XP disabled me, via my monitor. Can I fix this?

[Guest]

Accepted XP update yesterday. Once complete, my ViewSonic Monitor stopped
working. It now holds only a blue box that says: Unable to Sync with Signal
(or something similar). What happened to my drivers? Was it a video driver
or a monitor driver that was nuked? How can I reload my drivers with no
monitor?

Any advice besides "Borrow or buy another monitor" would be welcome, at this
point.

 

[Guest]

Make sure your monitor is plugged all the way in on both ends?

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Unfortunately, buying or borrowing a monitor are your best choices at this time. You need a known good monitor to determine whether or not your video card is any good. Of course, you could go buy another video card and install it.

If you're not even seeing the BIOS screens, before XP loads, then you definitely have a hardware problem and it could be either one. Does this error come up when the computer is booted, or only after Windows loads? If the former, you need to troubleshoot the hardware. If the latter, then boot the computer in Safe Mode. Once there, go into Device Manager and uninstall the video card. Reboot normally and XP will redetect the card and reinstall the drivers.

 

[Guest]

"Make sure your monitor is plugged all the way in on both ends?"
A worthy question...--Yes, I checked all connections.

 

[Guest]

"If you're not even seeing the BIOS screens, before XP loads, then you
definitely have a hardware problem and it could be either one."
Ah, I should have mentioned firstly that I can see BIOS--no problem. It's
only when the machine moves on to the OS. That's when the monitor now
fizzles.

In Safe Mode, as you adise, I will go to Device Manager and there consider
the video card in order to reinstall the drivers.

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Ok, if the problem continues, you may want to consider backing up and removing one or more of the Registry subkeys in

HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\VIDEO

After uninstalling the device in Device Manager, and before you reboot and reinstall the drivers.

 

[Rock]

Accepted XP update yesterday. Once complete, my ViewSonic Monitor stopped
working. It now holds only a blue box that says: Unable to Sync with Signal
(or something similar). What happened to my drivers? Was it a video driver
or a monitor driver that was nuked? How can I reload my drivers with no
monitor?

Any advice besides "Borrow or buy another monitor" would be welcome, at this
point.

What updates where there? Never get driver or hardware updates from the
windows update site. Those should only come from the graphics card
manufacturer's web site or the OEM for the computer if it's an OEM
system like Dell or Gateway.

 

[R. McCarty]

I wouldn't think your problem is monitor related. That box on the display
is the monitor reporting no signal. I would look more to the Video card
than the monitor. Driver updates are "Optional" Microsoft Update type
of offerings - You would have to select them manually.
For testing a monitor, one of simplest ways is to access the On Screen
Diagnostics (OSD). Usually, a front panel button will bring up the menu.
If you can access the OSD and cycle through it's option fields, then you
can assume the monitor has basic functionality.
Aside from cable lock downs - Video cards occasionally can work loose
in their socket. Newer cards have a lock clip at the far end of the slot so
that's not as likely as on old AGP cards or ones using PCI Video.

 

[Alias]

windows update site.

Sometimes they're signed by MS and sometimes by the manufacturer. I was
having trouble with my microphone (very weak sound) and I went there, made
sure it was signed by C-Media and that the date was newer than what I had.
Downloaded the drivers and now my microphone works wonderfully.

Alias

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

A Microsoft signed driver doesn't mean that Microsoft wrote it. Signing means that the vendor has "certified" that the particular driver in question is stable, does not cause conflicts and does not cause system problems. This is pretty much an honor system, as I understand it.

Due to the fact I'm on various betas, I always update my drivers from Windows Update and I've never had a bad one.

 

[Alias]

A Microsoft signed driver doesn't mean that Microsoft wrote it. Signing
means that the vendor has "certified" that the particular driver in question
is stable, does not cause conflicts and does not cause system problems.
This is pretty much an honor system, as I understand it.

Due to the fact I'm on various betas, I always update my drivers from
Windows Update and I've never had a bad one. <<<<<<<

I haven't had any problems with any of them either. It's easier than
searching the Taiwanese site

Alias

--
Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows Media Center\Windows Powered Smart
Display\Security
Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
http://www.dougknox.com

 

[Alias]

"Doug Knox MS-MVP" wrote ...
A Microsoft signed driver doesn't mean that Microsoft wrote it. Signing
means that the vendor has "certified" that the particular driver in
question is stable, does not cause conflicts and does not cause system
problems. This is pretty much an honor system, as I understand it.

