screen turns black ...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sylvia M
  • Start date Start date
S

Sylvia M

H.P. xp with sp3 up to date.
I was working with a newly updated Realplayer today.
It wanted more pixels, seemed simple. before I knew it I was in
over my head.
right now the desktop goes black intermittently, every few
minutes, or at completion of every tiny activity...comes back
after a few seconds. All text seems way larger, as do desktop
icons, and desktop icons are larger and changed positions.
sometimes when it turns black it comes back with smaller
icons...for a while.
I diddled around in properties choosing active window, normal.
Windows Classic style, font normal,
Settings:resolution 800x600(Real Player wanted)
Even tried denser.

Please point me to a fix. drivers? settings?
The screen going dark for 5 seconds is a PIA, then when desktop
comes up background ABD icons can be large or small, some off
the screen.
Bottom line it's a mess!

Do you guys even think a techie could fix it, without doing a
clean start ?

Sylvia M
 
H.P. xp with sp3 up to date.
I was working with a newly updated Realplayer today.
It wanted more pixels, seemed simple. before I knew it I was in
over my head.
right now the desktop goes black intermittently, every few
minutes, or at completion of every tiny activity...comes back
after a few seconds. All text seems way larger, as do desktop
icons, and desktop icons are larger and changed positions.
sometimes when it turns black it comes back with smaller
icons...for a while.
I diddled around in properties choosing active window, normal.
Windows Classic style, font normal,
Settings:resolution 800x600(Real Player wanted)
Even tried denser.

Please point me to a fix. drivers? settings?
The screen going dark for 5 seconds is a PIA, then when desktop
comes up background ABD icons can be large or small, some off
the screen.
Bottom line it's a mess!

Do you guys even think a techie could fix it, without doing a
clean start ?

Sylvia M
Click to expand...


Try a System Restore
 
philo said:
Try a System Restore
Click to expand...

I've tried several, up to Dec 6th, will go back further after all bug
filtering!
Thanks. I'm trying sooo many work-arounds in the meantime, just to
function a bit.
<<<sigh>>>
 
Sylvia said:
H.P. xp with sp3 up to date.
I was working with a newly updated Realplayer today.
It wanted more pixels, seemed simple. before I knew it I was in
over my head.
right now the desktop goes black intermittently, every few
minutes, or at completion of every tiny activity...comes back
after a few seconds. All text seems way larger, as do desktop
icons, and desktop icons are larger and changed positions.
sometimes when it turns black it comes back with smaller
icons...for a while.
I diddled around in properties choosing active window, normal.
Windows Classic style, font normal,
Settings:resolution 800x600(Real Player wanted)
Click to expand...

If you originally had a greater screen resolution - 1280 x 1024, eg - then
changing it to 800 x 600 will make everything bigger. To change screen
resolution, right click the desktop, click "Properties", click "Settings"
tab.

The desktop may be going black because you have set the screen saver to be
"Blank". Get to it by right clicking the desktop, click "Properties",
click the "Screen Saver" tab. Select the screen saver you want from the
drop down box - it will show you a preview - and set how long you want the
system to wait before switching to it.

Final suggestion: dump RealPlayer.


--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Maybe just ready for a change? Check it out...
http://www.floridaloghouse.net
 
dadiOH said:
If you originally had a greater screen resolution - 1280 x 1024, eg -
then changing it to 800 x 600 will make everything bigger. To change
screen resolution, right click the desktop, click "Properties", click
"Settings" tab.
Click to expand...

yes, that was part of it, I had to 'insist' on the higher ressolution a
couple of times.
The desktop may be going black because you have set the screen saver
to be "Blank". Get to it by right clicking the desktop, click
"Properties", click the "Screen Saver" tab. Select the screen saver
you want from the drop down box - it will show you a preview - and set
how long you want the system to wait before switching to it.
Click to expand...

I went there and went back to the one I had before, seems more stable
(Stonehenge).
Final suggestion: dump RealPlayer.
Click to expand...
What program would you suggest instead?
I sometimes need to trim out sections and increase sound.
 
