Video card (?) failure

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mark Tangard
  • Start date Start date
M

Mark Tangard

Hi gang. I eat software for breakfast, but many 6-year-olds grasp
hardware issues (esp. video) better than I ever will, so please bear
with me if what follows sounds uninformed or even hilarious.

We have have a 6-month-old Dell running WinXP Pro with Dell's 20-inch
2001FP flat-panel monitor and a 128MB NVidia GeForce 5200 graphics card.
No big problems til yesterday morn, when the display showed absolutely
nothing (i.e., black screen) at bootup.

No funny noises. No games in use. No other unusually video-intensive
apps. The monitor's power light is now amber. Not 100% sure but I
think it was green before yesterday. No programs recently installed or
uninstalled. No mishandling or problematic environmental exposures.
Gobs of HD space and 1GB of RAM. Everything has worked well since
January. Last night's shutdown was proper and uneventful, as are
virtually all here. The system doesn't hang at these bootups (inserted
music CDs play just fine.); you just can't see anything.

Followed Dell's troubleshooting steps. With the monitor disconnected we
get the expectable floating colored boxes. On reconnecting it, bootups
return to the empty black screens. Connecting an older analog monitor
works fine in all senses (except the claustrophobia, of course) and in
that situation, Device Manager says the card is working properly ... I
guess at least the part of it the older monitor can see is.

Dell's troubleshooting guide asserts the monitor is fine and says the
problem lies in the controller or (their words) "the computer system."
I just love detailed explanations, duh.

This is a mission-critical machine and sees a LOT of use. I use it
hours open day, so sending the whole system back to Dell, which I expect
is what they'll want for warranty service, is my last resort and at this
moment has all the appeal of the dry heaves. To my exhausted brain the
next logical choice is resignedly buying a new card. Questions:

- Can I pretty well assume this is a sick video card?
- Is 128MB "enough" for this whale-sized monitor?
(Occasionally a menu will persist after being dismissed)
- Anyone hear of recurring problems with this card?
- Is the widely sold NVidia 5200 "Ultra" a different (better?) card?
- Is there another NG whose regulars are likely to know what's up?

Whoever helps fix this deserves a statue. Pls specify stone or bronze.
 
Boot to safe mode and reset the video resolution to the
default for the LCD, do it with the old monitor if
necessary. Check device manager to be sure that all the
display settings are "standard" because my guess is that
your rugrat was trying to tweak the display to a higher
resolution or refresh rate for his new game. It isn't
supported and the card fails at boot up.

Send cash. BTW, on a 6 month old Dell, they probably have
service at your home/business.

128 MB video is plenty for a mission critical business
computer, but your 6 year old wants a flat screen 21 inch
CRT and a 256 MB of VRAM, for the best 1600x1200 at 120 fps.


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


message | Hi gang. I eat software for breakfast, but many
6-year-olds grasp
| hardware issues (esp. video) better than I ever will, so
please bear
| with me if what follows sounds uninformed or even
hilarious.
|
| We have have a 6-month-old Dell running WinXP Pro with
Dell's 20-inch
| 2001FP flat-panel monitor and a 128MB NVidia GeForce 5200
graphics card.
| No big problems til yesterday morn, when the display
showed absolutely
| nothing (i.e., black screen) at bootup.
|
| No funny noises. No games in use. No other unusually
video-intensive
| apps. The monitor's power light is now amber. Not 100%
sure but I
| think it was green before yesterday. No programs recently
installed or
| uninstalled. No mishandling or problematic environmental
exposures.
| Gobs of HD space and 1GB of RAM. Everything has worked
well since
| January. Last night's shutdown was proper and uneventful,
as are
| virtually all here. The system doesn't hang at these
bootups (inserted
| music CDs play just fine.); you just can't see anything.
|
| Followed Dell's troubleshooting steps. With the monitor
disconnected we
| get the expectable floating colored boxes. On
reconnecting it, bootups
| return to the empty black screens. Connecting an older
analog monitor
| works fine in all senses (except the claustrophobia, of
course) and in
| that situation, Device Manager says the card is working
properly ... I
| guess at least the part of it the older monitor can see
is.
|
| Dell's troubleshooting guide asserts the monitor is fine
and says the
| problem lies in the controller or (their words) "the
computer system."
| I just love detailed explanations, duh.
|
| This is a mission-critical machine and sees a LOT of use.
I use it
| hours open day, so sending the whole system back to Dell,
which I expect
| is what they'll want for warranty service, is my last
resort and at this
| moment has all the appeal of the dry heaves. To my
exhausted brain the
| next logical choice is resignedly buying a new card.
Questions:
|
| - Can I pretty well assume this is a sick video card?
| - Is 128MB "enough" for this whale-sized monitor?
| (Occasionally a menu will persist after being
dismissed)
| - Anyone hear of recurring problems with this card?
| - Is the widely sold NVidia 5200 "Ultra" a different
(better?) card?
| - Is there another NG whose regulars are likely to know
what's up?
|
| Whoever helps fix this deserves a statue. Pls specify
stone or bronze.
|
| --
| Mark Tangard
| "Life is nothing if you're not obsessed." --John Waters
|
 
I read somewahere that DELL's LCD flat-panel could have a problem where the
display completely shutdowns down the video display. I believe it stated
that there is a problem with the Plug and Play firmware in the panel.
 
