[SOLVED] I'm totally lost

Mistajiggyfly · 11-11-2007, 12:00 PM

I have no clue what's going on here, and after searching through thread after thread through google I've come up with nothing on this.

When I turn on my computer everything works fine up until the point where it goes to the windows welcome screen (when the video card driver is activated), at this point I get a "no signal" display on the monitor. Everything is still chugging along in the background, except for the display.

Now nothing changed, it was working fine one night and stopped working the next morning when I turned it on. I've tried new drivers... Including ones I know used to work and still come up with nothing. I can start windows in safe mode using the onboard video card, which I don't particularly understand since the monitor is still hooked up to the not so functional video card when I do this.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

This is my last resort before I just end up sending this thing back.

Specs: ATI Radeon X1950 XTX
Acer 22" LCD Monitor
600W Power supply
nForce 570 motherboard
1 Gig PC3200 (I think?) Ram
Intel C2D E6600

**UncleMacro** · 11-11-2007, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mistajiggyfly

I can start windows in safe mode using the onboard video card, which I don't particularly understand since the monitor is still hooked up to the not so functional video card when I do this.

If the monitor is connected to the video card then then onboard video isn't involved. It just means that video card is running in 640x480 mode and the monitor is willing to display it. Do you see the startup screens correctly before the Windows driver kicks in?

Things to try:

Do you have another monitor you can swap in? A balky monitor could be willing to work at low startup resolutions (640x480) and then turn off at the higher screen resolution.

Have you tried VGA mode rather than safe mode? I'd try booting in VGA mode on the video card (assuming it works) and then try switching the screen resolution up through each higher resolution and see when the monitor switches off.

Mistajiggyfly · 11-11-2007, 12:45 PM

*Big update*

I just found a VGA connector buried in a bunch of junk and I figured I would give it a shot. I put a converter on the video card (it only has two DVI slots) and connected it to my monitors VGA port, and guess what? It worked.

I'm still totally lost though. Would this confirm anything you're thinking Uncle?

I also just barely caught a message flash during the welcome screen saying something about "auto config"?

**UncleMacro** · 11-11-2007, 12:54 PM

LCD monitors are usually less picky about displaying analog signals (using VGA video card output) than they are displaying digitial signals (using the digital part of a DVI card output). VGA (analog) almost always displays whereas DVI (digital) sometimes doesn't. That doesn't prove it's the monitor. The video card's digital output could be putting out a digital signal that the monitor won't display.

Did you try booting in VGA mode using the digital input on the monitor? VGA mode is another entry in the same list with safe mode. Seeing which resolutions work might help figure out whether it's the monitor or video card. (Borrowing someone else's monitor would come in handy here, of course).

**UncleMacro** · 11-11-2007, 01:06 PM

Oh... And I'd also try both DVI outputs in digital mode. They have separate transmitter hardware so if output hardware was damaged, it might only affect one of the ports.

Mistajiggyfly · 11-11-2007, 03:13 PM

I tried booting it in VGA mode, everything went fine but when I tried to up the resolution I got a blue screen message saying "MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION", don't know if that means anything but I'm cleaning out my registry at the moment and then I'll give it another shot.

Mistajiggyfly · 11-11-2007, 03:37 PM

Lol I guess I kind of solved my own problem. After cleaning the registry everything seems to be working fine. I'm still kindof interested in knowing what could have been going wrong though. My theory is that the old Catalyst control center program I had installed still stuck around in the registry after I uninstalled it and there was some conflicts going on.

But anyways, thanks so much for your time Uncle, to be honest it's nice to know of a site that you guys know what you're talking about, I've been looking around and I've yet to come across any other site as good as this one.

**UncleMacro** · 11-11-2007, 03:51 PM

Problems that almost fix themselves. Those are the best kind.

I'm not sure what happened because MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION is usually a hardware problem rather than software. The registry stores detailed info about screen resolutions and refresh rates and that might have gotten messed up. Oh well. At least it's working.