Sylvia said:
What program would you suggest instead?
I sometimes need to trim out sections and increase sound.
Click to expand...

Waves? Any wave editor such as Goldwave or Audacity.
http://www.goldwave.com/
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

MP3s? If you don't mind the wave editor decoding them to wave and
re-encoding them to MP3 after you have made changes then same as above. The
decode/re-encode is no big deal, BTW, though some will tell you they ruin
the MP3s. They are wrong.

If you don't want to use a wave editor on MP3s then MPTrim will trim start
and/or end as well as increase sound. The free version has a file size
limit tied to a playing time of seven minutes; it is generally sufficient
for most MP3s.
http://www.mptrim.com/

Another way to increase/decrease sound is with MP3Gain.
http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/

MP3Cutter is good to trim sections as is mp3DirectCut
http://mpesch3.de1.cc/
http://home.hccnet.nl/p.luijer/

Another program you might find use for is MP3TrackMaker. It will let you
save or merge sections of an MP3. It is particularly handy when used with
Winamp because one can pause Winamp at the desired spot in the MP3 and have
MP3Trackmaker grab that section. It is less easy to use than the other
programs mentioned because it has no help file. My old version, at least
http://www.heathcosoft.com/
and
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Audio/Audio-Editors-Recorders/MP3-TrackMaker.shtml

This site explains it though rather tersely...
http://www.mrdetermination.com/sounds/MP3 TrackMaker Version 1_0.htm

All the programs mentioned with the exception of Goldwave are free. All
work well, none are very difficult to use, all are worlds better than
RealPlayer. Despite being easy to use, one should read any help or readme
to understand what is being done and what options do what.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Maybe just ready for a change? Check it out...
http://www.floridaloghouse.net
 
dadiOH said:
Waves? Any wave editor such as Goldwave or Audacity.
http://www.goldwave.com/
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

MP3s? If you don't mind the wave editor decoding them to wave and
re-encoding them to MP3 after you have made changes then same as
above. The decode/re-encode is no big deal, BTW, though some will
tell you they ruin the MP3s. They are wrong.

If you don't want to use a wave editor on MP3s then MPTrim will trim
start and/or end as well as increase sound. The free version has a
file size limit tied to a playing time of seven minutes; it is
generally sufficient for most MP3s.
http://www.mptrim.com/

Another way to increase/decrease sound is with MP3Gain.
http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/

MP3Cutter is good to trim sections as is mp3DirectCut
http://mpesch3.de1.cc/
http://home.hccnet.nl/p.luijer/

Another program you might find use for is MP3TrackMaker. It will let
you save or merge sections of an MP3. It is particularly handy when
used with Winamp because one can pause Winamp at the desired spot in
the MP3 and have MP3Trackmaker grab that section. It is less easy to
use than the other programs mentioned because it has no help file. My
old version, at least
http://www.heathcosoft.com/
and
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Audio/Audio-Editors-Recorders/MP3-TrackMaker.shtml

This site explains it though rather tersely...
http://www.mrdetermination.com/sounds/MP3 TrackMaker Version 1_0.htm

All the programs mentioned with the exception of Goldwave are free.
All work well, none are very difficult to use, all are worlds better
than RealPlayer. Despite being easy to use, one should read any help
or readme to understand what is being done and what options do what.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Maybe just ready for a change? Check it out...
http://www.floridaloghouse.net
Click to expand...
Wow! That's a wealth of information!
Many thanks, I'll slowly go through it all. Am editing 30 2-3 minute
poetry reading sessions for YouTube, 12 already up.

Sylvia M.
 
Sylvia said:
Wow! That's a wealth of information!
Many thanks, I'll slowly go through it all. Am editing 30 2-3 minute
poetry reading sessions for YouTube, 12 already up.

Sylvia M.
Click to expand...

I forgot to include the piece de resitance...my dandies. It is a help file
dealing with MP3s and may - or may not - have information useful to you.
You can get it here...
http://mysite.verizon.net/xico/dadiOH-light.htm

--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Maybe just ready for a change? Check it out...
http://www.floridaloghouse.net
 
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