PC Screen Blank with words “1 auto detect”

[oxicottin]

Hello, My PC monitor will first open with the DELL letters and Dell web address, then go blank screen with the exception of it saying “1 auto detect”. Then in 2 seconds it saying going to power save mode and does it instantly. I hit the button and it just keeps to the latter over and over. Any Ideas?

Thanks,
Chad

 

[SjrH]

Start with the simple things like making sure the PC is powered on and the connections are good and tight at both the monitor and PC.

Try a different monitor if you can, or the same monitor on another PC.

Also look at your PC's hard disk activity light to see if there is anything going on, no activity could indicate a fault with the PC mainboard.

[small]have you turned it off and on again?[/small]

 

[sggaunt]

Having checked basic things you could be looking at a Possible a Motherboard or Hard drive fail or BIOS corruption.

First check the connections inside the PC. If that's OK..

Do you hear several beeps when the computer starts up?
This usually indicates a hardware fail. If so get a data sheet on your Mother board this will explain what is wrong.

Checking the BIOS
Before going into the BIOS Setup please note that changing things in the BIOS can cause major problems, if you are unsure of what you are doing.

Boot to the BIOS Settings, this is usually done by pressing the Del/Delete Key during start up i.e repeatedly press delete as soon as you power on.
Sometimes there will be some text that tells you to e.g
Press Del to enter setup. this is the same thing.

If you cannot get to the BIOS Setup screen, then you have a Hardware failure.

If you can get into the BIOS setup, you can see if the hard drive/s is/are detected correctly.
If not you can try auto detect. If nothing is detected this will tell you if the Hard drive has failed. or perhaps a plug has come loose somewhere.

If the drives show up or auto detect works save the settings and attempt to reboot.
If that doesnt work try 'set BIOS defaults' and then re-detect the hard drives again.

As I say don't try any of this if you are unsure.







Steve: N.M.N.F.
If something is popular, it must be wrong: Mark Twain

 

[BadBigBen]

sggaunt, has some good pointers to take a look at...

but first things first, the monitor is not getting a signal...

check:

1. VGA/DVI Cable, is it seated correctly, at the monitor and at the PC? maybe the cable is just gone flaky (old and been bent a lot)...
2. is the PC posting at all? do you hear it whir up and go through the boot process?
3. check the seating of the GFX card, and or try another... easier try first another monitor (or take PC to a friends place to check on his monitor if you do not have a spare)...

4. look at sggaunt's suggestions if the above do not alleviate the problem...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[linney]

Do you get a screen if you launch in Safe Mode?

If you do perhaps the Display Resolution Settings or Refresh Rate are not compatible with this Monitor?

A search of Dell's site (or any manual) should tell you what the default settings for the Monitor are.


OSD Warning Messages

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/monitors/E248wfp/en/UG/operate.htm

http://www.google.com/search?q="1+auto+detect".+dell+monitor&rls=com.microsoft:

 

[sggaunt]

It was the Dell info on screen that made me think it might be a problem with the box.
But I dont have any experience with Dell monitors, If the monitor does have a Dell start up message in ROM then, yes check the monitor first.
I would suggest the easiest way to do this is to try another monitor as linney suggests.


Steve: N.M.N.F.
If something is popular, it must be wrong: Mark Twain

 

[oxicottin]

Thank you all for your replies I will try them all and see if I cant get this thing running...

 

[thomas1955]

Auto detect: entering power save is driving me insane. It appears to be a hardware problem, not a monitor problem. I have switched video cards, monitors, cables, uninstalled the monitor driver, reinstalled the monitor driver, and it still will "Auto Detect: Entering Power Save", and then shut everything down. The only way to come back to life is to hard reboot. When this auto detect happens, all data is lost....

 

[linney]

Is there any available Bios update? Have you tried setting the Bios to any Safe default settings?

 

[sggaunt]

thomas1955: You should start a new thread for your question.


Steve: N.M.N.F.
If something is popular, it must be wrong: Mark Twain