Samsung 204B LCD screen blackout
After re-installing SP3 on my XP box while trying to figure out a software issue I found that I lost my previously set NVIDIA timings which were set to stop the monitor's random screen blackout's. So rather than dredge through the forum's again next time, let's face it there will be a next time with MS, I thought I'd note down how to do this for future posterity and my sanity.
Problem
The screen blackout issue with my Samsung SyncMaster 204B occurs when using the DVI input on the monitor. The screen will blackout at random times and then flick back on, this does not occur when using the analogue input into the monitor. This issue only happen's on some Samsung 204B monitor's.
Solution
Open the NVIDIA control panel, select Display, then under the Appearance menus select "Manage Custom timings". Select the Create button, select the Advance button on the "Custom Timings" dialog and set the timing standards to "CVT reduced blank".
I did this several years ago to stop the DVI blackouts, and it worked fine. Today I had to replace a failed video card and this time the blackouts occurred on the Samsung 204B LCD attached via VGA rather than DVI, which is pretty weird. But when I went to the NVIDIA control panel I couldn't find Display > Appearance > "Manage custom timings" so it seems NVIDIA updated the control panel sometime since then. After some puddling around, I discovered how I now had to do it: it was now under "Manage custom resolutions" followed rather than "Manage custom timings"). I clicked Create [a new custom resolution] button, then clicked the "Advanced >>" button, and there it was under "Back-end parameters" -- there's a "Timing Standard" drop-down list for selecting the "CVT reduced blank" mode. They must have been tutored by Microsoft in how to rearrange and add extra steps to a process! I have my fingers crossed and hope that it will get rid of the annoying blackouts. I'll make another comment after a day or two if this hasn't resolved my problem.