Power Sellers Unite

Dep-T-Dawg · Joined: 12 Feb 2005 Posts: 6273

Could someone help us PLEASE??

Folks, We have a problem that we have NO idea what to do about.
(we are on our tiny old lap top, but we are unable to do any of our
photo editing, auctions, or anything from it!!)
Our main PC is a 2 year old dell with flat screen monitor,,
LOL, it was fine but all of a sudden it began (screen) to go black/blank!!
Even when we reboot, the screen will light up/show for no more than
30 seconds and now stays blank..Has anyone had any experience with
this and if so, would you please help or advise us?
I apologize if I have put this in the wrong thread.

Thank you so much,
JB & Lana

Pigeon · Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 643

If no one else can help, I can ask DH when he gets up in the morning- he likes to build computers, so may have some ideas.

Sorry you are having trouble with it. Are you out of warrenty with Dell? Even so, they do have a good support system and may be able to give you some support on this problem.

I had this problem myself a couple years agao, but it was the monitor going ker-flooey and DH just replaced it.

Have you tried a different monitor yet?

Sorry I can't think of anything else right now to help you. It is so frustrating to have a computer down.

Dep-T-Dawg · Joined: 12 Feb 2005 Posts: 6273

Hi Pigeon..No we haven't tried another yet,
as we are HOPING to avoid spending that much
more $$ :( I talked with the electronics man at
walmart today, and he said maybe a weak connection,
I am not sure what he meant..lol,
was in a hurry..)NOTHING else at all wrong with
the pc..all systems great..just when it starts to show
desk top, now not even 10 seconds>>GONE..We will
be unable to do very little until we can get this
fixed or replaced.
Thank you so much, and if your H gives any advise,
We would sure love to hear it.

JB & Lana

Pigeon · Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 643

Okay, you can get the non-flat screen monitors all over cheaper these days- go to a local auction ( we bought an entire pallet of them ranging from 15 inch to 5 19inchers for 5 bucks) or maybe even check with any computer place for a used one ( keep as a back up).

*southie* · Joined: 25 Aug 2005 Posts: 1728 Location: Sunny Florida

Dawg - If you have DELL - Call DELL ...
QUICKLY! They should give you a bootable CD with the patch and
if you have an antivirus system - call them (Norton, McAfee, etc).

I've heard of some reports of a virus that hides from everything and
the purpose is to shut down monitors and rendering them useless.
I've not read anything or heard anything declared anywhere, except
from the techies that's working for Best Buy & CompUSA that there's
a virus running wild that's shutting down monitors.

I DO know for a fact, it's been very strange, as I've been driving to
see a lot of monitors thrown out into the trash the past few weeks. I
thought it might be because of the "sales" on monitors they've been
having around at Retail Stores - getting people to purchase flat
screens & bigger items to move them.

I had retrieved a monitor last Friday from someone throwing it out
and then telling me it's no good, it's broken, and no picture - it's
currently in my friend's bedroom working just fine (an e-machine 16")...
and that monitor is at least 8 years old!

After hearing your post ....

I am beginning to wonder if this is a virus? If what the techies had
been telling me? Or a sneaky attempt at getting people to throw away
monitors and buying monitors that's been unable to move in stock at
retail stores?

Because you've stated you can see it for a bit ... I doubt very seriously your monitor's gone!

TRY to see if you can boot to SAFE MODE (F-8 key when puter starts
up) ... and see if you can keep your monitor on and run antivirus system
full blast while in safe mode ...

If you can get into your display settings - turn it down temporarily
(example if you have 32 bit - turn it down to 16 bit - even though the
colors would be horrid and graphics are bad - or 254 colors) ... and run
the antivirus and make sure it's updated...

LEMME KNOW if it's a virus ... I'm curious to know why it's not been
announced ...

Pigeon · Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 643

Those are scary thoughts, southie! There are so many virus, trojans and worms anymore....and do so many carpy things to people's computers.

I didn't even think of a virus...

*southie* · Joined: 25 Aug 2005 Posts: 1728 Location: Sunny Florida

I'm not sure if it is ... I'm pretty close friends with quite a few of
the techies (working at CompUSA & BestBuy) ... they told me of
this ...

I really didn't think too much of it, until seeing monitors in garbage
and then picking up an e-machine monitor for a friend of mine and
was told it was gone .. and then hearing Dawg's posting of being
able to see it ...

Think about it ...

The past few Sundays -- lots of sales on Monitors - stores trying to
push them ... (it's usually a balance between towers & monitors)

Because just last Sunday I asked a few of my friends - WHY so many
monitors going up on "sale"? (Best Buy I think had at least 2 pages
of monitors (only monitors) on Sale ...)

