Recently (the last week or so), my Sony Multiscan 15sf monitor has started to act funny. After its been on for a few minutes, the picture starts to flicker a bit, and then after a few more minutes, it goes completely black.
This is not the normal DPMS-like behavior: it "flashes" brightly for a split second, goes dark, and then both the "On" and "Power Saving" LEDs on the front panel flash repeatedly. If I press the power button, it turns back on. This is not related to screensaver activity--it happens while typing and moving the mouse, and it will not turn back on until I hit the power button. This started happening just a few days ago. I've been running Debian 2.1 and XFree86 for a few months without problems. But I have recently upgraded to a 2.2.11 kernel, and I've upgraded several packages to unstable (primarily gcc- and libc6-related stuff. I suspect that this old monitor is just reaching the end of its lifetime. But if anyone knows why a 2.2.x kernel or any of the unstable packages might be causing problems, please let me know. - Kris
