New video oddity (screen dark at boot)

[ToolPackinMama]

Yesterday and today I noticed that my screen is very dark, almost
unreadable in the early stages of the boot process, but once I am
looking at my desktop (Win 7 64) the image is normal brightness.

What causes that? Is my graphics card failing?

 

[Flasherly]

Yesterday and today I noticed that my screen is very dark, almost
unreadable in the early stages of the boot process, but once I am
looking at my desktop (Win 7 64) the image is normal brightness.

What causes that? Is my graphics card failing?

Tried a hardware diagnostics off a USB/DVD DOS boot and run through
the modes? I do know that (for XP) the resolution Windows is coming
up at is very likely to be different than what it's switched to from a
user preference profile. Clean Win install?

I suppose if the OS is all buggered up, something video-wise could be
amiss. Also, a PS that isn't up to snuff, can't maintain constant
delivery of juice is an optional consideration. Dunno about W7. Never
ran it. I've had bad power supplies and MBs though. I'd tend agree,
or personally should prefer any screen of mine that's freaking out not
to dim, either. Though never actually had one of them fail on me,
either, dim-out or such yet (not one of my flat monitor/receivers I've
kept over a year). Same goes for a video board, basically chips that
don't get too hot while still not in much of anything, for when they
go obsolete and won't plug into even PCI. (Don't mind me if looking
at you through the courtesy of an AGP-installed video board makes
absolutely no sense.)

 

[GlowingBlueMist]

Tried a hardware diagnostics off a USB/DVD DOS boot and run through
the modes? I do know that (for XP) the resolution Windows is coming
up at is very likely to be different than what it's switched to from a
user preference profile. Clean Win install?

I suppose if the OS is all buggered up, something video-wise could be
amiss. Also, a PS that isn't up to snuff, can't maintain constant
delivery of juice is an optional consideration. Dunno about W7. Never
ran it. I've had bad power supplies and MBs though. I'd tend agree,
or personally should prefer any screen of mine that's freaking out not
to dim, either. Though never actually had one of them fail on me,
either, dim-out or such yet (not one of my flat monitor/receivers I've
kept over a year). Same goes for a video board, basically chips that
don't get too hot while still not in much of anything, for when they
go obsolete and won't plug into even PCI. (Don't mind me if looking
at you through the courtesy of an AGP-installed video board makes
absolutely no sense.)

For a test I'd try turning off any screen saver option and then leaving
the PC on with a known screen and then power off the monitor for say
10-20 minutes and see if the screen pops right up with out being too
dark when you power it back on. Not the first time I've seen a monitor
that was just plain slow to come on, especially on monitors with
florescent back lighting.

If you wanted to test the operating system, just boot one of those live
Linux CD's that you can burn yourself and see if it boots up normally.

 

[Flasherly]

For a test I'd try turning off any screen saver option and then leaving
the PC on with a known screen and then power off the monitor for say
10-20 minutes and see if the screen pops right up with out being too
dark when you power it back on. Not the first time I've seen a monitor
that was just plain slow to come on, especially on monitors with
florescent back lighting.

If you wanted to test the operating system, just boot one of those live
Linux CD's that you can burn yourself and see if it boots up normally.

I run mine like that 24/7 for about 7 or more years. Syntax 32" and
one of the first florescents (big bucks). Don't trust the screen
saver (have found it on at times compromised/hacked), so turn it off.
Move the mouse and turn it on sometimes, after sleeping, say...whoa,
gimme some sunglasses.

 

[ToolPackinMama]

Ok, let me start over:

This is a homebuilt AM3 system that has been running flawlessly for over
a year. Nothing is new, nothing is old either.

The only thing that is different is that, for the first time ever,
really recently, the screen is ~really dark~ during post, etc. before
Windows loads.

I updated Windows and all drivers today. Didn't fix it.

I think it is obviously not a monitor problem, because the monitor works
fine once the boot process is complete.

I don't see how it could be the power supply, since see above.