Good to know, thanks.

Alias

 

[DanS]

=?Utf-8?B?TG9jYWwgVGV4YXMgRWRpdG9y?= <Local Texas
(e-mail address removed)> wrote in

Accepted XP update yesterday. Once complete, my ViewSonic Monitor
stopped working. It now holds only a blue box that says: Unable to
Sync with Signal (or something similar). What happened to my drivers?
Was it a video driver or a monitor driver that was nuked? How can I
reload my drivers with no monitor?

Any advice besides "Borrow or buy another monitor" would be welcome,
at this point.

I too don't think it is monitor related.

The questions is, 'does the monitor appear to work in safe mode ?' which
would be 640x480 with a 60 hz refresh rate.

The monitor reported can not sync, not no signal. I don't know what newer
monitors do when the refresh rate is set to something it can't handle,
older ones would just show you the screen usually compressed vertically
some and look all 'scrambled'. I can see newer ones not showing anything
due to the fact that an unsupported refresh rate may cause damage to the
monitor itself, and this condition is now being properly handled by the
monitor.

Checking the refresh rate is a good idea, if it works in safe mode.
'Display properties'->'Settings'->'Advanced'->'Monitor' tab.

 

[Mike Fields]

A Microsoft signed driver doesn't mean that Microsoft wrote it.
Signing means that the vendor has "certified" that the particular
driver in question is stable, does not cause conflicts and does not
cause system problems.
This is pretty much an honor system, as I understand it.

Hmmm - the first thought that comes to mind here is something
about " honor among thieves ... "

mikey

 

[R. McCarty]

I think you're mixing up two different aspects of a driver package.
A "Signed" driver means that the software is digitally marked. This
allows a user to verify the source. A driver can also be certified
by Microsoft's Hardware Qualification Lab. Applications can be
certified for the Windows Logo certification, where you see on a
product the "Designed for Windows XP"...

 

[Richard Urban]

If you can not see the initial DOS/bios boot up information on your monitor
your problem has nothing to do with drivers (they are for use in Windows
only).

Do you see any white text on black background when you are beginning the
boot? If you don't, and the monitor is giving you an error message (means
the monitor is working) you should suspect either the monitor cable, the
connectors or the video card.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Guest]

Well I did what Mr. Knox advised. (In Safe Mode, which WAS visable, I
worked on driver issues.) It worked. It was the monitor drivers that had
been nuked.

However, once I was able to see my computer, a whole host of other driver
issues became apparent. Video, sound card, and others. It appears that this
new update blazed a swath of destruction.

In the end, after 2 hours of fixing things, since I couldn't know the final
extent of the damage, I unwound the upgrade. Now everything works fine.

 

[Guest]

I'd like to thank everyone for their help and for educating me on the ins and
outs of drivers. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the problems, I wasn't
able to see this discussion from my own computer until I fixed them.

 

[Guest]

Accepted XP update yesterday. Once complete, my ViewSonic Monitor stopped
working....

Yah, I've got the same thing on my wife's PC. She did an update a day or so
ago and didn't reboot until a couple hours ago. It's an Acer flat screen and
I've been also trying it with an old Samtron CRT that I have lying around.
Same problem. We have good video through BIOS, RAID and optional CD boot
stages. When it gets to Windows, it displays the Windows logo for a few
seconds and then drops to no signal.

When I try to launch Safe Mode it starts to go, then drops to a reboot with
no obvious error reporting.

I'm guessing a bunch of people are going to have this problem about now.

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

"If you're not even seeing the BIOS screens, before XP loads, then you
definitely have a hardware problem and it could be either one."

Ah, I should have mentioned firstly that I can see BIOS--no problem. It's
only when the machine moves on to the OS. That's when the monitor now
fizzles.

OK, then most likely the Windows video drivers are asserting a display
mode that has too high a raw dot rate for the monitor to display.
Modern monitors will protect themselves by retreating to "suspend"
mode; old ones will "try and fry".

The raw dot rate is a product of...
- resolution
- refresh rate
- ?color depth
....and refers to the speed at which data is shunted through the
monitor's circuitry to the tube. Analog monitors shouldn't care about
color depth, but it may be a factor so I listed it too.