For all you computer experts out there....

[blade2k5 1,523]

For the past several weeks I've been having issues with my monitor to turn on. Whenever I turn the pc on or do a reboot, the monitors 'on' light will blink while the screen remains black. I've tested the monitor on other pc's and it works just fine. It's a AOC 19" flatscreen, and my son thinks it may be the video card, but not sure what video card I have or what specs my pc has since I'm not very knowledgable in that area [my son built the pc about 4 years ago and I leave all the maintenance up to him to fix]. I have not been able to get my monitor to work all day and it's driving me nuts. Anyone have some ideas on what the issue may be? Thanks in advance.

[hym 358]

Based on the information you have provided, I am inclined to agree with your son. You could try running this program on your computer to get more information about your hardware setup.

[EyeofMobius 27]

Hmm not sure what is what but I had a similar problem at one time where I plugged the monitor into both jacks I had since It was my first time with a choice and the two plugs were different in shape. I determined that one went to the appropriate main slot and the other went to the appropriate slot which was on the video card not intergrated to the motherboard. This turned out to be wrong and I just used the plug that went to the video card rather than the motherboard.

It doesn't entirely sound like the same problem as what I had since your computer is more likely to have been assembled correctly. But it is entirely possible that something has burnt out on the video card...unless some kind of malware is messing with the software that controls display propreties.

[blade2k5 1,523]

Based on the information you have provided, I am inclined to agree with your son. You could try running this program on your computer to get more information about your hardware setup.

I would if I could get the monitor to actually show me something other than a blank screen.

Anyways, all I have to do is ask my boy what the specs are, but since he doesn't live at home anymore and he's at work today, I'll have to wait until he calls me back. What I do know is that I have a 250Gb HD, 2.something GH processor, 1GB DDR memory, running XP and that's about it. The pc is a home built one, put together four years ago by my son. This is the first major problem I've had with it, unlike the namebrand I once had that seemed to have one issue after another.

[blade2k5 1,523]

Hmm not sure what is what but I had a similar problem at one time where I plugged the monitor into both jacks I had since It was my first time with a choice and the two plugs were different in shape. I determined that one went to the appropriate main slot and the other went to the appropriate slot which was on the video card not intergrated to the motherboard. This turned out to be wrong and I just used the plug that went to the video card rather than the motherboard.

It doesn't entirely sound like the same problem as what I had since your computer is more likely to have been assembled correctly. But it is entirely possible that something has burnt out on the video card...unless some kind of malware is messing with the software that controls display propreties.

Hmmm...That very well may be, but I run scans everyday before turning the pc off or putting it on standby [which I started doing since that seemed to be the only way to keep this issue at bay], and nothing ever comes up. In fact, since my son built this pc, I've never run across any spyware/malware at all.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Sure sounds like a bad vidio card they do go bad eventualy like any processer board.

i would check for loose connections first though.

there should be one data connection hooked to the back of the monitor. make sure its not loose on either end.

[blade2k5 1,523]

Sure sounds like a bad vidio card they do go bad eventualy like any processer board.

i would check for loose connections first though.

there should be one data connection hooked to the back of the monitor. make sure its not loose on either end.

Already did that. First thing I thought of and when checked, connections checked out fine.

[Shadow Assassin 336]

Hmm.

It could be the connection itself on the video card. Does the monitor eventually turn itself on as normal?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I had that happen recently, and the problem was the power plug to the monitor. It had been jarred loose. The maker of my monitor (acer) would have been smart to put a locking wire on the plug, since it is vertical and can be jarred loose.

If you can get up at all, try clicking on your run box and run dxdiag which is a checkout program for DirectX. If there is anything amis, you may easily find out from that.

Have your tried testing with a different monitor? You should be able to borrow one somewhere. A substitution may determine whether you have monitor problems or GPU problems.

Generally, when an LCD monitor dies, it presents a power on light with a blank screen. If that happens, junk it. It costs too much to fool with considering the price of monitors these days.

