sunshine
06-10-2007, 01:41 AM
My friend has had much trouble with her monitor going black and has replaced several components of her PC but is still having the same problem. I just got an update on what she has done and where she stands now. I will post her report below and if anybody has any suggestions I will be very grateful for any help that you cn give. Thank you.
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OK Bobby, here goes!
I really need to keep a diary or record of the steps I take when working out a problem, I tend to forget exactly what steps I've taken. When you're trying to get something accomplished or worked out over several hour or couple of day and are constantly interrupted with phone calls, chores that have to be done or other commitments it's hard to keep track of everything.
Let's start with the power supply. It fried, I changed it out. I was concerned that maybe something had overheated, like the mobo, processor or graphic card but they all seemed cool enough when I discovered the power supply was bad, there was good air flow through the case due to in take and out take fans.
I used the PC for hours, 8 or 10 at least, when the screen went black while I was working. Strange but maybe some odd glitch. Powered off the PC and then restarted, was working for a couple hours and got a black screen! Well it only got worse to the point where the screen remained black after the posting screens.
I tried first one spare monitor and then other, neither would display after the posting screen. Later I pressed on the graphic card, processor, the mobo board, memory sticks, when I tried again the monitor continued to display on through to the desktop. Everything was working great. I knew nothing was really solved but waiting for more symptoms. LOL
Now here is where, I think, I later drew a blank, lost my mind, or just got so distracted I didn't recall this part, but the screen on the spare monitor went black. At this point I determined that most likely the graphic card was bad. Makes sense doesn't it? I didn't have a spare card to test, although I probably have 5 or 6 graphic cards around here in and outside the PCs none of them are AGP like in this computer, all PCI, so I went and purchased a new one, $80.
Installed the card, cranked up the system, have the spare monitor hooked up, boots up just fine. I installed the drivers and worked with the PC off and on for several hours, everything fine. So problem solved I thought. Sometime later we hauled that huge ViewSonic back in here and hook it up. It ran and ran and ran for hours. Then I got a black screen!
NOW I determine for sure that it's the monitor after all. Somehow at the time it sliped my mind that the spare monitor had also gotten a black screen. To be honest it was hovering in the back of my mind and I was trying to remember if the spare had ever gotten a black screen. While thinking about and shopping for a new monitor I bought the "one in all", that's when it came into my life, Bobby, LOL
So the next day, yesterday morning, I bought the new View Sonic, hooked it up and everything took off like a wild cat, configured the monitor, installed drivers, did adjustments, rebooted a few times during the day after this and that but the PC and monitor running all those hours until about 3:30 this morning when the screen when black.
I felt of everything in the case, card, CPU, mobo, memory sticks, HDDs, every thing was cool or barely warm, nothing was hot, can't be heat. I'm at my wits end. Then only thing left to replace is the mobo and CPU.
Just to give you some idea, it's taken me about an hour and half to write this post, I've been interrupted at least a half dozen times so I don't even know if I made any sense..
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
OK Bobby, here goes!
I really need to keep a diary or record of the steps I take when working out a problem, I tend to forget exactly what steps I've taken. When you're trying to get something accomplished or worked out over several hour or couple of day and are constantly interrupted with phone calls, chores that have to be done or other commitments it's hard to keep track of everything.
Let's start with the power supply. It fried, I changed it out. I was concerned that maybe something had overheated, like the mobo, processor or graphic card but they all seemed cool enough when I discovered the power supply was bad, there was good air flow through the case due to in take and out take fans.
I used the PC for hours, 8 or 10 at least, when the screen went black while I was working. Strange but maybe some odd glitch. Powered off the PC and then restarted, was working for a couple hours and got a black screen! Well it only got worse to the point where the screen remained black after the posting screens.
I tried first one spare monitor and then other, neither would display after the posting screen. Later I pressed on the graphic card, processor, the mobo board, memory sticks, when I tried again the monitor continued to display on through to the desktop. Everything was working great. I knew nothing was really solved but waiting for more symptoms. LOL
Now here is where, I think, I later drew a blank, lost my mind, or just got so distracted I didn't recall this part, but the screen on the spare monitor went black. At this point I determined that most likely the graphic card was bad. Makes sense doesn't it? I didn't have a spare card to test, although I probably have 5 or 6 graphic cards around here in and outside the PCs none of them are AGP like in this computer, all PCI, so I went and purchased a new one, $80.
Installed the card, cranked up the system, have the spare monitor hooked up, boots up just fine. I installed the drivers and worked with the PC off and on for several hours, everything fine. So problem solved I thought. Sometime later we hauled that huge ViewSonic back in here and hook it up. It ran and ran and ran for hours. Then I got a black screen!
NOW I determine for sure that it's the monitor after all. Somehow at the time it sliped my mind that the spare monitor had also gotten a black screen. To be honest it was hovering in the back of my mind and I was trying to remember if the spare had ever gotten a black screen. While thinking about and shopping for a new monitor I bought the "one in all", that's when it came into my life, Bobby, LOL
So the next day, yesterday morning, I bought the new View Sonic, hooked it up and everything took off like a wild cat, configured the monitor, installed drivers, did adjustments, rebooted a few times during the day after this and that but the PC and monitor running all those hours until about 3:30 this morning when the screen when black.
I felt of everything in the case, card, CPU, mobo, memory sticks, HDDs, every thing was cool or barely warm, nothing was hot, can't be heat. I'm at my wits end. Then only thing left to replace is the mobo and CPU.
Just to give you some idea, it's taken me about an hour and half to write this post, I've been interrupted at least a half dozen times so I don't even know if I made any sense..