Computer randomly shuts off with Acer AL1917

[Psyc]

I bought a new Acer 19" monitor from NewEgg and I got it yesterday. I unpacked it and connected it to my recently built PC and it seemed to work fine.

Then, while I was in the middle of installing something the monitor and computer shut off. So I powered back up and began installing again.

Everything seemed fine until it shut off again later on. I would try to power up again and the computer would turn on for 3-5 seconds and shut off again befor getting to the Windows boot screen. It continuously did this so I unplugged the monitor from my video card and the computer booted fine without it.

I plugged my old CRT in and set it on the "new" resolution, 1280x1024. I let it sit there for a while and it didn't shut off like the new LCD. So, I decided to plug in the LCD into an old Compaq pc and it sat there for a while, not shutting off. I assumed everything was fine so I took the Acer back and plugged it in. The computer booted up fine and it stayed on for a couple of hours. I sat there, played a game, and designed a few templates thinking it had been fixed. Then as I was standing up to go take a shower, it shut off again.

I tried to turn on the computer; nothing. Turned the power off then back on to power up; nothing. Unplugged and plugged the monitor back in; nothing.

So I went and took my shower and came back to give it another try. This time it turned on but only for a couple of minutes. So then I plugged the monitor in with a vga cable attached to a dvi adapter. It let the computer turn on but everything was horribly stretched but at the same resolution. It later shut off a few minutes later. I plugged it back in with the dvi cable and it would boot up again for a few seconds, then it would just not boot up anymore. So I gave up and went to sleep (it was about 1 am). I was slowly falling asleep when I hear the computer turn on. I looked up and the computer was on but the monitor was off (orange light), so I just went back to sleep and woke up with the computer still on.

This morning I tried again and same thing. So I took out my video card to see if anything out of the ordinary was going on. I placed it back into the mobo and plugged the monitor back in. The computer turned on and I started looking for solutions on google. The only thing I could find was a thread here that someone updated their LCD drivers on a NEC monitor and it fixed it. So I went to Acer's website and downloaded a zip with my drivers. I just have no idea how to install them. The disc that came with the monitor is just a pdf of the manual. I'm on another computer right now and I don't know if the other one has shut off again.

 

[sh0rty]

you should be able to go into the device manager and update the driver. just point to where you have the file saved. you should also look at updating your drivers for the vid card. That might be the fix.

 

[brumwald]

You should probably contact the support.

Can't see how a driver would fix this problem. Especially since the computer has shutted down even before windows loads (so definately before a faulty driver would have loaded).

A firmware upgrade could fix it but I've never heard that you can do that yourself.

 

[Psyc]

I called support, and they weren't much help. He just told me to up the refresh rate to 75Hz and that's all he knew what might help. He said it might be a compatibility issue, but I don't understand how that's possible if all drivers are up to date and it worked fine on a 4/5 year old Compaq with the same brand video card. I updated the drivers and I think it still shut off.

I decided to open the case and applied pressure to all the cables to make sure they're properly connected. I made sure the power cables were properly connected inside and out and it hasn't shut off yet. But then again it shuts off randomly so I can't be too sure.