Montior port or Monitor irself?

[Airpan]

I was using my PC this morning (burning a disc) and the monitor began to "fall sleep" and wouldn't wake up. I tried turning the monitor off and turning it back on (for what it is worth it degaused successfully). The monitor would come on, but would fall back asleep. I tried shutting down the computer, turning everything off, and rebooting. The monitor still had difficulty coming on and staying on.
My questions are these: 1)What is the best procedure for checking to see if it is the monitor or the port on the back of the computer itself?
2)If it is the port, can someone tell me what that would entail to replace it and CAN it be replaced?
Thanks.

 

[franklin97355]

1) Replace the monitor with another one.
2) This will depend on the computer. What do you have?

 

[vacunita]

First I would Try the monitor on another computer, to rule out the monitor.

Second Plug in a different monitor into the port to see if the behaviour still ocurrs.

If indeed the port is faulty, to change the video output depends on what is installed, is it onboard video, meaning is it part of the motherboard, or is it a plugin card that can be removed. To assert this you will have to open the PC, to find out.








----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[Airpan]

franklin,
No disprespect, but if I had another monitor I wouldn't be posting here... lol. Are you trying to say for me to see if it just my monitor, or if it is happening with another one as well? If so, I can do that tonight and post back tomorrow. I have a monitor that I can borrow from a friend and see if it does it with hers.
Regarding number 2, what are you thinking? Video card drivers? I thought of that after I posted.

 

[vacunita]

Yes the other monitor is just to rule out that the monitor is the culprit. IF the behaviour stuill occurs with a monitor that you can borrow, then it is most likely a video device problem.

It could be the drivers, although it seems to me that if the monitor is going to sleep, but comes back after you turn it off it might be a heat issue.

But lets rule out the monitor first with the borrowed monitor.


----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[garebo]

And they are also pointing out that you could take your problem monitor and try it on a friends pc and see if it acts the same or if it works just fine. If it works fine on a friends pc then its your vid card or your onboard video on your pc that is the problem.

There is the very very minor chance that you could be experiencing such low power (brownout) at the main power source (wall plug) that your monitor is going to sleep. But i doubt that as it should affect your pc as well as your monitor. But who knows, maybe your monitor is extra sensitive. But if your monitor has been fine until now then this is likely not the problem. The only way to fix that would be to install a UPS. And i mention this because we should all have a UPS installed anyway. Anywhere there is a pc installed there should be a UPS. Rant over.




Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[vacunita]

I happen to agree with you Garebo. expensive pieces of equipment, not to mention the important data contained there in should always be protected with a UPS.

But alas few people actually have a UPS's protecting their PC's.


----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[Airpan]

OK, here is what I have established so far. I plugged my monitor into my friend's machine and it works. I plugged her monitor into my machine it works. I plugged my monitor back into my machine and now it works. Even though it still works, I am concerned that I am just putting a band aid over a rather large wound.
I believe someone mentioned a heat issue... hypothetically if that is problem do you have any recommendations for perhaps diagnosing and fixing that problem? I am also going to find the latest video card drivers and install them just to be sure that isn't the problem as well.
Regarding a a battery back up... I am usually broke and can't really afford some of the major brands. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good battery back up?
This forum is great and thanks everyone for helping. Nice to know that some people actually read your posts. )

 

[garebo]

As for the UPS, see flyers by bestbuy or compusa and often they will have a UPS for real low prices. You can get away just fine with the cheaper models. I have seen them go for $10 after rebate! Other than making sure there is a connection for your internet cable or phone, the rest, pricewise, is only how many minutes you will get of battery backup. To me that isnt so important as the biggest reason to have a UPS is to save our pc parts from getting fried. Mostly thats due to low power in the line (brownouts) and all UPS's, regardless of how cheap they are, will do this job. The rest is only how many more minutes you get in battery power before the pc is shut down. That isnt as crucial. Sure, if you can afford better, by all means, but you already said you cant, so go with the cheapie, will often do the job. And make sure you plug the pc into the right plug on the back of the UPS!! Read the manual, lol. There is more to this than what i have said, dont have enuf room or enuf brains to explain it better.

As for your heat issue, if you finally get it narrowed down to the fact that you think or are pretty sure its a heat issue, then leave the side panel off and let a good size house fan blow on your motherboard (vid card) or vid chip as the case may be. If the fan stops the problem then you can be pretty sure it was or is a heat issue.
Is your vid on a card, if so what is the make and model, is the fan working good and is it clean? If its onboard video let us know the type of mobo you have.




Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[franklin97355]

Airpan, as to question two you didn't tell us what kind of computer you had so it would be hard to tell you how or if it could be replaced.

 

[vacunita]

If plugging and unplugging the monitor helped, it could well have been dust on the connection that would not allow for current to run through. A little movement helped it reconnect.

If it were a heat issue, no doubt it will happen again when it reaches a certain temp. Garebo Covered all the bases with that so follow his advice on that and the UPS.

Good luck.





----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[garebo]

I suppose there is even an outside chance of some program making a change in your system somehow causing your monitor to be "ignored" or something. In the end, if all is well, perhaps you might remember using one particular program when that happened and run that program to see if it happens again.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[edfair]

If this is an expansion card video you may wish to reseat the card. They will back out with heat expansion then when jiggling the cable will make enough contact to work for a while.
You asked if the video could be replaced. Depends on what you have and how it is put together. If expansion card, then yes. If built in, then you have to cripple it on the M/B and then install expansion card.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[Airpan]

I wanted to answer question two... I have a gaming PC that was custom built. Sorry I forgot to answer that the first time around. I went online last night to try and find the newest video card drivers for my Nvidia GeForce 5700 Utlra, 128 cache, and I had a hard time locating it. Any help in that arena would be nice... by the way, I went to nvidia's web site and downloaded what I could find from the download drivers page, but I couldn't tell if it was for my card or not.
I guess to get the ball rolling with the port being replaced question, I believe someone had said earlier that it would depend on whether or not the port is part of the motherboard or seperate. I will have to look at that after I download the drivers and make sure there is no issue with that first. Thanks again everyone.

 

[garebo]

Just so you know, I believe we would like to know if the video card is in a pci slot or built into the motherboard.



Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[vacunita]

Since you mention it is a Nvidia Geforce,and Geforce video cards are in most cases addin cards. I'm assuming its PCI. or maybe AGP, which means it can be extracted and replaced by another one.

As for the Drivers nvidia's drivers for all geforce cards are the forceware drivers, I believe the current version is 81.85. There are no specific model drivers. All Geforce and TNT cards are covered in the same Forceware drivers.



----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[Airpan]

vacunita,
thank you, then I did download the right ones. For some reason I believe I saw AGP when I looked at the video card "specs".

garebo,
Sorry, it is in a slot - not built in to the motherboard.

 

[vacunita]

If it is AGP, then you cna just take it out, and replace it with a new one.

Although i'm not sure a replacement is warranted at this point, since you havent said if the problem has reocurred after the monitor swap and the new driver installation.

Keep us posted on any further developments.


----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[Airpan]

I just wanted to let everyone know that I installed the new drivers and everything seems to be in the green, so thanks for all the advice.

 

[vacunita]

O.K. i'm glad everything worked out O.K.

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.