I read somewahere that DELL's LCD flat-panel could have a problem where the
display completely shutdowns down the video display. I believe it stated
that there is a problem with the Plug and Play firmware in the panel.
 
Jim,

Interesting idea; but the six-year-old in question is 3,000 miles away
and has never touched this computer. In fact, I don't think anyone has.
Could this remedy still apply? (Haven't been home yet to test it.)

Mark Tangard
"Life is nothing if you're not obsessed." --John Waters

Jim said:
Boot to safe mode and reset the video resolution to the
default for the LCD, do it with the old monitor if
necessary. Check device manager to be sure that all the
display settings are "standard" because my guess is that
your rugrat was trying to tweak the display to a higher
resolution or refresh rate for his new game. It isn't
supported and the card fails at boot up.

Send cash. BTW, on a 6 month old Dell, they probably have
service at your home/business.

128 MB video is plenty for a mission critical business
computer, but your 6 year old wants a flat screen 21 inch
CRT and a 256 MB of VRAM, for the best 1600x1200 at 120 fps.
Click to expand...


message | Hi gang. I eat software for breakfast, but many
6-year-olds grasp
| hardware issues (esp. video) better than I ever will, so
please bear
| with me if what follows sounds uninformed or even
hilarious.
|
| We have have a 6-month-old Dell running WinXP Pro with
Dell's 20-inch
| 2001FP flat-panel monitor and a 128MB NVidia GeForce 5200
graphics card.
| No big problems til yesterday morn, when the display
showed absolutely
| nothing (i.e., black screen) at bootup.
|
| No funny noises. No games in use. No other unusually
video-intensive
| apps. The monitor's power light is now amber. Not 100%
sure but I
| think it was green before yesterday. No programs recently
installed or
| uninstalled. No mishandling or problematic environmental
exposures.
| Gobs of HD space and 1GB of RAM. Everything has worked
well since
| January. Last night's shutdown was proper and uneventful,
as are
| virtually all here. The system doesn't hang at these
bootups (inserted
| music CDs play just fine.); you just can't see anything.
|
| Followed Dell's troubleshooting steps. With the monitor
disconnected we
| get the expectable floating colored boxes. On
reconnecting it, bootups
| return to the empty black screens. Connecting an older
analog monitor
| works fine in all senses (except the claustrophobia, of
course) and in
| that situation, Device Manager says the card is working
properly ... I
| guess at least the part of it the older monitor can see
is.
|
| Dell's troubleshooting guide asserts the monitor is fine
and says the
| problem lies in the controller or (their words) "the
computer system."
| I just love detailed explanations, duh.
|
| This is a mission-critical machine and sees a LOT of use.
I use it
| hours open day, so sending the whole system back to Dell,
which I expect
| is what they'll want for warranty service, is my last
resort and at this
| moment has all the appeal of the dry heaves. To my
exhausted brain the
| next logical choice is resignedly buying a new card.
Questions:
|
| - Can I pretty well assume this is a sick video card?
| - Is 128MB "enough" for this whale-sized monitor?
| (Occasionally a menu will persist after being
dismissed)
| - Anyone hear of recurring problems with this card?
| - Is the widely sold NVidia 5200 "Ultra" a different
(better?) card?
| - Is there another NG whose regulars are likely to know
what's up?
|
| Whoever helps fix this deserves a statue. Pls specify
stone or bronze.
|
| --
| Mark Tangard
| "Life is nothing if you're not obsessed." --John Waters
|
 
Sure it could or something else. I just had a problem on my
computer, that gave a black screen followed by a reset into
safe mode with a message that a device failure had occurred
and Windows had recovered. It said I needed to reboot to
restore full functionality. A reboot still left the
computer in 640x480 256 color mode. What caused this was a
..avi file. I tried to open it again and it caused the same
problem. So, after resetting the video again to
1240x768/true color 85 Hz I deleted that file. It had been
scanned and did not indicate it was infected, but something
in that file was trying to reset the graphics in such a
manner that was crashing the video driver.
Some game or video file you have may be trying to run and
crashing the computer. Try booting in safe mode and
checking the resolution and refresh rates.

