Weirdest Computer Problem Ever

[Actor]

At least for me it was.

A couple of hours ago the screen display on my computer started rotating. By that I mean it would go from Landscape to Portrait to Landscape flipped to Portrait flipped and then repeat. The entire sequence would take about four seconds per cycle. I actually was not using the machine when this started but was in the room and noticed the odd behavior.

It's a new computer. I got it in January. The dealer was at a loss. I finally got through to the manufacturer's tech support and got it fixed, but I'm thinking it might come back.

Back in the day I had a computer with two hard drives. Backup consisted of daily copying the C: drive to the D: drive. If the C: drive failed recovery consisted of simply swapping the two drives and booting up. I miss DOS.

I'm considering the possibility of the same thing except instead of having a backup hard drive I'll get a backup computer, same make/model.

The whole episode was just plain weird. :(

[PaceAdvantage]

My first thought was a funky screen saver...but I guess it's not that simple an answer... :lol:

[headhawg]

Is this a Windows 8 machine? Some PCs and display drivers come with an auto-rotate feature. You can lock the orientation with a keyboard shortcut (Windows key + O ??), or uncheck the auto-rotate option -- Right click on the desktop, choose Screen Resolution, and see if the option is checked.

[Actor]

Is this a Windows 8 machine?Yes.

Some PCs and display drivers come with an auto-rotate feature.Why? It made the machine unusable. What possible use is such a feature?

[Dave Schwartz]

Sounds like a problem for tech support from where you got the machine.


I believe that auto rotate is usually a gravity-driven feature.

Clearly, it is misbehaving on your machine. As Headhawg said, look for a driver update.

Note: You probably have to boot to safe mode.

(I hope you can.)

[Hoofless_Wonder]

Auto rotate for a desktop or laptop makes no sense. Auto rotate for a smart phone or a tablet is pretty handy.

I'd check device manager and see what characteristics the monitor shows - if something generic, and not a specific make/model of a monitor, you're possibly a victim of bad code. The periodic rotation could be that multi-platform Windows 8 backfiring, looking for the non-existent gravity sensor to rotate to, and then going through all the options for grins.....

I speak of this from pure speculation. I do not have Windows 8, though I have Windows 7 on my work laptop. I run Linux on desktop, and have had other issues with my display.... :)

[headhawg]

I didn't say a driver update at all. Auto-rotate is a feature of Win 8. It can't tell if the device it's installed on is a tablet or a desktop. Possibly on by default. Link (http://www.howtogeek.com/129732/how-to-disable-screen-rotation-in-windows-8/) to an article.

[Dave Schwartz]

Sorry... misunderstood Headhawg.

I thought it could be a driver issue because it is not detecting the fact that this is not a tablet.

But your point is well made. :ThmbUp: