[SOLVED] Monitor Stopped Working with XP

alpacabob · 04-19-2008, 03:13 PM

I posted awhile ago unable to get my computer to recognize the monitor. I finally got the thing up and running, got Windows installed, etc. So as I was setting everything up, I installed the drivers for my video card. After that, it set the resolution of my monitor to the lowest possible settings. Every time I tried to set the resolution higher, it stopped recognizing the monitor and I've to restart the system.

Now the odd thing is that I can still boot the computer without problem. I can enter the BIOS screen and I get the Windows loading screen. However, as soon as Windows loads, the monitor loses the signal.

My specs are as follows:

Case: Ultra Grid ATX Mid-Tower
Motherboard: ASUS M2N32 Deluxe
CPU: AMD A64 X2 4200, dual core 2.2 ghz (with CPU fan)
Memory: OCZ PC6400 DDR2, 2x 1gb
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 320 gb (SATA)
DVD Rom/DVD R: Lightscribe (SATA)
Video Card: XFX GeForce 8600 GT (PCIe)
Power Supply: Apevia ATX 500 W
System: Windows XP Pro SP2

Help!

**manic** · 04-19-2008, 04:13 PM

Did you install mobo driver,,ie chipset drivers, should have came with
mobo, is the video source set correctly in bios, ie, agp, pci, pci-e?

alpacabob · 04-19-2008, 06:12 PM

The video source is definitely set correctly- I checked and double checked that one. I installed everything that came with the mobo, but I'm currently downloading another chipset driver for NVIDIA from ASUS.

The trouble is that since I can't actually get to the system screen (i.e. I the only functional screen I can access is the bio settings), I'm not sure how to install that. Is that possible?

It's also strange to me that the computer was working fine until I installed the video card drivers and then tried to reset the resolution.

Any ideas? And thanks!

dai · 04-19-2008, 08:30 PM

Apevia ATX 500 W
low quality
put a decent one in it
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817256006

Daverick · 04-19-2008, 10:23 PM

To elaborate on dai, higher resolution = more power, your current power supply is firstly from a bad manufacturer so you don't know how effective it is and it is also 500W, which is kinda low for your set up.

And actually for $110 that PSU that dai suggested is a steal.

alpacabob · 04-20-2008, 10:56 AM

So I had already decided that at the next paycheck, a new PSU was priority. I fell for what appears to be a common specious temptation for the new builder- a cheap PSU. I suppose I'll order that and get back in a few days re: results.

Thanks!

alpacabob · 04-25-2008, 08:30 AM

So I followed the recommendation and got the Silverstone PSU, which I'm glad I did, but it hasn't helped my problem at all (which is sad as I had convinced myself through long strings of logic that this was definitely why things stopped working). Still- I turn on the computer and get the ASUS startup screen, the windows startup screen, and then the monitor tells me "no signal, check connections."

So I'm back to square one. Any thoughts?

dai · 04-25-2008, 08:51 AM

you have plugged in the the aux power plug into the m/b

alpacabob · 04-25-2008, 07:29 PM

What do you mean by the aux power plug? I just checked all the internal connections and they're all going to the components or the case. I unplugged one or two of them and they prevented key components from starting. What am I missing here?

Also- is it possible that this is a software issue? It seemed possible since this all started after I installed the graphics card driver- and since the monitor does actually work until Windows starts. If so, is there a way I can wipe the computer and start over without being able to read the monitor once the computer is in the windows environment?

Thanks Dai- and everybody else who's helping.

dai · 04-25-2008, 07:37 PM

this one
http://www.techsupportforum.com/atta...connection.jpg
it could be a 4,6 or 8 pin connection

alpacabob · 04-25-2008, 09:19 PM

The only thing I can find that looks anything like that is a four pin connector on the motherboard. I tried disconnecting it and the monitor stopped responding entirely. There are numerous 9-pin connectors as well. Any advice?

Also- sorry for being such a tech idiot. I'm new to this.

Daverick · 04-25-2008, 11:55 PM

Just checking, have you tried booting with another monitor to check if it isn't just a driver compatibility issue?

dai · 04-26-2008, 10:19 AM

what do you get in safe mode

alpacabob · 04-28-2008, 06:19 PM

So the safe mode trick worked. I got the computer up and running again- uninstalled and cleaned the drivers- then reinstalled the drivers. The computer boots again, but I can't set the resolution over the minimum settings (4 colors and 600x800 pixels). It looks worse than an Atari from the 80s.

Daverick's comment about the monitor made me realize something, though. The monitor is the one piece of the system that I did not buy new. It's not ancient, but it's certainly not up to today's specs. It's one of the early LCD monitors. The tech support people at XFX think I might have a bad card. In the meantime, however, I guess I'll see if i can find another monitor and try it on the system.

