CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Mr. Green · Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 3:01 am Post subject: no video

My 7 yr old desktop had a video card (nvidia 8400gs) that died so I removed it as I only use that computer for surfing the web and this site. It has the on board video card that is just fine for that. Well, now after 5 years of working great that appears to have flaked out. I only care about the family photos and videos that might not be backed up (yeah yeah, I'm that effing lazy).

Sooooo, can I just take the Hard Drive out and switch it to slave and get the files on the laptop or can I get a $30 8400gs as it already has drivers for it and plug and play? Despite it currently set to the on board video?

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

Mr. Green · Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 5:57 am Post subject:

Basically if I turn monitor off and on I can see desktop long enough to see mouse cursor move across screen about 1/4 way before image goes blank. Never considered monitor. Freaking love that thing. It's an HP w2207h. It's big (21-23" can't remember) and has the best image quality I've ever had on a monitor. Still that versus a hardware fail... I'll get over it. I guess most TV's and projectors have VGA in "dsub". I'll have to try that too. Thanks for the input, I'll have to see what I have that has vga in. I think there's a 720p lcd tv in bsmt that has it for sure.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 6:32 am Post subject:

Do a boot up with the...is it F8 key? It almost sounds like the PC is sending the wrong resolution to the monitor. Then at shut down it may be sending something it can handle.

Mr. Green · Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 6:58 am Post subject:

I need to take a bit of time to work it out, but I'll post when that happens. the issue happened like 2 weeks ago and I've finally had time (1AM) to post again about this.

CasetheCorvetteman · Joined: 09 Nov 2008 Posts: 6326 Location: Australia

If it is sending an unsupported resolution you should still see the boot up screens in the BIOS, if you dont, then id say the monitor is dead, based on what you say about turning it off and back on showing you a brief image.

If that machine has a speaker in it and you hear one short beep on boot, then the video output should be working, if it was RAM or video card you should hear constant beeps and it wont load at all.

Mr. Green · Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 12:33 am Post subject:

Why would it suddenly start sending an unsupported resolution?

I'll drag it down to the basement and hook it up to the LCD tv down there. It should show something.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 1:52 pm Post subject:

Wait a sec...when you have it on put a flash light to the monitor and see if it's your backlight that has died.

Mr. Green · Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 3:08 am Post subject:

When it's on but blank what will a flashlight show? I can try right now. I've never heard of this so don't know what I'm looking for.

Nashou66 · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Posts: 16171 Location: West Seneca NY

You will see the image .

Nashou

CasetheCorvetteman · Joined: 09 Nov 2008 Posts: 6326 Location: Australia

If the backlight isnt working shining a light in from the front and looking real close may show an image, it really sound alot like a monitor failure to me.

Mr. Green · Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2014 4:40 pm Post subject:

Ok that's interesting. I listened to it carefully, there's some electric almost static noises each time something was displayed then no image after windows icon at boot up. Grabbed a bright flashlight and yup, the monitor is the problem. I can see the desktop, but can't find the mouse cursor. At least it's not the cpu.

Is there any way to repair this cheaply or do I need to just get another monitor?

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2014 4:53 pm Post subject:

Could be bad caps on the power supply board, very common on the monitors, or the backlight could be toast, in which case it's a throwaway.

Jeremy112 · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 2649 Location: Fond du Lac, WI

What brand/model is the monitor? As curt said its either a capacitor issue, or the inverter or backlights have died. a backlight is a pain in the ass to replace so again as Curt said, it wouldn't be worth repairing (unless this is a commercial grade display?)