Are you guys just messing with me?

 

[Paul]

Ok, let me start over:

This is a homebuilt AM3 system that has been running flawlessly for over
a year. Nothing is new, nothing is old either.

The only thing that is different is that, for the first time ever,
really recently, the screen is ~really dark~ during post, etc. before
Windows loads.

I updated Windows and all drivers today. Didn't fix it.

I think it is obviously not a monitor problem, because the monitor works
fine once the boot process is complete.

I don't see how it could be the power supply, since see above.

Are you guys just messing with me?

Since so far, only one person has answered, then
maybe one guy is messing with you.

An experiment I'd try, is to enter the BIOS (on an Asus, press <Del>),
and just let it sit there. If the screen gradually brightens on its
own, then the problem is not software or firmware. It could be, say,
a backlight or CCFL tube problem with the monitor. You could also test
the LCD monitor with another computer, and see if the monitor has
normal brightness at T=0.

The video card has a BIOS chip, and as far as I know, it has x86 code
in it. It preps the card enough so that the frame buffer works, for
things like the BIOS display. On a PC, the EEPROM might be 64K, while
on a Mac it might be 32K bytes. If something in that code programmed
the card wrong, perhaps that would account for a lower brightness.

If the monitor has VGA and DVI, you could test with both those
standards, and see if the problem is only on one port or the other.
On VGA, a ground offset might be enough to affect the darkness,
whereas DVI digital should be less susceptible to influences like
that (sort of all or nothing).

I don't really have a good theory, and so all I can offer is
a few more test cases. Video card failures are normally a lot
more bizarre. This almost sounds like an I/O problem (and such a
problem is only practical, on VGA). And you do want to test that
monitor, to avoid wasting your time worrying about the computer
end of things.

Paul

 

[Flasherly]

Ok, let me start over:

This is a homebuilt AM3 system that has been running flawlessly for over
a year. Nothing is new, nothing is old either.

The only thing that is different is that, for the first time ever,
really recently, the screen is ~really dark~ during post, etc. before
Windows loads.

I updated Windows and all drivers today. Didn't fix it.

I think it is obviously not a monitor problem, because the monitor works
fine once the boot process is complete.

I don't see how it could be the power supply, since see above.

Are you guys just messing with me?

It's not really drawing on resources before windows loads, when you're
saying it's most dim, so the PS isn't being taxed (as much as during
the windows hardware-resource load). Sounds agreeably reasonable.

Say for hypothetical reasons you've another device, a dvd w/ a
DOS/*NIX boot load. More simply stated, within only the dimmed-out
BIOS screen, within that same parameters, you're saying prior to W7,
that then a DOS/*NIX boot should also be effectively dimmed-out.

Or, just maybe, that's not entirely the case.

With such a utility disk, a video diagnostics program may be run for
duplicating some at least of the user-profile modes Windows allows via
its video chipset driver definition file. I've got some good ones,
DOS video testing utilities, only haven't had any need for actual
implantation in a video failure situation.

If fact, I've never seen such symptoms.

Do you have a slotted video board? Pulled it and cleaned both contact
sides with an ink eraser, sprayed electronics contact cleaner in the
slot, as well cleaned all the video connectors regardless of the
vidsource rendition? Switched video cables?

Do you have a PCI slot on your motherboard? Have any old Matrox PCI
vidboards, or something similar, that always work like charms and are
nice to keep around? I do.

Were I approaching it, I'd first want to see a video utility, in DOS,
reproducing what video modes I could then duplicate through windows.
(Probably apart for a lesser aspect of your monitor, which has a
pixel-to-pixel mode as its ideal, uninterpolated specification more
generally thought of in terms of OS-dependencies.) Although I do
sincerely doubt that lesser aspect mode will be reproducible as a
lesser diminutive of dimness, Windows then wouldn't share.

Don't get me wrong, either. It's not that I'm above a complete and
fresh install off the OS distributional disk, if something along your
line were capable of making me mad enough to get to root causes.

