Well I got a weird one! I have a ATI 2900XT 1GB GFX card and its absolutely fine when plugged into a VGA monitor or merely through a VGA cable its just when I use the DVI connection that it starts going weird. If I start up the PC with the monitor on (and I have tried 2 different monitors) I get blackouts and what looks like interference - tiny white kind of specks and lines moving across from left to right and vice versa. But if I wait until windows has totally started up and then turn the monitor on its totally fine! I cant work out why! If I do get this problem it seems to be rectified by unplugging and plugging the monitor back in to the GFX card! I am pretty sure its to do with the GFX card but its hard to work out! Any ideas? thanks!
It's possible the DVI cable is bad. It's also possible some of the electronics either in the monitor or on the card are failing but work OK once they get warmed up a bit. Does the same problem happen on a reboot, or is it just from cold? Finally, you might try updating your graphics drivers (or downgrading them, if you have drivers newer than your card)
Its not the cable - I used 2 other ones. I did upgrade my drivers but theres a new one - I will do that next...I get the problem on a reboot - but also got it the other day when the energy saving kicked in after 20 mins or so and I wiggled the mouse to get the desktop back up!
lalalalaaaaahhhhheeekkkweeeioooweee... Installed latest drivers and no difference -but I really didnt think it would be that as the blackouts start from the instant the monitor comes on in startup. I think even before bios - but cant be totally sure of that. And as I said if I unplug and plug the DVI cable back in in windows - (fully loaded windows) it absolutely fine!
Do you have a different DVI video card you could try with that monitor, or a different DVI monitor you could try with that video card? It sounds like the connections inside one of the two might be a bit troublesome, and that's the only way to test it.
Yes it did the same thing with another DVI monitor - so not that - unfortunatly I dont have another GFX card . I will be buying one though - when they come down in price but I guess I am stuffed till then...I was just hoping someone would tell me somthing like - my GFX card is earthed or static is building up in the card - so its faulty or something! But I cant find anyone who knows about this or has had this problem... The only other thing that is weird is: 1: the PC makes a 2 tone noise (the one you get when connecting a digital camera or other device) when I plug the monitor in - dont know if this is normal or not? And 2: my ATI T200 unified AVstream driver appers to have a yellow exclamation mark beside it and says: this device cannot start (code 10) but I have found some info on this but not much on if it causes problems...
Aaaah get this: I have just realised that this only happens at the resolution 1920 x 1200! any other resolution larger or smaller and I am fine!! I need this resolution!!!
Unfortunately, unless you have another DVI video card that you can try, or perhaps another computer you can try your current card in, there's nothing we're going to be able to do. The only way to troubleshoot hardware is to switch it around, and if you can't do that you can't figure out whether it's the video card or something else. If you can swap some things around and it is the video card, then you'll either have to get the card replaced under warranty or get a new card. Actually, if the card is still under warranty and you can live without it for a while, you might want to get it replaced anyway. That's a surefire way to make sure your problem isn't caused by your card, or to fix it altogether.
Yer your right as I said tho I was hoping somone out there had this prob. - ok well I have work on so ill have to finish that then buy a new card and or swop tnx...
another thing just realised - I have to touch the pins in the monitor cable when I unplug it to get it to work - like I am earthing it or dispersing something!
Now that's an interesting observation. Are the monitor and computer both connected to an earthed wall socket, or at the very least both connected to the same power strip?
tryed swapping plugs - but both are comming from the same doubble wall socket its true - will try an extension from another one but dont think its that. Just realised last night that the white bits look like the interferance you get when running a hair dryer next to a CRT TV. tnx
I'm not sure an extension cord will do it, unless you plug both the computer and the monitor into the same cord. It sounds like you might be having some interesting power issues, and if you get the two devices on the same ground (both connected to the same surge protector) then the problem might go away.
Nope tryed that and no difference. Just realised it can go away just by unpluging and re pluging the monitor cable back in sometimes! - I dont have to touch the pins. Gah wish I had other parts to test with ...
