Troubleshooting Monitor Problems

Possible causes:

There can be many things associated with monitor problems:

• The monitor cable may be poorly connected.
• The monitor may not be correctly configured with the video on the system.
• Environmental factors in the area of the monitor may be causing distortion.
• The monitor may be clicking or flashing as it synchronizes with the video on the system.
• A screen saver or power saver may be temporarily blanking the screen.
• The monitor or monitor cable may be damaged.

Basic Troubleshooting Procedures:

These are general troubleshooting steps that may resolve or more accurately diagnose numerous monitor problems.

Monitor connections: One of the first things to do when troubleshooting is to make sure that the monitor is powered on and connected correctly to the video. If the video is blurry, fuzzy, etc. as soon as you power up the system, the problem may be with the monitor cable connection. Power down the system and unplug the monitor cable from the system. Look at the end of the cable and check for any bent or pushed in pins. Reattach the cable to the computer (removing any extra monitor extention cables) and power up the system. Always insure that the monitor is plugged into a functioning outlet. Anytime you feel the monitor may be damaged, try connecting to another system to see if it functions.

Screen Savers and Power Savers: Screen savers and power savers can emulate monitor problems. If the screen appears to blank out or freeze at regular intervals of time, disable all screen savers in Windows and DOS. If your system board and video card support power management standards and the power management features are enabled, try disabling the features to see if the problem persists.

Environmental distortion: Electrical interference from other devices such as televisions, radios, microwave ovens, etc. can cause your monitor screen to "jump" or "shake." Interference can also make the display appear blurry or fuzzy. If the system is close to a fluorescent light, turn the light off or move the light away from the monitor to see if the video clears up. If there is a fan near the system, turn the fan off or move it away from the monitor. If the system is plugged into a surge protector, unplug the system and reconnect it to the wall outlet to see if the video improves. Try degaussing the monitor or adjusting the pincushioning of your monitor. Consult your monitorís Userís Manual to see if your monitor has that capability. If possible, move the system to another location to see if the distortion clears up. Try turning the monitor 90 degrees in either direction from where it is.

Monitor makes "clicking" noise or "flashes" sometimes: If the monitor only "clicks" or "flashes" when entering windows or specific programs, the monitor is simply synchronizing itself with the video that you have chosen. There is nothing wrong with the monitor.

Resolving Monitor Problems:

Monitor configuration: Insure that the monitor has been correctly configured with the onboard video or video card. Refer to your Userís Guide for the type of video system that you have. The Userís Guide contains instructions on how to set up your monitorís refresh rates with the video. If you need to do a custom configuration for your monitor and you do not know the refresh rates, see document #1910. This document contains the most common refresh rates for most of the monitors that Gateway has sold and is currently selling.

If the monitor does not power on or the light on the front of the system appears amber only, the video may not be communicating with the monitor. If possible, try the monitor on another system to see if the problem is with the monitor or with the computer system.

Power to the monitor: Always insure that the monitor is plugged into a working outlet and turned on before attempting to troubleshoot the problem. On the front of the monitor there is a green LED light that should appear if the monitor is receiving power. If you have an Energy Star compliant monitor the light appears as a flashing or solid yellow or amber color. The Energy Star compliant monitors will not display the green light until they receive the video signal from the system when in energy saving mode. If the power light does not come on, try plugging the monitor directly into a working outlet and bypass any surge protector. If the power light still does not come on, try unplugging the cable that attaches the monitor to the computer system to see if the power light appears. Make sure that the power cable does not appear twisted or have bent connections. If your monitor has a removable power cable, swap the power cable with the one for the computer system. Once the green light on the monitor comes on, check the knobs or buttons on the monitor to insure that the brightness or contrast is not turned down completely.

Screen savers and power savers: If you notice that the problem appears when the screen saver is scheduled to activate, try disabling the screen saver. To disable a Windows screem saver om Windows^® 3.x, go to the Program Manager double click on the Main group. In the Main group, double click on the Control Panel then double click on the Desktop icon. On the left hand side of the screen is a box that says Screen Saver. There will be a rectangular box that has a down arrow with an underline. Click on the down arrow and scroll through the list to select none. Once this is complete, click on the OK button and return to Windows. If you are running a screen saver such as After Dark or Screen Craze, refer to the software manual or contact the manufacturer or vendor to help you disable that screen saver.