[Ocram's Razr 963]

For a year, my screen would turn black for about a whole second every once in a while (depending it could be every 5 minutes to every half hour), then my screen finally would not display anything on my desktop. It worked when I hooked it up to my laptop so I told my mother to buy a DVI-D cable to get it to work that did the trick. Your port might just be broken and you might need another one. Yours might be different, tough.

[blade2k5 1,523]

Hmm.

It could be the connection itself on the video card. Does the monitor eventually turn itself on as normal?

No. I have to constantly disconnect, reconnect, switch the connecting cord around over and over again before the darn thing comes back on. I finally got the monitor to work again yesterday by unplugging the pc to shut it down, then turned it back on, waited for it to boot up and went through the process mentioned above and this time it worked. So far so good, monitor is working today, but then again I don't shut the pc down, I just put it on standby which seems to stop the issue from happening everyday. Hopefully there will be no more hiccups until my son can get over here to fix it. Doesn't help that he lives and works twenty miles from here and was out of town this past weekend. Still waiting for him to give a call back.

I had that happen recently, and the problem was the power plug to the monitor. It had been jarred loose. The maker of my monitor (acer) would have been smart to put a locking wire on the plug, since it is vertical and can be jarred loose.

If you can get up at all, try clicking on your run box and run dxdiag which is a checkout program for DirectX. If there is anything amis, you may easily find out from that.

Have your tried testing with a different monitor? You should be able to borrow one somewhere. A substitution may determine whether you have monitor problems or GPU problems.

Generally, when an LCD monitor dies, it presents a power on light with a blank screen. If that happens, junk it. It costs too much to fool with considering the price of monitors these days.

Nope, power plug is snug as can be.

How do I do that?

Yes, but the monitor won't work either, get a message saying 'this monitor will not work with this system' or something along that line. The test monitor is an LCD as well.

My monitor works on other pcs so it's not the monitor.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

If you can get up at all, try clicking on your run box and run dxdiag which is a checkout program for DirectX. If there is anything amis, you may easily find out from that.

How do I do that?

Windows XP. On your start menu, you should have a choice called 'Run' or 'Command' or something like that. Open this box, and type in dxdiag then press enter. The DirectX diagnostic will open with a summary page describing your machine, what DirectX version you have, and some other irrelevant stuff. You could skip directly to the video test page, and just run the tests. If anything is wrong with your videio card is should fail at least one of the tests.

One thing I didn't mention, is that you may have a bent pin at either end. If so, and the pin is in the cable, get a new cable. If the bent pin is on the GPU plug, your son may have a pin straightener. If not, or he breaks the pin off, get your self a new GPU.

[blade2k5 1,523]

For a year, my screen would turn black for about a whole second every once in a while (depending it could be every 5 minutes to every half hour), then my screen finally would not display anything on my desktop. It worked when I hooked it up to my laptop so I told my mother to buy a DVI-D cable to get it to work that did the trick. Your port might just be broken and you might need another one. Yours might be different, tough.

My son does regular maintenance on the pc every few months to make sure everything is ok, all connections are secure, clean out any dust that may have settled in the pcs innards, tests all the connecting cords, ports and all that good stuff. He just did a maintenance check several weeks ago when we bought his mother an ASUS notebook. He had to set up the wireless internet for her since I'm an idiot when it comes to that kind of stuff.

[blade2k5 1,523]

Windows XP. On your start menu, you should have a choice called 'Run' or 'Command' or something like that. Open this box, and type in dxdiag then press enter. The DirectX diagnostic will open with a summary page describing your machine, what DirectX version you have, and some other irrelevant stuff. You could skip directly to the video test page, and just run the tests. If anything is wrong with your videio card is should fail at least one of the tests.