Good luck, hope you get home to see the rugrat soon.


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


message | Jim,
|
| Interesting idea; but the six-year-old in question is
3,000 miles away
| and has never touched this computer. In fact, I don't
think anyone has.
| Could this remedy still apply? (Haven't been home yet
to test it.)
|
| Mark Tangard
| "Life is nothing if you're not obsessed." --John Waters
|
| Jim Macklin wrote:
| > Boot to safe mode and reset the video resolution to the
| > default for the LCD, do it with the old monitor if
| > necessary. Check device manager to be sure that all the
| > display settings are "standard" because my guess is that
| > your rugrat was trying to tweak the display to a higher
| > resolution or refresh rate for his new game. It isn't
| > supported and the card fails at boot up.
| >
| > Send cash. BTW, on a 6 month old Dell, they probably
have
| > service at your home/business.
| >
| > 128 MB video is plenty for a mission critical business
| > computer, but your 6 year old wants a flat screen 21
inch
| > CRT and a 256 MB of VRAM, for the best 1600x1200 at 120
fps.
| > --
| >
| > The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
| > But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
|
|
in
| message | | Hi gang. I eat software for breakfast, but many
| 6-year-olds grasp
| | hardware issues (esp. video) better than I ever will, so
| please bear
| | with me if what follows sounds uninformed or even
| hilarious.
| |
| | We have have a 6-month-old Dell running WinXP Pro with
| Dell's 20-inch
| | 2001FP flat-panel monitor and a 128MB NVidia GeForce
5200
| graphics card.
| | No big problems til yesterday morn, when the display
| showed absolutely
| | nothing (i.e., black screen) at bootup.
| |
| | No funny noises. No games in use. No other unusually
| video-intensive
| | apps. The monitor's power light is now amber. Not 100%
| sure but I
| | think it was green before yesterday. No programs
recently
| installed or
| | uninstalled. No mishandling or problematic
environmental
| exposures.
| | Gobs of HD space and 1GB of RAM. Everything has worked
| well since
| | January. Last night's shutdown was proper and
uneventful,
| as are
| | virtually all here. The system doesn't hang at these
| bootups (inserted
| | music CDs play just fine.); you just can't see anything.
| |
| | Followed Dell's troubleshooting steps. With the monitor
| disconnected we
| | get the expectable floating colored boxes. On
| reconnecting it, bootups
| | return to the empty black screens. Connecting an older
| analog monitor
| | works fine in all senses (except the claustrophobia, of
| course) and in
| | that situation, Device Manager says the card is working
| properly ... I
| | guess at least the part of it the older monitor can see
| is.
| |
| | Dell's troubleshooting guide asserts the monitor is fine
| and says the
| | problem lies in the controller or (their words) "the
| computer system."
| | I just love detailed explanations, duh.
| |
| | This is a mission-critical machine and sees a LOT of
use.
| I use it
| | hours open day, so sending the whole system back to
Dell,
| which I expect
| | is what they'll want for warranty service, is my last
| resort and at this
| | moment has all the appeal of the dry heaves. To my
| exhausted brain the
| | next logical choice is resignedly buying a new card.
| Questions:
| |
| | - Can I pretty well assume this is a sick video card?
| | - Is 128MB "enough" for this whale-sized monitor?
| | (Occasionally a menu will persist after being
| dismissed)
| | - Anyone hear of recurring problems with this card?
| | - Is the widely sold NVidia 5200 "Ultra" a different
| (better?) card?
| | - Is there another NG whose regulars are likely to
know
| what's up?
| |
| | Whoever helps fix this deserves a statue. Pls specify
| stone or bronze.
| |
| | --
| | Mark Tangard
| | "Life is nothing if you're not obsessed." --John Waters
| |
|
 
Just curious where you "read" that. Dell has, up until recently, been
only rebadging other companies LCD Displays. I have three Dell displays
and they are all great quality. I even have the LCD in question here and
I have to say it is the best LCD monitor I have ever owned or seen.
This thing's response time is excellent and nothing looks better than
gaming in 1600x1200. What can happen though is if the refresh rate is
set outside of the monitor's capabilities, you can get a black screen.
Also, if the resolution is set too low.

I do have one question, and this is huge. Do you see the POST screen
(the startup where it shows the Dell logo)?

Nathan McNulty
 
Nathan-

I don't.

Mark

Nathan said:
Just curious where you "read" that. Dell has, up until recently, been
only rebadging other companies LCD Displays. I have three Dell displays
and they are all great quality. I even have the LCD in question here and
I have to say it is the best LCD monitor I have ever owned or seen. This
thing's response time is excellent and nothing looks better than gaming
in 1600x1200. What can happen though is if the refresh rate is set
outside of the monitor's capabilities, you can get a black screen. Also,
if the resolution is set too low.

