Factory Reset...maybe you changed a setting as in a refresh rate that it cant handle? just throwing out possiblilties.

This has happened to me before and nobody else has said the problem or solution yet so I think I will. Ok, so in the back of your hardrive (or whatever the thing that you put CD Roms into is called (Im having a brain lapse)), there is a fan-type thing. After a while, dust builds up on the fan and it slows down and can stop, thus causing thee computer to overheat. All you need to do is find a way to get the dust off the fan (for my computer I think they used another fan to blow the dust off).
Hope this works,
Thebestlittle

Run through this simple checklist and let me know if it continues after.

1) Ensure both the monitor cables are secure and free from dust. This includes the data and power cables.

2) In Windows XP hit Start -> Settings -> Control Panel. Open Power Options. Change the "Turn off Monitor" setting to "Never" from the scroll list. This will prevent your monitor from going into auto power save mode. Also, under the Hibernate tab, make sure hibernate is turned off.

If these don't help, you may need to adjust the APAI function in your BIOS, but you will need Dell to walk you through how, because every BIOS is different depending on the manufacture. You might be able to find a step by step guide how to do this on Dell's website.I have messed around with the Hibernate stuff before this but it still did it. Anyway, I turned everything off. So we will see if it does it. By the way, it didn't do it for another...four hours? Yes, around there. But it did it again.

Another thing, last time it did this, it only did it once. I was glad! It only messed up once and everything was fine until now.

~Q/S

Okay, I turned all the Hibernate stuff off but it still did it. I guess I'll have to talk to Dell again.

And it not fixed, just so you know.

~Q/S