Thanks for the help so far. The safe mode idea was a godsend. I'll see what I can do on fixing the resolution issue. Let me know if anybody has any ideas.

dai · 04-28-2008, 06:23 PM

in the device manager uninstall the card
reboot tapping f8 and choose vga mode
when windows finishes rebooting
disable a/virus
install your drivers
reboot the computer

alpacabob · 04-29-2008, 06:32 PM

Alright- did that, but to no avail.

XFX thinks there might be a problem with the card. However, I tried the system on another monitor today and everything worked fine. I'm guessing that there's an incompatibility due to the monitor being somewhat old and unable to support the power of the video card. Is that reasonable?

If that is reasonable, what monitors would you advise I look into? I don't want to spend tons of money on one, but I don't know what features I'd need.

Thanks!

Daverick · 04-29-2008, 10:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alpacabob

Alright- did that, but to no avail.

XFX thinks there might be a problem with the card. However, I tried the system on another monitor today and everything worked fine. I'm guessing that there's an incompatibility due to the monitor being somewhat old and unable to support the power of the video card. Is that reasonable?

If that is reasonable, what monitors would you advise I look into? I don't want to spend tons of money on one, but I don't know what features I'd need.

Thanks!

You might be missing a pin on your monitor's plug as well, no way around this, basically means you have to replace it.

Really anything sold on Newegg at the moment will (read:should 99% probability) work with your new card.

http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category...&name=Monitors

^Following that link takes you to Newegg's monitor selection. Play around with the menu on the left to match your needs. (CRT is basically the tube style monitor, whereas LCD is the flat panel style) CRT is much cheaper, but LCD is much better quality.

Let me know if you need anything else.

alpacabob · 05-05-2008, 05:59 PM

So for anybody who is having this kind of problem, I discovered that instead of being a hardware incompatibility, it turned out to be driver incompatibility. I initially checked the device manager and realized that I had some conflicts.

I ended up giving up on finding all the drivers myself (windows can't seem to find anything by itself and finding them all was tedious) and buying a program to do it for me, but that was still far cheaper than a new monitor. So if anyone else ends up having a problem akin to mine, I would suggest checking those drivers before giving up. It saved me grundles of money. The monitor is working, as is the video card. Now I just need to wait for nVidia to do something about the nvgts.sys issues.

And thank you all so much for all the help on this!

04-19-2008, 03:13 PM	#1 (permalink)
alpacabob Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 20 OS: xp sp2	[SOLVED] Monitor Stopped Working with XP I posted awhile ago unable to get my computer to recognize the monitor. I finally got the thing up and running, got Windows installed, etc. So as I was setting everything up, I installed the drivers for my video card. After that, it set the resolution of my monitor to the lowest possible settings. Every time I tried to set the resolution higher, it stopped recognizing the monitor and I've to restart the system. Now the odd thing is that I can still boot the computer without problem. I can enter the BIOS screen and I get the Windows loading screen. However, as soon as Windows loads, the monitor loses the signal. My specs are as follows: Case: Ultra Grid ATX Mid-Tower Motherboard: ASUS M2N32 Deluxe CPU: AMD A64 X2 4200, dual core 2.2 ghz (with CPU fan) Memory: OCZ PC6400 DDR2, 2x 1gb Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 320 gb (SATA) DVD Rom/DVD R: Lightscribe (SATA) Video Card: XFX GeForce 8600 GT (PCIe) Power Supply: Apevia ATX 500 W System: Windows XP Pro SP2 Help!

04-19-2008, 04:13 PM	#2 (permalink)
manic Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 5,257 OS: xp	Re: Monitor Stopped Working with XP Did you install mobo driver,,ie chipset drivers, should have came with mobo, is the video source set correctly in bios, ie, agp, pci, pci-e? __________________

04-19-2008, 06:12 PM	#3 (permalink)
alpacabob Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 20 OS: xp sp2	Re: Monitor Stopped Working with XP The video source is definitely set correctly- I checked and double checked that one. I installed everything that came with the mobo, but I'm currently downloading another chipset driver for NVIDIA from ASUS. The trouble is that since I can't actually get to the system screen (i.e. I the only functional screen I can access is the bio settings), I'm not sure how to install that. Is that possible? It's also strange to me that the computer was working fine until I installed the video card drivers and then tried to reset the resolution. Any ideas? And thanks! Last edited by alpacabob; 04-19-2008 at 06:18 PM.

04-19-2008, 08:30 PM	#4 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,797 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Monitor Stopped Working with XP Apevia ATX 500 W low quality put a decent one in it http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817256006 __________________

04-19-2008, 10:23 PM	#5 (permalink)
Daverick Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 42 OS: Win XP	Re: Monitor Stopped Working with XP To elaborate on dai, higher resolution = more power, your current power supply is firstly from a bad manufacturer so you don't know how effective it is and it is also 500W, which is kinda low for your set up. And actually for $110 that PSU that dai suggested is a steal.

