Video card or monitor?

[Linkmeister]

When I turned on my 8-week old Compaq Presario desktop with an NVIDIA GEForce 6150SE nForce 430 video card and a 5-year-old monitor this morning the screen was terribly dark; I could barely see the Vista sign-in screen. It got better shortly thereafter.

I turned the machine off (not the monitor) about 4:00pm and turned it back on at 7:30pm. This time the color for the sign-in screen was fine, but the fonts for the words were very fuzzy, and they stayed that way through startup. Again, it cleared up (ha!) shortly afterwards.

So whaddya think? Is my 2-month-old video card going out on me, or is it my monitor? If it's the card I can take it back to Best Buy under warranty; if it's the monitor I need to ask Santa for a flat-screen one.

[helen]

Re: Video card or monitor?

When you go into Control Panel on your computer what does it report what the display adapter and monitor are?

If it reports Plug and Play monitor try to find the driver for that monitor.

I take it you still have another computer to try out the monitor on?

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Video card or monitor?

So whaddya think? Is my 2-month-old video card going out on me, or is it my monitor?

I'd say the odds are it's the monitor. However, I think you need to somehow test things by playing swaps before you spend money.

You may get by if you wait until the weather dries out. The moisture from all the rains may be affecting things. My monitor went out tonight. I hope it works later, but I'm not holding my breath. I think the moisture got to all the dust build-up inside and shorted the high voltage.

[Linkmeister]

Re: Video card or monitor?

When you go into Control Panel on your computer what does it report what the display adapter and monitor are?

If it reports Plug and Play monitor try to find the driver for that monitor.

Um. Under Display adapter it shows the NVIDIA card. When I change the View option to "Device by connection" I see "Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator." Right-clicking that offers "Update driver software," "Scan for hardware changes," and "Properties." Clicking "Properties" tells me the card is working properly.

Under Monitors it shows Generic PnP Monitor. Right-clicking shows "Update driver Software," "disable," "uninstall," "scan for hardware changes," and "properties." Clicking "properties" tells me it's operating properly.

PnP Monitor would imply Plug and Play.

I take it you still have another computer to try out the monitor on?

No, I don't. The reason I bought the new one is that the motherboard on the old one died after only 3.5 years.

[helen]

Re: Video card or monitor?

What kind of monitor do you have? CRT? LCD?

The video card did come with the computer right? It's just that monitor is not original equipment with the PC. If you can get the monitor's drivers (either on the CD that came with the monitor or find it from the company's web site) or hopefully your operating system already has the driver there but can't auto detect it.

[Linkmeister]

Re: Video card or monitor?

Yes, the video card came with the computer.

It's a CRT, and it's an older discontinued model from KDS. However, drivers appear to be available from the company site, but I didn't download them immediately.

Separately, some Windows updates arrived overnight, and they were just installed. I then got an alarm saying Windows didn't start and I have to run Startup Repair. Did that (not like I had much choice) and was told that some things didn't work and I should restart Windows from an earlier time, which I did. It started fine, all visible desktop icons are still there, and I haven't downloaded anything new within the past week or two.

Then I get a notice that McAfee's not protecting me, so I had to update it, and now it is protecting me again. That's happened before and usually corrects itself with the next automatic update, so I'm not going to worry too much about that.

Who needs this?

[MyopicJoe]

Re: Video card or monitor?

I turned the machine off (not the monitor) about 4:00pm and turned it back on at 7:30pm. This time the color for the sign-in screen was fine, but the fonts for the words were very fuzzy, and they stayed that way through startup. Again, it cleared up (ha!) shortly afterwards.

That was a good test, Linkmeister.

From the symptoms you described, I agree with GeckoGeek; it's probably the monitor. When digital things (video cards) fail, they just dive off the deep end; funky geometric shapes with psychedelic colors plastered across your screen. Analog things (CRTs) tend to die gracefully; you can still use your monitor but it's really annoying.

If you're gonna buy a LCD screen, check this guide out. If you just want recommendations, skip to section V.

[DNR55]

Re: Video card or monitor?

I'd say the odds are it's the monitor. However, I think you need to somehow test things by playing swaps before you spend money.

You may get by if you wait until the weather dries out. The moisture from all the rains may be affecting things. My monitor went out tonight. I hope it works later, but I'm not holding my breath. I think the moisture got to all the dust build-up inside and shorted the high voltage.

Try get a hair dryer and blow it ito the air vents until the monitor is nice and warm and dry. I've used this trick before to solve moisture-related problems.

[Linkmeister]

Re: Video card or monitor?

Problem solved! My b-in-law surprised the hell out of me by giving me an HP w1907 widescreen monitor for Christmas!

Anybody want a KDS XF-7b CRT? Or know where I can recycle it?

[Vanguard]

Re: Video card or monitor?

Your video card is most likely integrated into your motherboard. Just about all the new computers (HP, Dell, etc.) have that same setup.

I don't know if that has anything to do with your problem, but if you want to do anything graphically demanding, it's probably best to get a decent standalone NVidia card. In the case of the setup I just mentioned, there is likely no NVidia 6150 standalone card to take out.