Was it purposedly imbedded? Is it a real virus or a sneaky way of
getting people to buy and move the stock?

*southie* · Joined: 25 Aug 2005 Posts: 1728 Location: Sunny Florida

PS: last Sunday as not of yesterday but the week before ...

Pigeon · Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 643

I haven't checked the ads lately- trying to behave once in a while, plus we have been out at some auctions, but that sure would be a dirty trick to pull on consumers.

People are crazy all over, though, some I tend to be pessimestic and am happily surprised at times, LOL!

LurkeyLou · Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 9:23 am Post subject:

DtD, first, of course, I recommend unplugging all cables/electrical connections, grounding them (hold the metal part in your fist for 20 - 30 seconds (to discharge static build up) and then replugging - this is your snuggness check.

If your monitor has a "reset", you want to do that next.

If those steps don't work, here's another that's free. I've run into your problem with VGA monitors, and it may be an issue with yours - though you didn't mention any rolling or distortions...but I haven't worked with DVI and don't know it's behavior.

Anyway, the refresh rate on your monitor may be too high. I understand it's been working fine and that you probably didn't change any settings but sometimes a system will "take a notion" and suddenly get erratic in response to overload.

You want to boot in safe mode and uninstall your video card drivers, reboot and reinstall the drivers. You may want to reset your refresh rate...assuming you're in an XP environment: Settings --> Advanced --> Adapter --> List All Modes and select the appropriate range for your system - if you don't know, try logging into Dell's help system for specs.

Next you're looking at diagnosing hardware cables/card/monitor. Dell should be of assistance walking you through those procedures.

I hope the card drivers just need to be reinstalled and refresh rate reset :-D If there is some sort of bizarre monitor sale virus conspiricy going on, I'd like to know, too :shock:

G'Luck!

knappschiles · Joined: 25 May 2005 Posts: 4035 Location: Wi

I'd like to know more about a possible virus thingy too.

My sister just moved last week and when they reinstalled their computers, they couldn't get his monitor to work. They put her monitor on his computer but it still wouldn't boot up. She said the monitor was all b/w like a checkerboard and that was all it would do. When they put her monitor back with her computer it worked fine.

Carol

mojavelyn · Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 10:36 am Post subject:

[quote=southy]I DO know for a fact, it's been very strange, as I've been driving to
see a lot of monitors thrown out into the trash the past few weeks. I
thought it might be because of the "sales" on monitors they've been
having around at Retail Stores - getting people to purchase flat
screens & bigger items to move them. [/quote]

Well, then, just follow the money to who created the virus?

CrystalStar · Joined: 06 Mar 2005 Posts: 3571

May want to check your graphics card as well. Had one that did this on a VGA monitor and the card was about to go. Lasted about 2 weeks afterwards with all kinds of trouble. (The card lasted about a year. We are in a throw away society. And anything these companies can skimp on they will. Especially quality.)

Would say back up all the important stuff and format the HDD. Start with a clean install...but I don't know if you are that geeky!LOL

Pipphoe

We've had great luck with regular Sylvania monitors. Flat screens not such great luck. But the monitor I'm working with now had a similar problem. It was replaced initially with a Sylvania and put away. Then one day Mike plugged it in and it worked. Now I'm using it because one of the big Sylvania's finally went about 6 years. No, we have no idea why it's working. But we do sometimes have problems with the electric from LIPA sometimes, being in an industrial area, and strange things happen in spite of surge protectors and backups :cry: I wish I had more answers for you. It could be any number of things. And we do build all our computers to try to avoid some of the pitfalls that you might find with a commercial product and their cutting corners. :roll:

knappschiles · Joined: 25 May 2005 Posts: 4035 Location: Wi

Speaking of electric power -- most people know that the surges can kill equipment, but don't know that the low voltages and brown-outs that happen quite frequently can do just as much damage.

A friend of mine lost her hard drive to power fluctuations we have here on old lines. She lost 5 years worth of contact info for their company as she didn't know how to back up the program's database (Act) at the time.

But she still hasn't put in a UPS (Uninteruptable Power Suply - battery back-up) as I've been telling her for years. I currently have a APC ups that is larger than the weinnie ones you see in the computer stores. It will kick in at odd times when it doesn't seem like there is anything wrong with the electric. But then you look at the lights on the ups and it indicates that its "fixing" a power fluctuation of some kind that you can't see with your eyes or the lights in your house, but that can kill electronic equipment

For about $100 for a good UPS, you can save thousands of dollars of electronics. And they last for years. Many of the good ones will also hook up to your computer with a serial or usb cable and shut down the computer if the power goes out while no one is around.

Carol.