04-20-2008, 10:56 AM	#6 (permalink)
alpacabob Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 20 OS: xp sp2	Re: Monitor Stopped Working with XP So I had already decided that at the next paycheck, a new PSU was priority. I fell for what appears to be a common specious temptation for the new builder- a cheap PSU. I suppose I'll order that and get back in a few days re: results. Thanks!

04-25-2008, 08:30 AM	#7 (permalink)
alpacabob Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 20 OS: xp sp2	Re: Monitor Stopped Working with XP So I followed the recommendation and got the Silverstone PSU, which I'm glad I did, but it hasn't helped my problem at all (which is sad as I had convinced myself through long strings of logic that this was definitely why things stopped working). Still- I turn on the computer and get the ASUS startup screen, the windows startup screen, and then the monitor tells me "no signal, check connections." So I'm back to square one. Any thoughts?

04-25-2008, 08:51 AM	#8 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,797 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Monitor Stopped Working with XP you have plugged in the the aux power plug into the m/b __________________

04-25-2008, 07:29 PM	#9 (permalink)
alpacabob Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 20 OS: xp sp2	Re: Monitor Stopped Working with XP What do you mean by the aux power plug? I just checked all the internal connections and they're all going to the components or the case. I unplugged one or two of them and they prevented key components from starting. What am I missing here? Also- is it possible that this is a software issue? It seemed possible since this all started after I installed the graphics card driver- and since the monitor does actually work until Windows starts. If so, is there a way I can wipe the computer and start over without being able to read the monitor once the computer is in the windows environment? Thanks Dai- and everybody else who's helping.

04-25-2008, 07:37 PM	#10 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,797 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Monitor Stopped Working with XP this one http://www.techsupportforum.com/atta...connection.jpg it could be a 4,6 or 8 pin connection __________________

04-25-2008, 09:19 PM	#11 (permalink)
alpacabob Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 20 OS: xp sp2	Re: Monitor Stopped Working with XP The only thing I can find that looks anything like that is a four pin connector on the motherboard. I tried disconnecting it and the monitor stopped responding entirely. There are numerous 9-pin connectors as well. Any advice? Also- sorry for being such a tech idiot. I'm new to this.

04-25-2008, 11:55 PM	#12 (permalink)
Daverick Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 42 OS: Win XP	Re: Monitor Stopped Working with XP Just checking, have you tried booting with another monitor to check if it isn't just a driver compatibility issue?

04-26-2008, 10:19 AM	#13 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,797 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Monitor Stopped Working with XP what do you get in safe mode __________________

04-28-2008, 06:19 PM	#14 (permalink)
alpacabob Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 20 OS: xp sp2	Re: Monitor Stopped Working with XP So the safe mode trick worked. I got the computer up and running again- uninstalled and cleaned the drivers- then reinstalled the drivers. The computer boots again, but I can't set the resolution over the minimum settings (4 colors and 600x800 pixels). It looks worse than an Atari from the 80s. Daverick's comment about the monitor made me realize something, though. The monitor is the one piece of the system that I did not buy new. It's not ancient, but it's certainly not up to today's specs. It's one of the early LCD monitors. The tech support people at XFX think I might have a bad card. In the meantime, however, I guess I'll see if i can find another monitor and try it on the system. Thanks for the help so far. The safe mode idea was a godsend. I'll see what I can do on fixing the resolution issue. Let me know if anybody has any ideas.

04-28-2008, 06:23 PM	#15 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,797 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Monitor Stopped Working with XP in the device manager uninstall the card reboot tapping f8 and choose vga mode when windows finishes rebooting disable a/virus install your drivers reboot the computer __________________

04-29-2008, 06:32 PM	#16 (permalink)
alpacabob Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 20 OS: xp sp2	Re: Monitor Stopped Working with XP Alright- did that, but to no avail. XFX thinks there might be a problem with the card. However, I tried the system on another monitor today and everything worked fine. I'm guessing that there's an incompatibility due to the monitor being somewhat old and unable to support the power of the video card. Is that reasonable? If that is reasonable, what monitors would you advise I look into? I don't want to spend tons of money on one, but I don't know what features I'd need. Thanks!

05-05-2008, 05:59 PM	#18 (permalink)
alpacabob Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 20 OS: xp sp2	Re: Monitor Stopped Working with XP So for anybody who is having this kind of problem, I discovered that instead of being a hardware incompatibility, it turned out to be driver incompatibility. I initially checked the device manager and realized that I had some conflicts. I ended up giving up on finding all the drivers myself (windows can't seem to find anything by itself and finding them all was tedious) and buying a program to do it for me, but that was still far cheaper than a new monitor. So if anyone else ends up having a problem akin to mine, I would suggest checking those drivers before giving up. It saved me grundles of money. The monitor is working, as is the video card. Now I just need to wait for nVidia to do something about the nvgts.sys issues. And thank you all so much for all the help on this!