Graphics card or monitor?

[londonguy999]

Hello All,
I have a monitor/graphics card problem that I discovered.

I have a P133 32 MB RAM PC (yes its an antique, I know!). I was on the net, then suddenly the display seems to change mode or something similar, although the resolution remained as before, but the screen appeared to "reset" itself i.e. the screen size was slightly reduced and I got the pin cushion effect etc. The screen then turned into a mess so I rebooted as I couldn't read anything on the screen.

Now, whenever I turn on the PC this same "mess" remains. The screen text seems to be slightly larger than normal but reproduced several times at a fixed horizontal displacement i.e. there seems to be about 4 screens laid over each other. This also produces much flickering. The screen data does not appear to be displaced vertically though i.e. up or down, just left or right. Needless to say I can't read anything! Plus, although the monitor switches from standby to "green" mode immediately I turn the PC on, it takes about 10-15 seconds before the monitor displays this wierd stuff.

Apart from that the PC works fine and I tried to figure out what the problem might be. I'm not sure whether it is the graphics card or the monitor. I took the graphics card out and blew on it, made sure all the chips were in, but the problem remains.

Further to this, I found last night that if I play with the "translate screen button" i.e. to normally move the screen left or right, then i can get the 4/5 separate images/rays to converge to two. However, upon rebooting, the PC/monitor/"machine as a whole!" forgets my modification and reverts to the original 4/5. Unfortunately, I don't have access to a spare video card/monitor, nor do I have a car so I can't transport my PC anywhere. This problem affects everything incl DOS i.e. its not just windows that is affected. I will probably buy a cheap i.e. 45 bucks/30 quid video card at the weekend and try that out. if that fails, i can get my hands on a cheap monitor for around 75 bucks/50 quid.

I would really appreciate any help as to what you think the problem might be. Obviously I don't want to buy a new graphics card if the monitor is broken and vice versa!

Thanks,

Joe

 

[bosully]

Joe,

I'm no expert on graphics issues but if the problem persists when accessing DOS, I think its pointing to your monitor. As far as I'm aware, using a command line interface makes little or no calls to your graphics card unless your running DOS games or visual editors/spreadsheet programs.

The only other thing to try is to boot into safe mode. (Check your PC documentation on how to do this; on mine you hold down CTRL while booting the machine, on other machines it's PF8.) In safe mode, minimal drivers are used and even a faulty graphics card can be resurrected to some degree. One thing it will show you for sure is if the monitor is working.

Other than that, have you any nearby friends/neighbours with a home PC that you can plug your monitor into?

Brendan

 

[kingkev]

sounds to me like you need a new monitor or maybe you should check your pc for a virus as you were on the net when it happend

 

[edfair]

If the problem shows on a cold boot of everything at the POSt screen or during setup it generally is the monitor that has lost horizontal frequency or sync.
It could be the card since the signal comes from it , but in general I've found it to be the monitor. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.