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Tower PC intermittent display problem
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Old 27-11-2014, 11:39   #16
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Re: Tower PC intermittent display problem

Plenty of monitors fail all the time due to bad components, capacitors mostly but can be others. Cables are much easier to rule out just by replacing them, internal components are not. A replacement VGA cable is pennies off eBay.
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Old 28-11-2014, 14:09   #17
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Re: Tower PC intermittent display problem

OK well the problem recurred earlier when the wife fired up the PC so I did some fiddling. Moving the case and leads didn't make any difference or restore the image so I connected another monitor (an old 4:3 one) using the same lead and on restarting the PC manually (couldn't shut down normally as no screen was visible) the thing seemed to boot up ok and the Windows icon formed on the screen but then the screen suddenly went blue and a 'no signal message' appeared. I waited a while but nothing was happening so I turned the PC off/on again and the same thing happened again. I tried starting in safe mode and everything loaded up and I was able to access her desktop and open pictures etc. I then turned off again and reconnected the original monitor and bingo, this time the process completed and I was able to use the PC as normal. I again moved the case and leads around a bit but this didn't seem to affect anything and the PC's been on and working OK since then.

She did mention something which also happened this morning at some point when she was trying to get the thing working she got a black/white screen appear which apparently looked like the safe mode restart options screen but said something about error repair (or words similar). She didn't select that option but just tried to restart the PC again manually so I have no idea if that screen was related to this issue or something else entirely. It didn't appear again when I was fiddling around.

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Old 28-11-2014, 15:27   #18
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Re: Tower PC intermittent display problem

Corrupted driver or system file? Sometimes the bug can lie dormant for a long time until a specific piece of code is executed, perhaps once in a blue moon.

Try a reinstall of the graphics card drivers.
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Old 28-11-2014, 18:57   #19
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Re: Tower PC intermittent display problem

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Originally Posted by heero_yuy View Post
Corrupted driver or system file? Sometimes the bug can lie dormant for a long time until a specific piece of code is executed, perhaps once in a blue moon.

Try a reinstall of the graphics card drivers.
How would I go about that? (keep it nice and simple for me... )
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Old 28-11-2014, 19:16   #20
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Re: Tower PC intermittent display problem

I'd look inside and give the graphics card a press down - my recollection is that they do not have a tail latch , so the back end of the card can lift in the slot, leading to intermittent connection.

Unplug & touch case metalwork before anything else.
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Old 28-11-2014, 19:19   #21
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Re: Tower PC intermittent display problem

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matth View Post
I'd look inside and give the graphics card a press down - my recollection is that they do not have a tail latch , so the back end of the card can lift in the slot, leading to intermittent connection.

Unplug & touch case metalwork before anything else.
OK that sounds simple enough for me.

Actually I'm just wondering whether that could be causing other intermittent boot up problems she's had on that PC. I just remembered that quite some years ago another old PC of ours wouldn't start up properly but emitted a few beeps every time we powered up and nothing else. I seem to recall I cured that by pushing down on a graphics card.
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Old 28-11-2014, 19:28   #22
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Re: Tower PC intermittent display problem

Quote:
Originally Posted by Osem View Post
How would I go about that? (keep it nice and simple for me... )
Firstly go to the web site of the graphics mfr and download the latest driver set to somewhere convenient ( I use C:\downloads)

Then open the control panel and go to:

controlpanel>system>hardware>device manager>display device.

Under the properties tab there select "update driver" and when prompted select the driver(s) you downloaded.

Even if it says you have the latest update anyway to ensure that the driver is uncorrupted.

Probably need to reboot after to get the driver(s) loaded properly.

This is for XP but I think it's the same for later OS's.
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Old 28-11-2014, 20:54   #23
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Re: Tower PC intermittent display problem

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matth View Post
I'd look inside and give the graphics card a press down - my recollection is that they do not have a tail latch , so the back end of the card can lift in the slot, leading to intermittent connection.

Unplug & touch case metalwork before anything else.
Unlikely, all graphics cards have a tail latch and a screw at the other end, plus loose connections in the slot would cause complete PC crashes and more often than not failed cards or even fires in short order.

---------- Post added at 19:53 ---------- Previous post was at 19:52 ----------

Quote:
Originally Posted by heero_yuy View Post
Firstly go to the web site of the graphics mfr and download the latest driver set to somewhere convenient ( I use C:\downloads)

Then open the control panel and go to:

controlpanel>system>hardware>device manager>display device.

Under the properties tab there select "update driver" and when prompted select the driver(s) you downloaded.

Even if it says you have the latest update anyway to ensure that the driver is uncorrupted.

Probably need to reboot after to get the driver(s) loaded properly.

This is for XP but I think it's the same for later OS's.
Display Driver Uninstaller is a quicker, easier, and more complete way of doing this but I highly doubt it's a display driver issue.

---------- Post added at 19:54 ---------- Previous post was at 19:53 ----------

Quote:
Originally Posted by Osem View Post
OK that sounds simple enough for me.

Actually I'm just wondering whether that could be causing other intermittent boot up problems she's had on that PC. I just remembered that quite some years ago another old PC of ours wouldn't start up properly but emitted a few beeps every time we powered up and nothing else. I seem to recall I cured that by pushing down on a graphics card.
A faulty graphics card can do that, a loose one, only if it wasn't latched properly or has a faulty connector.
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