Windows 7 display won't come on

[Doula23]

OK, this is just bizarre. My elderly (and quite remote) mother runs Win7 on her Pavillion desktop. Works fine. But in the last few weeks she's run into a problem where her HP2009a monitor just won't come on. It's powered up, but the screen is black. She hits keys on the keyboard, and it won't light up. She calls me and I connect with Teamviewer. As soon as I do, her screen pops to life. WTF is going on???

Under what circumstances won't a screen unsleep when you hit keys on the keyboard?

 

[Josephur]

1) Wrong video source selected on the monitor if it has multiple video inputs (see manual on how to change the input)
2) The cable is lose or not connected to the computer (or connected to the wrong port if multiple video outputs are available)
3) Video card has died or it's drive is not installed correctly
4) It's went to monitor heaven

 

[Doula23]

Yeah, but none of that pertains to a situation where, as I said, I can turn on her screen by establishing a vnc connection with her machine.

 

[Josephur]

Wait, her screen physically comes on when you remote in, or you just see it remotely and it remains black on her side?

Does the numlock/capslock LED indicators do anything for her when she's pressing them on the keyboard?

 

[Doula23]

Yep,, exactly. She has a black screen, calls me up, and says "I can't see my screen!" I Teamviewer in and, at the instant I connect, and can see it, her screen pops to life. I think it may be set to sleep after 15 minutes, but mouse movement or a key-hit should awaken it.

What does numlock/capslock have to do with it.? I saw that recommended somewhere else, and I didn't understand it.

 

[Josephur]

It's a good way to test if the physical connection between keyboard and PC are working correctly and that communication isn't locked up. If she can see it flash on and off when she presses it then that rules that out. TeamViewer uses a screen overlay driver to capture display output. It is possible her video card driver is having issues, perhaps you should reinstall it and see if that helps. However certain drivers do not like being installed when your connected via a mirror display driver so your may have difficulties there.. worth a shot though.

 

[Doula23]

Well, there is no indication that the keyboard is locked up. If that were true, when the display popped back on, she wouldn't be able to use the keyboard to do anything. But the keyboard works fine. So a VNC connection would have to BOTH wake the display, AND restore functionality to the keyboard.

But I guess the CapsLock light would test that.

 

[Doula23]

Well we've resolved that moving the mouse wakes up the display, though any actions wit the keyboard do not. Weird.