VG021m Viewsonic display blank at power on

[institute3]

System build October 2006

System:
Processor
2.60 gigahertz AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core
128 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache

M/B ASUSTeK Computer INC. M2N-SLI DELUXE 1.XX
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD ASUS M2N-SLI DELUXE ACPI BIOS Revision 0609 12/04/2006

Drives: 910.20 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity (WD)

RAM: 4096 Megabytes Installed Memory

OS: Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2 (build 3790)

Display:
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT [Display adapter]
ViewSonic VG2021m [Monitor] (20.2"vis, s/n Q6U061703527, April 2006)

Controller: NVIDIA nForce 590/570/550 Serial ATA Controller (3x)

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Problem: Cold power up.. generally in the morning the cpu comes up normally but the monitor remains blank.. The power on light blue/amber is blue indicating that communication between monitor and cpu has been established.. amber indicates computer is either off or the communication link is down.

This problem occurred about a week ago.

What I have done to troubleshoot the problem:

1.) Resetting the computer results in the windows welcome screen being displayed on the monitor, display operation is normal Note: resetting the computer did not always resolve the problem

2.) Powering off the monitor and waiting about five seconds and then power back on.. this some times results in the windows welcome screen being displayed.

3.) Connected the monitor to my other computer, an old but goodie, and on power up the monitor displayed the welcome screen ... i.e., was not blank

4.) Item three would indicate that the problem in cpu related and not the monitor. However, why would the display return when powering off the monitor (item 2)... how does powering off the monitor affect the computer?

5.) I did a system restore to a week prior to the prior to the occurrence of the problem. This did not correct the problem..

6.) Question: What is the difference between power on and system reset. I know that the system goes through POST on power up... but other than that where does it deviate from the path taken on system reset? Knowing the difference might give me a clue as to why system reset will get the attention of the monitor whereas power on does not.

7.) Tried the following: Powered off monitor and cpu...after about three hours of normal operation, waited about three minutes and powered both back on... Monitor display is normal... i.e, windows welcome screen is displayed.. go figure..

Reported the problem to Viewsonic and after getting through the canned responses I finally got to communicate via email with a live person... They will issue an RMA once it is established that the monitor is still in warranty. Purchased the monitor from Frye's on line on Septermber 26, 2006... monitor has a three year warranty so I am still good to go warranty wise... But it doesn't make any sense to RMA the monitor if I am not 100% certain that the monitor is the source of the problem...


Sorry to make this so lengthy... but tried to cover all the bases re questions about the system configuration and what I had done troubleshooting wise...

Any suggestions?

Bob Hager

[glc]

Try a different monitor on the computer.

[institute3]

Originally Posted by glc Try a different monitor on the computer.

As soon as I find my Dsub adapter I will do so..

[institute3]

Found a brand new adapter in stuff left over from previous builds..

System comes up normally on the analog monitor..

Got to think that there is a temperature problem in the VG2021m... When I switched back from the analog to the lcd monitor... it came up right away..

Had been running all day so was up to temperature and when I switched back to the lcd monitor it was still warm.. Just doesn't like a cold start..

[tmathews]

I think you're right that it's temperature-related. Fluorescent tubes like the monitor's backlight don't like to work cold and sometimes as they age the temperature needed to start them rises enough that they won't start in a cold room. Power-cycling, either with the power switch or the video card, will run another start cycle and have another chance to light the tube.

RMA it.