I do have one question, and this is huge. Do you see the POST screen
(the startup where it shows the Dell logo)?

Nathan McNulty
Click to expand...
 
No POST, but the monitor displays the No Signal Detected when you unplug
it. Sounds like a video card problem. There are two possibilities that
I can think of. First is that the BIOS needs to be reset. There may be
some setting that was adjusted or isn't working right. You will need to
clear the CMOS for this. You may have to read your User Manual to find
how to clear the CMOS, there may be a nice little button that says it
right on it, or you can remove that little flat battery on the
motherboard for about 15 seconds and then put it back in. Hopefully that
fixes the problem. It will cause the BIOS to load the default settings.
The other possibility isn't so nice. It may be that your video card has
gone. It may be relaying the electricity which is why the monitor still
gets a signal, but it may not be able to render anything out. If you
have a spare video card, you can plug it in and see if that works. Also,
try plugging the monitor into another computer and see if it works.
Hopefully you have an extra or a friend has one you can take it to :)

Nathan McNulty
 
Hi Nathan,

I'd pretty much assumed it was the card, =except= that my old PC's
analog monitor, plugged into the analog jack on the same card, works.

I know very little about the mechanics of this. Is it possible for only
*part* of a card to fail?

TIA,
Mark
 
Hi Nathan,

Thanks for sticking with this. I'm afraid it's still all frowns here.

I was home only briefly (I travel), so all I had time for was to try
connecting it with the DVI-VGA convertor. One problem: It didn't come
with such a thing. (I kept everything; there are some unused cables &
such, but not that.)

About your other 2 suggestions:

CMOS: I don't know what this is, how to "clear" it, or what, if
anything, I might have to backup, rebuild, or un-lose if I did it. Can
you elaborate or point me somewhere with instructions for the layperson?

BIOS update: This term's almost equally greek to me, but even
disregarding that, why would the PC or the monitor suddenly need an
'update' to handle this problem. The monitor worked one evening and
didn't work the next morning, and nothing about either had been changed
in any way for months. That said, if there's still a reason to mess
with these things ("things" is all I know to call them), where do I begin?

By way of explanation, I'm trying to avoid contacting Dell, because I've
already had to speak with them twice on other issues, and both times the
individual responding was far more ignorant than I, and clearly only
there to serve as a void to speak into, not to assist. I don't mean to
be venting at you, just explaining why I want to exhaust all other less
demoralizing avenues first.

Thanks for your continued help.

Mark Tangard
 
Ok, I'm actually having fun trying to figure this out, so don't worry
about venting at me :) I just realized that it was my video card that
came with the DVI-VGA convertor and you probably did not get one. My
Dell 2001FP did not come with one either (I checked the box).

As for the CMOS and how to clear it. The simplest way is going to be
this. Open the case and look for a little battery. It will be a round
battery about the size of a quarter. Remove this battery for about 15
seconds and then plug it back in. Now try booting up and see if it
works. The CMOS stores information about what hardware is connected and
what to send signals to. Once you clear it, it "reinstalls" this
information. You do not lost any data on your computer and do not need
to reconfigure anything in Windows. Clearing the CMOS will reset all of
the settings in the BIOS.

The BIOS is a place where all of your hardware options are kept along
with your CPU Speed, Memory Amount and Speed, Power Configuration, and
Boot Sequence (as well as your system date and time which will need to
be set again after you clear the CMOS because it will reset it). You
should be able to reset all of the options in the BIOS to default
(usually F5, but look for that option). The only other thing you will
need to do is set the time in the BIOS as loading the default settings
will not be able to do this for you.

To get into the BIOS, you will press either the DEL key or F1 or F2.
When the Dell logo starts up, press escape and look for something that
says "Press XXX to enter Setup" or something similar to that (or after
you clear the CMOS, it may do that automatically).

As for the BIOS update, you are correct. There should be no need to
update as it was working before. I also doubt that there would be any
updates available as they are not released very often. They generally
add compatibility and fix problems with conflicting hardware. It was
just a thought ;)

As for computer knowledge, I taught myself everything I know by reading
around in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (http://support.microsoft.com)
and mainly from reading Software/Hardware books or online articles. It
doesn't take very long and you are on your way when you start asking
questions ;) Hopefully we can figure this out, but I really think that
the BIOS is not signaling to the video card to start and this is the
cause of the whole problem. Either that, or one of your peices of
hardware's settings (such as CPU Speed, Memory Speed, etc.) was changed
and the computer can't handle that.

Nathan McNulty
 
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