djw180 6,846 Posted June 17, 2016 Share Posted June 17, 2016 (edited) Does anyone have any expertise in this area and can maybe diagnose my problem? The monitor on my home PC seems to be broken. The PC starts up OK but after about a second or so the screen just goes blank. The monitor light is on, it shows green as in normal operation as opposed to yellow when it goes into power saving. If I switch it on and off then the normal screen display comes back but disappears again after a second or so. For the brief time it does stay on the display looks fine and by switching it off and on repeatedly I can at least shut the PC down normally. I plugged an old PC in using the same cables and had exactly the same problem. So I assume it must be the monitor or maybe the cables, but I don't have other cables to try (I may see if I can borrow one from work to try later). Anyone able to offer advice please? I am tempted to just go and buy a new monitor today, I could do with a bigger screen anyway. But I don't want to waste my money if it could be something else causing the problem. Edited June 17, 2016 by djw180 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmurko 7,622 Posted June 17, 2016 Share Posted June 17, 2016 It could be the cables. It could be the power saving feature messed up, but since the light stays green it's probably not. Might be that monitor switches the input mode for some reason (broken software perhaps), from digital to analog. In this case perhaps reset monitor settings back to default and go over them again. Someone who knows this stuff more should be able to diagnose this better. But I would definitely try with different cables first. 1 Quote S U N D A Y R A C I N G L E A G U E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirrel 5,180 Posted June 17, 2016 Share Posted June 17, 2016 First thing to check would be your display drivers but you've said you've had the same issue with another PC and the same monitor so you're indeed right that it could be the cable. What are you using, VGA or DVI? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djw180 6,846 Posted June 17, 2016 Author Share Posted June 17, 2016 Thanks for the advice 9 minutes ago, Squirrel said: . What are you using, VGA or DVI? VGA I think (looks like this). But I know next to nothing about hardware, didn't even know there were different types. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirrel 5,180 Posted June 17, 2016 Share Posted June 17, 2016 DVI looks like this VGA is the most common, older cables are prone to faults as well. Could quite easily be a break in one of the connecting pins. You should easily be able to get hold a spare one for testing. I've got boxes of them. They are also dirt cheap on amazon, would cost me more to post one than buy a new one online! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidCore89 7,402 Posted June 17, 2016 Share Posted June 17, 2016 I have an old monitor somewhere that developed the same fault from pretty much nowhere. Same thing - Green light, but no picture. Figured it was dead and replaced it. Maybe @skip_rat can help. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip_rat 447 Posted June 17, 2016 Share Posted June 17, 2016 It sounds like the monitor is faulty, we had a batch of 20" HP widescreen monitors and about a quarter of them failed in the way you describe. If your monitor has more than one input (most have VGA and DVI or perhaps Display Port or HDMI) then I would suggest switching to one of the other inputs (so if you're using VGA switch to DVI) assuming your PC supports it. One of the failed HP would still work with DVI but not VGA. Obviously this will only work if you can acquire some spare cables from work etc. Treat yourself to a nice new widescreen monitor 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djw180 6,846 Posted June 17, 2016 Author Share Posted June 17, 2016 1 hour ago, skip_rat said: It sounds like the monitor is faulty, we had a batch of 20" HP widescreen monitors and about a quarter of them failed in the way you describe. If your monitor has more than one input (most have VGA and DVI or perhaps Display Port or HDMI) then I would suggest switching to one of the other inputs (so if you're using VGA switch to DVI) assuming your PC supports it. One of the failed HP would still work with DVI but not VGA. Obviously this will only work if you can acquire some spare cables from work etc. Treat yourself to a nice new widescreen monitor Thanks Skip. I have obtained a VGA cable from work. Quite by chance my boss's new PA decided to have clear out of all the old PCs (and an almost antique Sun) so there's a few cables going spare. I've not found a DVI but there is an adapter that looks like it connects a VGA cable to a DVI socket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djw180 6,846 Posted June 17, 2016 Author Share Posted June 17, 2016 All fixed now. Wasn't the cable, so I have been forced to upgrade my Monitor. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMSTANG 181 Posted June 17, 2016 Share Posted June 17, 2016 Reminds me of the giant old picture tube monitor I had. The display would switch off, and I would smack the thing on the side really hard and it would come back on for awhile until I had to smack it again. Finally got tired of smacking the damn thing and replaced it with a new flat screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.