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Computer monitor won't turn on.

hesthefastesthesthefastest Registered User regular
Help! KSP has a new update and my compy is out of commission.
Did some quick googling and found only general troubleshooting and the symptoms are very specific so I thought someone would know the problem right away.
-start up compy
-screen flashes start up screen (1 second) then dark
-twenty seconds later same thing
-compy is running fine, just can't see anything
Used to happen intermittently, a restart would fix it, but now its stuck.
Im thinking either screen or power supply, any ideas?
Thanks

Posts

  • AiouaAioua Ora Occidens Ora OptimaRegistered User regular
    Help! KSP has a new update and my compy is out of commission.
    Did some quick googling and found only general troubleshooting and the symptoms are very specific so I thought someone would know the problem right away.
    -start up compy
    -screen flashes start up screen (1 second) then dark
    -twenty seconds later same thing
    -compy is running fine, just can't see anything
    Used to happen intermittently, a restart would fix it, but now its stuck.
    Im thinking either screen or power supply, any ideas?
    Thanks

    This is probably your monitor. I don't suppose you've another one to test with?

    Or perhaps a laptop, hook up the monitor as a second screen on the lappy.

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    bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
  • VeeveeVeevee WisconsinRegistered User regular
    edited July 2014
    Does the screen work on a different computer? Does the computer work with a different screen? Have you made sure all connections are solid and not loose? Are there any POST beeps, and if so how many?

    The 20 second later line sounds like the computer is automatically rebooting once due to a startup error and then not going any further, which could indicate a hardware or software issue preventing start up.

    Veevee on
  • hesthefastesthesthefastest Registered User regular
    Computer IS starting up. Only one beep upon startup, as per normal. The second flash shows the normal booting screen. Its not booting twice, but rather the screen is trying to turn on twice. Unfortunately, i have no easy way to test my monitor. I may have an old laptop hiding around here somewhere...

  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    If it's an LCD it's probably bad. There's a whole slew of LCDs where the lamp will either die or take forever to warm up. Wait until you think your computer is fully booted and then look really hard at your blank screen, try to see if you can see anything on it.

    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • cmsamocmsamo Registered User regular
    edited July 2014
    Have you recently changed your graphics card? I had this exact thing happen to me (monitor would power on, show boot screen, then go black) and after scratching my head for 15 minutes I realized I had connected a 6 block power cable to an 8 block socket on the graphics card (ie card was not getting enough power)

    So my bet is maybe your psu is on the way out and it's not powering the gfx card.

    A quick test of the monitor on another PC or with a different source would confirm that the monitor was good.

    cmsamo on
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  • MagicToasterMagicToaster JapanRegistered User regular
    It could just be the backlight. Shine a flashlight on it and tell us if you see anything on the area you're illuminating. If so, you have a bad backlight.

  • curly haired boycurly haired boy Your Friendly Neighborhood Torgue Dealer Registered User regular
    also, TONS of LCD monitors aren't broken, they just have a few bad capacitors. you can order a replacement kit off amazon with exactly the components you need for your screen, spend 10 minutes with a soldering iron, and get another 5 years of use.

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    Registered just for the Mass Effect threads | Steam: click ^^^ | Origin: curlyhairedboy
  • MagicToasterMagicToaster JapanRegistered User regular
    How would you know which capacitor is bad?

  • MechMantisMechMantis Registered User regular
    It's more a case of "replace ALL the capacitors!" rather than "replace ONE OF the capacitors"

  • ZxerolZxerol for the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't do so i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered User regular
    also, TONS of LCD monitors aren't broken, they just have a few bad capacitors. you can order a replacement kit off amazon with exactly the components you need for your screen, spend 10 minutes with a soldering iron, and get another 5 years of use.

    Exactly what I had to do with my monitor's PSU a few months ago. Taking apart the bezel was more of a hassle than actually desoldering/soldering a few caps (I'm sure there's a couple of retention clips that are flat out busted now, but there you go).

  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    How would you know which capacitor is bad?

    They typically look like this:

    UbMoLT1.gif

    The one on the right is what a "bad" capacitor looks like. They may also have chemical residue on them, like you'd see from an old leaky AA battery.

    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
  • TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    also, TONS of LCD monitors aren't broken, they just have a few bad capacitors. you can order a replacement kit off amazon with exactly the components you need for your screen, spend 10 minutes with a soldering iron, and get another 5 years of use.

    This. My previous job had a bunch of Dell monitors that were really nice, but all had some bad capacitors. Apparently there was a rash of this about 10 years ago from some only partially successful industrial espionage. Tons of monitors that were otherwise fine would have problems just like this.

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