dterrick 0 #1 October 15, 2003 Something's gone wonky with my PC but I don't know where to start. Any serious (OK, any half-serious) suggestions would be appreciated. The problem goes something like this: For the last day or 2 the monitor has been switching its self on and off in a 'click on, click off' cycle that can last anywhere between 10-25 cycles. It typically does this when I'm running outlook express or ie6. When will it do this? Frequently enough to be VERY annoying - sometimes I'll be interrupted several times in an hour and sometimes it will run fine for many hours. Just as I was typing this it went into standby mode without my command to do so. Norton (virus dates 8 oct) gave me a clean bill on the whole system although it has stopped a Bugbear virus four times in the last month. Norton firewall is not reporting any current hacking. Win XP pro. Are there Ghosts in my Machine? Dave Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
McDuck 0 #2 October 15, 2003 Might be your video card going south, or a power problem with your monitor. Do you know anyone who could lend you either to test them?Kevin - Sonic Beef #5 - OrFun #28 "I never take myself too seriously, 'cuz everybody know fat birds don't fly." - FLC Online communities: proof that people never mature much past high school. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CrazyIvan 0 #3 October 15, 2003 Reboot your system in SAFE MODE and try to use the same software (if possible), the problem looks like the HIGH-RES drivers are going bananas, not necessarily a hardware problem.__________________________________________ Blue Skies and May the Force be with you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jjiimmyyt 0 #4 October 15, 2003 If you can try another monitor, sounds like the PSU is out or nearly out on this one. Or a dry joint. "This isn't an iron lung, people. You can actually disconnect and not die." -Dave Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Casch 0 #5 October 15, 2003 Hey I could use an explanation... My computer used to turn itself on after I shut it down, and I thought it stopped... Well I just had power spike/outtage thingie that was just a split second thing but it reboot my computer. I turned my computer off in case it happened again, but a few seconds later my comp turned back on...so I turned it off....and it turned on. The only way to keep it off is to flip the switch on the powersupply. When this was happening before, I flashed the BIOS thinking that might help, but it didn't...I think something on the mobo is fried... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CrazyIvan 0 #6 October 15, 2003 QuoteMy computer used to turn itself on after I shut it down Well, there's a feature called 'WAKE ON LAN' and it does that when the system detects Network activity, and if you have broadband that might be causing it, check your BIOS for that setting or, open the case and see if the Network card has a cable attached to the MoBo, you can just unplug it.__________________________________________ Blue Skies and May the Force be with you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Casch 0 #7 October 15, 2003 WAKE ON LAN is off, there is no cable between NIC and mobo, is just in PCI slot. I do have broadband, but my comp will do this whether it is hooked up to the router or not. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dterrick 0 #8 October 15, 2003 You may be onto something Ivan - lately I have been running a much bigger resolution (1024 x 1280 I think) for the ease of using some accounting spreadsheets I've had to work on. This has been so for well over a month though. however, I never did look at the specs to see what the montor would support and I KNOW there are some radical options that the new ATI drivers support. Time to dig the manuals out and prepare myself for yet another purge and install of the ATI All in wonder (read: is it all in, I wonder?) product. Anyone else? I'm still listening and will report back with progress - even if it's a 'no fault found' statement. Dave Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CrazyIvan 0 #9 October 15, 2003 QuoteWAKE ON LAN is off, there is no cable between NIC and mobo, is just in PCI slot. I do have broadband, but my comp will do this whether it is hooked up to the router or not. Ok, check SCHEDULER and remove EVERYTHING except whatever you need to be done, if you use this stupid feature at all. I'd also suggest under POWER OPTIONS (Control Panel) to use the ALWAYS ON in power schemes and change the TURN OFF MONITOR, HARD DISKS & STAND BY to NEVER.__________________________________________ Blue Skies and May the Force be with you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Casch 0 #10 October 15, 2003 haha, I have NOTHING in scheduler, NOTHING runs in the background but the necessities. I've always kept my power settings on ALWAYS ON, I do not use hibernate or any other such feature. When my comp was in it's previous case, it would overheat pretty badly, there was only about an inch clearance between the top of the CPU fan and the side of the power supply, the case would heat up pretty bad. Now I've got it in a much better case and I have a 120mm fan blowing at my video card and mobo, but I think there is permanant damage to the mobo... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
