XP vs monitor woes

January 10, 2004 8:34 PM

This is making me nuts and A-Meta is my last hope. I just purchased a 17" LCD Monitor and it doesn't seem to like my Windows XP. I plug it in, boot up and for a split second I see the bootup screen and then it goes blank. Here's the kicker: if I power on and power off again, the monitor comes to life for a second and then goes blank again. The picture looks great for that split second then nothing. If I power off and on, same thing. I've Googled till I'm blue and could not find anything similar to this scenario. If anyone has an idea of what the problem might be, I'd love you forever.
posted by KevinSkomsvold to Grab Bag (11 answers total)

Sounds like it doesn't support the resolution you are trying to drive it at, or your video card doesn't have enough vram to drive it. Do you have another monitor? You might try getting other resolutions set with the old monitor and then hot swap the LCD.
posted by machaus at 8:39 PM on January 10, 2004

Response by poster: Thanks Machaus. I actually did all of that. Sorry I didn't mention it (didn't want to clutter my post even more). Here's what I've done:

Changed resolution to 800x600 and 1024x768
Changed refresh rates from 60 all the way to 75.
Swapped cables
Tried it on both my systems
Disabled any power management on both systems
Danced nude on my front lawn and howled at the moon.

Both my systems have nvidia cards (a 5600 and 5900) with DVI imputs as well. I'm almost convinced there an issue there but I cannot be too sure.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 8:46 PM on January 10, 2004

Are you connecting it with the VGA or DVI connectors?

... or the 7w7 Intergraph hookups? That could be the problem.
posted by j.edwards at 9:24 PM on January 10, 2004

Response by poster: If the monitor doesn't work on two different systems, I would have to assume that you have a broken monitor... or did you mean it worked on the first system?

Doesn't work on either. Only for a split second if I power off the monitor then back on again. Strange. I'm probably denying the obvious but just in case....
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 9:43 PM on January 10, 2004

Response by poster: Are you connecting it with the VGA or DVI connectors?

Tried both connectors.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 9:44 PM on January 10, 2004

Does the monitor have multiple inputs? It could be looking at the wrong one. Try seeing if you can change the input using the buttons on the front.
posted by reishus at 10:08 PM on January 10, 2004

I'd say the thing was broken. One last check: do you see anything of the BIOS post screen? (the bit where it counts RAM, lists hard drives, etc). If not (or only for an instant) it's definately broken.

reishus: It's rather unlikely that'd be the problem as powering up again would have no influence then (unless there was a magical amount of crosstalk to the other connector, perfectly isolated and the screen only accepts signals that weak just after power up, but as you may guess, I don't buy it).
posted by fvw at 10:10 PM on January 10, 2004

We had the same problem recently with one of our monitors at work. I was at a meeting when someone from our PC Tech department finally came by, but someone in the office told me that they booted the computer up in safe mode and updated the driver.
posted by amarynth at 12:18 PM on January 11, 2004

If the connectors are properly seated, everything is on, there's nothing in the manual about some crazy power saving mode, you've set the monitor's input to the connector you're connecting, and you see nothing of the POST screen, then it's defective.

I have a suspicion that you're setting the input wrong. You probably have 2 or 3 inputs: 2 HD-15 (analog) and 1 DVI, or 1 HD-15/1 DVI. You should try turning everything on and switching between the inputs on the monitor.
posted by azazello at 1:55 PM on January 11, 2004

I say it's broke. And in this case, if it is broke, don't fix it. If the display is fine at first but goes away without you doing anything, it could easily be some electrical problem with the power supply or something else. Sure, there's a chance you're doing something wrong, but it seems unlikely given what you've said.

I'm going to go out on a limb and claim that you bought it from either Staples or Walmart for somewhat under $400. My suggestion is to return it for a full refund (just tell them "It's broke") and get this instead. It will cost a tiny bit more, but it seems to be a rather decent screen, with the same features, from a company that I've at least heard of... And I promise their website would have the full specs listed (unlike Norcent) if their website were up (Google cache).
posted by whatnotever at 2:22 PM on January 11, 2004

Response by poster: Thanks all. I'm just gonna get a replacement. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. I've tried all suggestions to no avail. Thanks again!
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:29 PM on January 11, 2004