One thing I didn't mention, is that you may have a bent pin at either end. If so, and the pin is in the cable, get a new cable. If the bent pin is on the GPU plug, your son may have a pin straightener. If not, or he breaks the pin off, get your self a new GPU.

Ok, did the test and saved the results as a text file and attached it to this post. Whomever wants, take a look and tell me if you see something out of the ordinary because I wouldn't know the difference.

DxDiag.txt

  Edited June 13, 2011 by blade2k5  

[Easy Bakes 253]

Looks like you have a Radeon X1650 Series vidio card.Check to see if its fan is running.

You need to run these test that the report said you didn;t

DDraw Test Result: Not run

D3D7 Test Result: Not run

D3D8 Test Result: Not run

D3D9 Test Result: Not run

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

What did you run besides the opening panel? My system can't read that file using the standard text editor.

The graphics tests are obvious, so you should run them.

[blade2k5 1,523]

My boy finally called me back last night and this Sunday when the wife and I go to the movies, I'll be dropping my pc off at his house. He may have an extra video card that he can replace the one I have after he runs all the diagnostic tests to see if it could be something else. Either way, I'll be without my pc for at least a week, but at least I have my wife's laptop to get online, though that'll be about it.

[blade2k5 1,523]

Good news. Took my pc and monitor over to my son's place yesterday on my way to see Green Lantern and this afternoon he brought it back to the house all fixed. Turns out it was the monitor after all after he tested my pc using his monitor and found nothing wrong with it. He then connected my monitor to his pc and the damn thing wouldn't even turn on. So he calls me up this afternoon and asked me if he could take the $100 I gave him yesterday and buy me a new 21" Acer LED monitor for $125.00. I said sure if he knew for certain it was my old monitor was the issue. Now that my pc has this nifty new monitor, all I can say is this puppy is nice. Crystal clear picture, bright colors and of course a larger screen size...

[Easy Bakes 253]

Nice

[blade2k5 1,523]

Nice

It is nice, very nice. He also fixed my cd drive drawer issue so I loaded up SC4 and it looks absolutely fantastic with this monitor.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Had to buy my Dad a new monitor last week. had about the same symptoms yours did.

Swaped it out with another monitor i knew worked, and went shoping for a new one.

Ended with a realy nice 25' samsung that was on sale for $150.

  Edited June 21, 2011 by Easy Bakes  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

When my LCD monitor died last year, I replaced it with a later model ACER V193. I like these monitors, but when an LCD monitor dies, it just lies there with an blank screen. You might get a pwoer light, but you don't get the monitor self-test.

[blade2k5 1,523]

When my LCD monitor died last year, I replaced it with a later model ACER V193. I like these monitors, but when an LCD monitor dies, it just lies there with an blank screen. You might get a pwoer light, but you don't get the monitor self-test.

My new monitor is an ACER S221HQL.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

When my LCD monitor died last year, I replaced it with a later model ACER V193. I like these monitors, but when an LCD monitor dies, it just lies there with an blank screen. You might get a pwoer light, but you don't get the monitor self-test.

My new monitor is an ACER S221HQL.

Ah. One of the latest HD monitors. Congratulations. Mine is VGA.

[blade2k5 1,523]

When my LCD monitor died last year, I replaced it with a later model ACER V193. I like these monitors, but when an LCD monitor dies, it just lies there with an blank screen. You might get a pwoer light, but you don't get the monitor self-test.

My new monitor is an ACER S221HQL.

Ah. One of the latest HD monitors. Congratulations. Mine is VGA.

Thanks. But credit goes to my son who picked it out and brought to me yesterday. This thing sure has a nice picture.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

You are welcome. What is the size of the image? I'll bet it is startling in clarity, and very useful. How does SC4 run with it?

[blade2k5 1,523]

You are welcome. What is the size of the image? I'll bet it is startling in clarity, and very useful. How does SC4 run with it?

It's a 21" monitor and the picture is crystal clear, more so than my now defunct 19" monitor. As for SC4, it looks amazing.