11-11-2007, 12:00 PM	#1 (permalink)
Mistajiggyfly Registered User Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 6 OS: Windows XP Home	[SOLVED] I'm totally lost I have no clue what's going on here, and after searching through thread after thread through google I've come up with nothing on this. When I turn on my computer everything works fine up until the point where it goes to the windows welcome screen (when the video card driver is activated), at this point I get a "no signal" display on the monitor. Everything is still chugging along in the background, except for the display. Now nothing changed, it was working fine one night and stopped working the next morning when I turned it on. I've tried new drivers... Including ones I know used to work and still come up with nothing. I can start windows in safe mode using the onboard video card, which I don't particularly understand since the monitor is still hooked up to the not so functional video card when I do this. Does anyone have any suggestions? This is my last resort before I just end up sending this thing back. Specs: ATI Radeon X1950 XTX Acer 22" LCD Monitor 600W Power supply nForce 570 motherboard 1 Gig PC3200 (I think?) Ram Intel C2D E6600

11-11-2007, 12:45 PM	#3 (permalink)
Mistajiggyfly Registered User Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 6 OS: Windows XP Home	Re: I'm totally lost Big update I just found a VGA connector buried in a bunch of junk and I figured I would give it a shot. I put a converter on the video card (it only has two DVI slots) and connected it to my monitors VGA port, and guess what? It worked. I'm still totally lost though. Would this confirm anything you're thinking Uncle? I also just barely caught a message flash during the welcome screen saying something about "auto config"? Last edited by Mistajiggyfly; 11-11-2007 at 12:46 PM.

11-11-2007, 12:54 PM	#4 (permalink)
UncleMacro TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: San Diego Posts: 2,133 OS: Vista SP1 My System	Re: I'm totally lost LCD monitors are usually less picky about displaying analog signals (using VGA video card output) than they are displaying digitial signals (using the digital part of a DVI card output). VGA (analog) almost always displays whereas DVI (digital) sometimes doesn't. That doesn't prove it's the monitor. The video card's digital output could be putting out a digital signal that the monitor won't display. Did you try booting in VGA mode using the digital input on the monitor? VGA mode is another entry in the same list with safe mode. Seeing which resolutions work might help figure out whether it's the monitor or video card. (Borrowing someone else's monitor would come in handy here, of course).

11-11-2007, 01:06 PM	#5 (permalink)
UncleMacro TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: San Diego Posts: 2,133 OS: Vista SP1 My System	Re: I'm totally lost Oh... And I'd also try both DVI outputs in digital mode. They have separate transmitter hardware so if output hardware was damaged, it might only affect one of the ports.

11-11-2007, 03:13 PM	#6 (permalink)
Mistajiggyfly Registered User Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 6 OS: Windows XP Home	Re: I'm totally lost I tried booting it in VGA mode, everything went fine but when I tried to up the resolution I got a blue screen message saying "MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION", don't know if that means anything but I'm cleaning out my registry at the moment and then I'll give it another shot.

11-11-2007, 03:37 PM	#7 (permalink)
Mistajiggyfly Registered User Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 6 OS: Windows XP Home	Re: I'm totally lost Lol I guess I kind of solved my own problem. After cleaning the registry everything seems to be working fine. I'm still kindof interested in knowing what could have been going wrong though. My theory is that the old Catalyst control center program I had installed still stuck around in the registry after I uninstalled it and there was some conflicts going on. But anyways, thanks so much for your time Uncle, to be honest it's nice to know of a site that you guys know what you're talking about, I've been looking around and I've yet to come across any other site as good as this one.

11-11-2007, 03:51 PM	#8 (permalink)
UncleMacro TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: San Diego Posts: 2,133 OS: Vista SP1 My System	Re: I'm totally lost Problems that almost fix themselves. Those are the best kind. I'm not sure what happened because MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION is usually a hardware problem rather than software. The registry stores detailed info about screen resolutions and refresh rates and that might have gotten messed up. Oh well. At least it's working.