Narrative:

Coming from the overnight hotel; we arrived at the gate to receive the aircraft from the inbound crew and we were informed that all the glass screens blanked out during their takeoff roll; that the screens returned during the roll; and then all blinked off and on again during cruise. Maintenance had been called to inspect the aircraft.flashback: I had a similar experience approximately 15 years ago while flying an approach in broken cloudy conditions at night; complete darkness. All the glass screens blanked out and stayed out for the remainder of the flight. We transitioned to standby gyro and were able to fly clear of the clouds to visual flight conditions and perform a visual landing. Our screens returned to normal operation after landing during the taxi to the gate.this was a disturbing experience because I did not believe it should be possible for all the glass screens to blank out; and even though I properly documented the problem; I never heard anything more regarding my event; nor have I ever since heard of such an event occurring again until today.today: I called dispatch to discuss today's problem and get clarification from maintenance control. [Person] in maintenance informed me that all the screens blanked out during flight sometimes; not all the time; but somewhat regularly. He informed me that all the screens would typically blank out during takeoff or climb; and that they attributed the cause to 'bad ground power' used to power the aircraft at the departure station.maintenance plan to clear the aircraft for flight: perform an error code check; rerack equipment; and clean connectors. I was not satisfied with this resolution because it seemed illogical that all the screens could blank out due to one bad connection; and if this were possible; it seems that we should be pursuing an official fix from boeing for such a problem.unsafe situation: I'm afraid that we have not treated the 'all the screens go blank' problem with the proper resolutions in the past. We need to know how such a total failure could occur. It seems like a fix or ad from the manufacturer should be implemented to keep this from ever being possible.my action: I called the chief pilot on call to discuss my concern. He looked into the issue and determined that there was indeed a much more extensive inspection required to resolve this malfunction.end result: the aircraft was pulled from service.suggested action: find out how all the glass could possibly fail at the same exact time and get a fix for it.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737-700 Captain stated they refused the aircraft due to a write up from the previous flight crew that all cockpit flight displays blanked out during takeoff roll.

Narrative: Coming from the overnight hotel; we arrived at the gate to receive the aircraft from the inbound crew and we were informed that all the glass screens blanked out during their takeoff roll; that the screens returned during the roll; and then all blinked off and on again during cruise. Maintenance had been called to inspect the aircraft.Flashback: I had a similar experience approximately 15 years ago while flying an approach in broken cloudy conditions at night; complete darkness. All the glass screens blanked out and stayed out for the remainder of the flight. We transitioned to standby gyro and were able to fly clear of the clouds to visual flight conditions and perform a visual landing. Our screens returned to normal operation after landing during the taxi to the gate.This was a disturbing experience because I did not believe it should be possible for all the glass screens to blank out; and even though I properly documented the problem; I never heard anything more regarding my event; nor have I ever since heard of such an event occurring again until today.Today: I called Dispatch to discuss today's problem and get clarification from Maintenance Control. [Person] in Maintenance informed me that all the screens blanked out during flight sometimes; not all the time; but somewhat regularly. He informed me that all the screens would typically blank out during takeoff or climb; and that they attributed the cause to 'bad ground power' used to power the aircraft at the departure station.Maintenance plan to clear the aircraft for flight: Perform an error code check; rerack equipment; and clean connectors. I was not satisfied with this resolution because it seemed illogical that all the screens could blank out due to one bad connection; and if this were possible; it seems that we should be pursuing an official fix from Boeing for such a problem.Unsafe situation: I'm afraid that we have not treated the 'all the screens go blank' problem with the proper resolutions in the past. We need to know how such a total failure could occur. It seems like a fix or AD from the manufacturer should be implemented to keep this from ever being possible.My action: I called the Chief Pilot on call to discuss my concern. He looked into the issue and determined that there was indeed a much more extensive inspection required to resolve this malfunction.End result: The aircraft was pulled from service.Suggested action: Find out how all the glass could possibly fail at the same exact time and get a fix for it.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.