Confusing hardware issue.

O

Occidio

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Dec 17, 2005
Messages
1,497
I have a 7800GTX and have been using both DVI's for some time. Here is the situation and hardware involved.
Abit Nforce4 Ultra Mobo
7800GTX dual dvi
Viewsonic 20.1 widescreen
Viewsonic 19 standard
Samsung Series 5 40" HDTV
A couple months ago I had some power related issues and I could no longer use both DVI's going to the 19 and the 20.1 inch. Either one would work by itself but not together.
Since then I have gotten a new power supply and have dealth with just the 20.1 monitor.
Recently I picked up my 40" HDTV and thought it would be cool if I could get both the 20.1" and the 40" hooked up to the computer. It worked without a hitch. I am using a RGB-DVI adapter going to the HDTV since I had an extra one and did not want to spring for a DVI-HDMI adapter until I knew it was going to work.
Took apart my computer the other night since it needed a cleaning. The CPU heatsink had some hard to reach dust on it from about a year back. Everything is clean and put back together and it no longer is reading the 20.1" monitor no matter how I hook it up.
The 40" has no problems. I still have the old RGB cable plugged in the back the 20.1 that goes to my 360 since that is what I used to use my 360 on till I got the 40". It still works fine playing of the 360 thru the 20.1".
The big question I have is if this is a problem with my motherboard, video card or 20.1 DVI input. One other important(I think) thing to consider is ever since that power problem I had a couple months ago my motherboard used to tell me I was running in fail safe mode and had to hit F1 to continue but it seemed to run fine. I was able to just remove then readd the CMOS battery and go back over my BIOS to correct a few things and that error would go away.
After cleaning it the other night I can not get the fail safe mode error to go away. I have always loved Abit but I have been a lil weary about this one for some time due to a USB problem I run into from time to time. When transfering a large amount of data across the USB sometimes the computer will hard lock. Other than that the board was fine.
So I am stuck running my computer on the 40" which would not be bad, dont get me wrong but how I have my computer room arranged the 40" is too close to be used as a computer monitor. I usually just push my seat back and play the 360 on the 40" at a distance and its great.
Any ideas or opinions on what I am having to deal with?
When I get home tonight I can try and plug the older 19 into the video card using DVI to see if it is indeed the 20.1 or not.
 
The DVI issue indicates that the problem is with the video card in some way. Have you tried updating the video card drivers? Or uninstalling the drivers (using Driver Cleaner Pro to get rid of all traces) and reinstalling them?

Regarding the errors you're having with the motherboard, try resetting the CMOS/BIOS settings first. If that doesn't work, consider replacing the CMOS battery -- it's a simple CR2032 watch battery, and it won't cost you an arm or a leg. (Reset the CMOS after replacing the battery, per the instructions in your motherboard's manual.)

Could you also list out the rest of the specs of your build?
 
Well, all the drivers have been updated. I decided to unplug the 20.1 and try replacing that with the 19". As soon as a did a reboot the 19 started showing up. I then unplugged it and plugged the 20.1 back in it still is not coming up.
So I think this may be a problem with my 20.1 inch. I remember reading a story about a year back about this peticular 20.1 but I never experienced these issues back then. I could try one last thing and plug the 20.1 into my HTPC and see if that comes up on that computer and narrow it down 100% to it being the monitor. I just dont understand why unplugging it to clean the computer then plugging it back would cause it to no longer come up.


*edit* widescreen monitor is now on RMA going back to Viewsonic.
 
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