To disable a Windows screen saver in Windows^® 95 use the right mouse button and click on the background screen. Choose Properties from the menu that appears and choose the Screen Saver tab. Make sure the screen saver showing is (NONE). Also if you have the monitorís energy saving features enabled remove any check marks in the Energy Saving Features of monitor section.

Screen blanking can often be caused by a power saver features being initialized in the CMOS, AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files. If you look at the monitor LED light when the screen blanks and the power light is a flashing or solid amber or yellow color, the power saver features are enabled. If this appears to be causing problems with applications that you are running, you may want to disable these features.

On a Windows 3.x system, to determine if the power saver is loading only as software, try booting the system clean. If you need help booting clean, see document #1900. If booting clean appears to stop the screen blanking the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files are loading the drivers for the power saving features. To disable these, at the C:\> prompt type:

edit autoexec.bat

and press Enter. In this file you may find two lines that read C:\POWER.DOS\PM.EXE and C:\DOS\DOSPM.EXE /T15 /M /D. If you find these lines, delete them, save the file and exit. At the C:\> prompt type:

edit config.sys

and press the Enter key. In this file you may find a line that reads DEVICE=C:\DOS\POWER.EXE. If you see this line, delete the line, save the file and exit. When you are back at the C:\> prompt, reboot the system. Some video cards also have power savers built into the video drivers. Check your Userís Guide to see if your video has this feature and follow the instructions to turn it off.

If you booted clean and the power saver still blanked the monitor, the CMOS on your system has power saver features built in.

I-4 system boards only: As the system boots, it initially beeps twice. Press the F1 key immediately to Enter the Phoenix Setup screens. Press the page up key to go to page three. On the bottom left hand side of the screen there is a setting that says Video Mode : Screen Blank. Use the down arrow key to highlight screen blank and then press the space bar until it reads VESA Standby. The line right below that says Hard Disk Spin Down : Enabled. Use the down arrow key to highlight Enabled and press Enter so that it reads Disabled. Next press the Esc key and then the F4 key to save the values; reboot the system.

JX30 system boards only: When the system gets to Starting MS-DOS press the F5 key immediately. This takes you to the C:\> prompt. Next, press the Ctrl, Alt, and Esc keys all at the same time. This takes you to the Phoenix Setup utility. At the bottom right hand side of the screen you will see five items. CPU Standby Timer, Hard Disk Off Timer, Video Standby Timer, Video Suspend Timer and Video Off Mode Timer. Use the arrow keys to highlight the setting after each one of these and once highlighted, press the plus or minus keys to change all the settings to disabled. Once this is completed, press the Esc key and then the F4 key to save the values and reboot the system.

On Pentium^® P575, P590, P5100 SYSTEMS ONLY: As the system counts memory on boot press the F1 key to Enter CMOS. Use the right arrow on the keyboard to highlight the ADVANCED section at the top of the screen. Use the down arrow to highlight POWER MANAGEMENT and press Enter. Highlight the setting beside ADVANCED POWER MANAGEMENT and press Enter. Use the arrow keys to highlight DISABLED and press Enter. Press the Esc key to return to the previous menu and use the right arrow to highlight EXIT and press Enter. Press Enter to continue and the system reboots with the power management disabled in CMOS.

486PCI systems (P4D): As the system counts memory on boot press the F2 key to Enter CMOS. Use the right arrow key on the keyboard to highlight POWER at the top of the screen. Beside the POWER SAVING heading the setting will be highlighted. Use the + or - keys on the keyboard to toggle through the choices until DISABLED appears. Use the right arrow to highlight EXIT at the top of the screen. Press Enter to exit and save changes and then press Enter again to proceed. The system will now reboot with the power management disabled in CMOS.

Pentium P560 and P566: There are no power saving features in the CMOS. If you have one of these systems, any power management is set via software.

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