 

[Rene Lamontagne]

Since so far, only one person has answered, then
maybe one guy is messing with you.

An experiment I'd try, is to enter the BIOS (on an Asus, press <Del>),
and just let it sit there. If the screen gradually brightens on its
own, then the problem is not software or firmware. It could be, say,
a backlight or CCFL tube problem with the monitor. You could also test
the LCD monitor with another computer, and see if the monitor has
normal brightness at T=0.

The video card has a BIOS chip, and as far as I know, it has x86 code
in it. It preps the card enough so that the frame buffer works, for
things like the BIOS display. On a PC, the EEPROM might be 64K, while
on a Mac it might be 32K bytes. If something in that code programmed
the card wrong, perhaps that would account for a lower brightness.

If the monitor has VGA and DVI, you could test with both those
standards, and see if the problem is only on one port or the other.
On VGA, a ground offset might be enough to affect the darkness,
whereas DVI digital should be less susceptible to influences like
that (sort of all or nothing).

I don't really have a good theory, and so all I can offer is
a few more test cases. Video card failures are normally a lot
more bizarre. This almost sounds like an I/O problem (and such a
problem is only practical, on VGA). And you do want to test that
monitor, to avoid wasting your time worrying about the computer
end of things.

Paul

Hi TPM, I have a Viewsonic 930B with the same problem , it comes on dim
at bootup and gets to full brightness after post, from then on it is
fine until I shut it down.
Further to this, it is worse if it is cool or cold in the room but is
fairly normal if the room is hot, I attribute it to a CCFL going bad as
Fluorescent lamps do not work well in cold weather do not fire up well
in cold weather, I will let mine go till it quits then scrap it, it is a
secondary 19 inch monitor.

Regards, Rene

 

[Flasherly]

Hi TPM, I have a Viewsonic 930B with the same problem , it comes on dim
at bootup and gets to full brightness after post, from then on it is
fine until I shut it down.
Further to this, it is worse if it is cool or cold in the room but is
fairly normal if the room is hot, I attribute it to a CCFL going bad as
Fluorescent lamps do not work well in cold weather do not fire up well
in cold weather, I will let mine go till it quits then scrap it, it is a
secondary 19 inch monitor.

Regards, Rene

Got a 15-yr-old Samsung 19 display, that's attached to a vertical
slide throw and rotates the display horizontally/vertically for
portrait/landscape mode, and works perfectly.

Do have some cold cathode tubes in a 3-socket array, though, like a
Christmas tree on psychedelics, over the kitchen sink that can be
prone to be troublesome . Not even anywhere near the manufacturer's
stipulated 50,000 years of good will as an intelligibly stated mission
intent. From a recent washer replacement experience, it wouldn't
cross my mind to think to blink twice if GE merged its origins fully
into a Chinese identity. Know offhand if Phillips, out of the
Netherlands, is into making a decent washing machine?

This could never happen to us again under a better auspices of LED
specifications, which in a proper course of engineered planning will
render LCD as obsolete. I guess.

 

[ToolPackinMama]

An experiment I'd try, is to enter the BIOS (on an Asus, press <Del>),
and just let it sit there. If the screen gradually brightens on its
own, then the problem is not software or firmware.
Hmm.

If the monitor has VGA and DVI, you could test with both those
standards, and see if the problem is only on one port or the other.

Interesting idea! I'll try that.

And you do want to test that
monitor, to avoid wasting your time worrying about the computer
end of things.

OK, sure thing.

 

[ToolPackinMama]

It's not really drawing on resources before windows loads, when you're
saying it's most dim, so the PS isn't being taxed (as much as during
the windows hardware-resource load).

That's what I thought.

I've never seen such symptoms.

Me neither.

Do you have a slotted video board? Pulled it and cleaned both contact
sides with an ink eraser, sprayed electronics contact cleaner in the
slot, as well cleaned all the video connectors regardless of the
vidsource rendition? Switched video cables?

