HELP!!! My PC is crashing.

[thegrindre]

Hi guys,
Got an urgent issue here. I woke up a little bit ago to find my monitor looking like this. It's a still shot from my camcorder.



It appears that a large black fog is creeping across my screen from the left to the right and flickers a little bit, too.
DxDiag says everything is OK. All checks on my video card have a clean bill of health.
I think my big beautiful monitor is failing.

Is it a video card or monitor issue???

Anyone out there got suggestions, ideas or any kind of help, pleeeease.

[Hawk]

That looks and sounds like a monitor issue.
Do you have another monitor you can hook up and test, or does a friend have one you can borrow?

That wouldn't happen to be a Dell monitor, would it?

[thegrindre]

No, that's the problem or Ida done that already.
It is acting more like a monitor issue as I work-a-round it moving everything to the right so I can use it.

[Hawk]

I think you were posting at the same time I was adding another question to my previous post.

Is that a Dell monitor?

[thegrindre]

Acer, AL2416W and not 3 years old, yet.

I've checked all connections and my video card has two outlets. I've tried them both and get the same results.

[Hawk]

Is that a CRT or a LCD?

I've read that a lot of these new fangled LCD monitors are designed to fail after 3 to 5 years, unlike the old trustworthy CRT's.

[thegrindre]

That sucks. I wasn't able to get a CRT in a large size. They discontinued them about a couple years earlier so had to go with this LCD. I never have liked it, Ida much rather had a CRT.

[Hawk]

I always find them at yard sales, garage sales, etc.

If I had to use a LCD I believe I'd get rid of my computer. I very strongly dislike them.

I'm currently running a dual monitor set up with two 19" monitors, and I just don't think I can give that up for the washed out colors and the horizontally stretched screen, where circles look like horizontal ovals.

[thegrindre]

I'm not, in anyway, supporting a LCD but, the stretched circles are easily fixed through your resolution settings.
In Paint, I make a perfect circle, like 12x12 pixels then set my resolution up to display this perfect circle and not in an oval shape.
The color issue is another matter and is really bad on LCD's.

Guess I need to go to Best Buy today and pick me up one. (As if I have any money to do this... )

[Blackhawk]

I'm going to agree with Hawk and say it's likely a monitor issue. It might be the backlight is dying in the LCD screen.

I'm currently running a dual monitor set up with two 19" monitors, and I just don't think I can give that up for the washed out colors and the horizontally stretched screen, where circles look like horizontal ovals.

I haven't really noticed circles looking like ovals, but maybe that's cause I've had to use a laptop lcd screen now for 8 years. But on my newest laptop, the LCD screen has a true black compared to some earlier LCD's that would only have gray so the colors seem decent at least on quality lcds.

[thegrindre]

Can't find any CRT's locally but Wal-Mart sells some pretty large flat screens.
I paid $500 for this 24"er and I see the prices have come down tremendously!
I can get a 28"er for about $350.
Unfortunately, they'e LCD's.

I have no other option at this time. My hands are tied.

Thanks, BlackHawk.

[Knave]

Sorry to see it go on you Rick. I even see where you grew your beard out to reduce the chances of you getting melanoma from that monster. If I understand other posts, you can not take advantage of Neweggs monitor sale. Not all of them, just a select few. Which at Newegg is a lot really. I spend some time setting up my lcd monitors. So round is round. Colors...well...Not much difference to me. Going from a cheap crt to a cheap lcd was always a sideways movement for me. Our first lcds were Sceptre brand. They last 2 to 3 years. Now we use Hanns G. Three years on both and still going. My choice from experience. Our Son uses his 30" lcd Tv for his monitor. An LG. 1080p yada yada... It puts out one heck of a picture. We play the same games, sometimes, and the picture on his screen is something else. I know you can't go that route, I'm just saying, lcds can compete. Anyhow, Sorry you are so far away. I would attend the wake when you plant that monitor out in the yard. Best buy has some good choices for you to look at. Good luck Rick.

[thegrindre]

Thanks, again, guys.
I'm loosing it. Flickering is really bad, now. Gotta do something... Later,

[Gwizz]

I lost a LCD a few months ago. But; When I turned it on, before I turned the computer on, I got a clear message that there was no siginal.
When I turned the computer on the screen went black. Not even a flicker. Turned the computer off and the monitor worked again.

I bought a new computer with another monitor. Haven't spent much time on the old rig yet.

[thegrindre]

Well, I just bought a beautiful HP 23"er but the connectors won't connect.

The back of my card looks like this.

Is there an adapter or do I have to buy a special monitor???



Thanks,

[Blackhawk]

That appears to be a Geforce 8800 GTS. Newegg says it has 2 DVI connections and an S-Video connection. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130082 If you have a tv that uses S-video you could always plug the computer into the tv as well.

You may have bought a monitor that has a VGA or HDMI connection. Doing a google search of hdmi to dvi or vga to dvi makes it appear there are adapters that you can buy so it will work with your video card. The trick is to figure out what kind of connection the new monitor has.

Edit:
Assuming you bought your HP monitor from walmart, it may be this one: http://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-S2331/1417 ... ewTitleBar
In which case it came with " 1 x DVI-D - 24 pin digital DVI ¦ 1 x VGA - 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15)"

Your graphics card has a DVI-I which apparently is a little different than a DVI-D. Although wikipedia seems to suggest that that a male DVI-D should fit into a Female DVI-I.

[thegrindre]

This monitor has your basic 'standard' oval plug like I've been using for the past 15 years or so. Now I have this baby to deal with.

Thanks,

[Blackhawk]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VGA_connector I think that's the old standard connection for a monitor. (3 rows of 5 pins) You'll probably need to get a VGA to DVI adapter.

Edit: Something like this may work: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product If those connections look like the type you need to connect to.

[thegrindre]

Yes, yes, yes. That's it. I see the adapter, also. That's a good thing. I guess I'll have to find somebody local that carries it or have them order it for me.
I think I'll run back to Wal-Mart and check. Sometimes they do carry odd balled things. (I need milk and an onion, anyway...)

Many thanks, BlackHawk.

[thegrindre]

Boy, I sure do miss that additional button at the bottom of each page that'll jump me back to the top of the page again under these graphical issues I'm having.

I'm off to Wally World...