indyz 1 #11 October 15, 2003 QuoteYou may be onto something Ivan - lately I have been running a much bigger resolution (1024 x 1280 I think) for the ease of using some accounting spreadsheets I've had to work on. This has been so for well over a month though. however, I never did look at the specs to see what the montor would support and I KNOW there are some radical options that the new ATI drivers support. That's a reasonable guess. I ruined a monitor by running at a high refresh rate (cheap Daewoo piece of shit, a better monitor would have handled it easily). The manual for you monitor should list the acceptable resolutions and refresh rates. Check your display properties to make sure you aren't overdriving the monitor (Display Properties -> Advanced, Monitor tab). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CrazyIvan 0 #12 October 15, 2003 QuoteThat's a reasonable guess. I ruined a monitor by running at a high refresh rate If a monitor doesn't support a resolution it will display NOTHING or just go POOF!!!, but this problem is the OS or a hardware issue which I'm trying to isolate.__________________________________________ Blue Skies and May the Force be with you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dterrick 0 #13 October 15, 2003 Hi Ivan/Brian: Found the monitor book (KDS @ view 770, 4 y/o). It SAYS it will take up to a 1280 x 1024 res and has a total of 28 possible resolution 'modes' (12 preset and 16 user defined). None of the presets go beyond 1024 x 768 VSAI. Windows tells me I'm running the 'default monitor' under the radeon card. Once upon a time this system would detect the specific KDS monitor. The KDS canada page suggests the monitor function under 'windows plug n play' and that they use and test with Radeon cards among other things. Sounding like my latest Radeon driver install might be wonky? Dave PS: since I went back to 1024x 768 I've lost the on/off problem. Of course, now that I've told you that.... I just wonder why it would have taken weeks to show up...? Thanks for the help. I hope this one is over. Dave Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CrazyIvan 0 #14 October 15, 2003 If you like you can do this: Reboot in SAFE MODE, go to DEVICE MANAGER and REMOVE ALL the monitors listed (if there is more than one) and remove the ATI drivers, then, reboot in NORMAL mode and let the system reinstall the monitor and then the drivers, what maybe happened is that the install got funky somewhere, but if you feel comfortable the way you are, so be it.__________________________________________ Blue Skies and May the Force be with you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dterrick 0 #15 October 15, 2003 Thanks Ivan. Here's a twist that I remember to the last upgrade (can you BELIEVE this all started because ATI's original TV drivers wouldn;t work under XP so they changed it all ... and now the DVD drivers won;t install without their funky new 'send us some money stateside' install CD.) ATI says to remove EVERYTHING, right? So I do. On reboot, windows XP says 'hey, I see a radeon card' and it proceeds to do some shiite in the background (y'know, those little 'new hardware found - installing drivers' popups in the lower RH corner). So at that point the display is working fine but there is no ATI control pannel, no TV feature, no DVD feature. I guess I'm best to try again. Is it critical to do the removal in safe mode? Is it an issue that XP finds the radeon card and installs drivers? Is there a way I can get it NOT to? ATI is pretty specific about wanting no previous versions resident... would tha include XP drivers for the card? Thanks again - I bow to your geekiness Dave Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CrazyIvan 0 #16 October 15, 2003 Doing stuff like this in SAFE MODE is very beneficial because you can SEE all the other posible previous installs that are disabled because they are not working since the device is not attached anymore and things like that. Let WinXP detect the card, you can re-install the drivers if you go to the device (in DEVICE MANAGER) and UPDATE DRIVER (under the DRIVER tab).__________________________________________ Blue Skies and May the Force be with you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tinfoil 0 #17 October 16, 2003 Is it possible to open your computer, and replace the on/off button with the start button? “- - Sumo is the greatest of sports. It has power, grace, speed and cluture. And most importantly, two fat bastards smacking the shit out of each other. ” Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wingnut 0 #18 October 16, 2003 i also have an "all in wonder" card it's the old 16mb pci version and my monito r has been doing this for a while... i then took out the video card and am using the mb's video adapter and my monitor is still doing it but not very much anymore... not sure what it is but i realy don't care, this machine is getting upgraded soon anyways.. who wants a 850mhz duron anyways...lol..... ______________________________________ "i have no reader's digest version" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Casch 0 #19 October 16, 2003 I'm not quite sure what you mean? There is nothing wrong with the power button. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dterrick 0 #20 October 16, 2003 Quotewho wants a 850mhz duron anyways...lol..... Oooooo tht hurts. Might be me, as I'm running a P3 550. The motherboard is a P6B-AT first supplied with a Celeron (celery?) 400 !!... It's amazing what this machine will actually do when fed with a radeon and an audigy ... but it's a bit like jumping an old Racer with an ragged old 7 cell main anda shiny new reserve.... hey waittaminute... Don't laugh, my backup computer is a P 75 laptop with - wait for it - a 500 MB hard drive and a 56k cardmodem. I know some of yuze would throw antique shiite like that away but I have this choice right now .... skydive or geek toys. I hate the hard choices. Dave PS: since I cut back to 1024 x 768 16 bit colour yesterday computer life has been fine. Guess I may have been overdriving the sucker after all. Oh well, I guess ignornace is bliss and unlike in skydiving, pushing the limits to a critical failure won;t kill me Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Join the conversation You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible. Reply to this topic... × Pasted as rich text. Paste as plain text instead Only 75 emoji are allowed. × Your link has been automatically embedded. Display as a link instead × Your previous content has been restored. Clear editor × You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL. Insert image from URL × Desktop Tablet Phone Submit Reply 0