I could try that.

Do you have a PCI slot on your motherboard? Have any old Matrox PCI
vidboards, or something similar, that always work like charms and are
nice to keep around? I do.

I actually have access to a second vid card I could swap to.

Don't get me wrong, either. It's not that I'm above a complete and
fresh install off the OS distributional disk, if something along your
line were capable of making me mad enough to get to root causes.

Me neither, but I am certain it can't be OS related, because it happens
before the OS loads.

 

[ToolPackinMama]

OK, dear people, new detail:

FYI, monitor is Samsung Syncmaster B2230, video card is Nvidia
GeForceGTX 560 TI, both about a year old. Both worked perfectly until 2
days ago.

I just now tried swapping to the secondary DVI port, and when I boot,
the screen is normal brightness for a split-second, then goes very dim.

When I boot into BIOS, it is dimmer than usual but readable. When I
leave it sitting like that for a couple of minutes nothing changes.

When I load Windows, brightness seems normal.

I think the monitor is innocent, and the reasons I think that:

1) even after it is "warmed up" it stays dim until I load the OS.
2) There is a brief moment at first boot where brightness is normal.
How would that be possible if the monitor were at fault?

 

[ToolPackinMama]

OK, I swapped the monitor and yep, it's the monitor.

Thanks.

 

[Flasherly]

OK, dear people, new detail:

FYI, monitor is Samsung Syncmaster B2230, video card is Nvidia
GeForceGTX 560 TI, both about a year old. Both worked perfectly until 2
days ago.

I just now tried swapping to the secondary DVI port, and when I boot,
the screen is normal brightness for a split-second, then goes very dim.

When I boot into BIOS, it is dimmer than usual but readable. When I
leave it sitting like that for a couple of minutes nothing changes.

When I load Windows, brightness seems normal.

I think the monitor is innocent, and the reasons I think that:

1) even after it is "warmed up" it stays dim until I load the OS.
2) There is a brief moment at first boot where brightness is normal.
How would that be possible if the monitor were at fault?

NVIDIA® GeForce 6100 / nForce 430 chipset in my other system, x2 AMD
across the room. Integrated to the MB, though. Don't remember the
exact video issues I was having when first setting it up, (naturally,
it wouldn't have been dimness), but a driver roll-forward fixed it
just fine.

Nope, doesn't sound like the monitor. (Easily verified on a second
machine. As I mentioned my spare Matrox PCI boards ... Well, anything
unreasonable about having three perfectly fine, fully assembled and
working computers for one person randomly to use? I do.)

Could be the vidboard. Not familiar w/ GTX560TI. Is it a hot'un?
Loads of gaming for running like a scalded doggie? Read the reviews
on especially low-end, add-on vidboard options ($50-75US usually on
rebates for $15-30) -- massive heatsinks on the better ones, still
hotter'n'hell, which the engineers step in to pooh-pooh for a
design-intended efficiency. Hell, even with your fan, provided it's
not on it mainly for pizza-appeal, I'm not sure I'd trust those
temperatures (200F+).

PCI-E: Found in the dictionary under Current Drawer. Are the caps on
your MB still up to it?

Object Lesson: All things being equal, do walk that extra step, when
optionally available, to buy the MB's sister design, the one with an
integrated videochip. Two sources available is better and beats out
one.

How to Limp Along: If your spare PCI vidboard works it'll get you by
until figuring whether the vidboard is on the blink, or the MB isn't
up to providing its resources. Which could be forever and ever, if
perfectly without it on a system that hasn't high vid-resource
demands.

I do max-out limits on my AMD x2 4200 with audio/video demands,
specifically specialized audio applications processing T-ed audio
paired to video streams, but it's just audio and nowhere even near a
video intensiveness generally available to computers. The CPU is
doing all the grunt work, though with nothing in there within any
reason regularly to exceed 115-125F. (Heat - The Destroyer, aka, been
there and done it - Signing off, over and out.)