HELP: No display on monitor for desktop

[97tbird]

Today I tried to set up our old desk top that we haven't used for like an year.
so I connect everything, and fire it up, and the LCD display shows a box saying "not optimum mode; optimum mode 1024x1080" and a yellow "?" below it. this box just wanders across the screen and then the standby light on the monitor comes on, and display goes black (turns off I think).
when I press the on button on the LCD, nothing happens.
The desktop sounds like it is running like normal...

that mode is the mode (resolution) that the desktop always ran! I don't why the settings would have changed...
of course I can't adjust or check anything because the display is blank !!!
i did it several times and same results!

any ideas on what I could do??
Thanks!!
when I press and hold the menu button on the LCD monitor, a box pops up saying "test ok"....so i guess the LCD monitor is ok ???

desktop is a Compaq Presario win xp home
monitor is a Samsung syncmaster LCD.
connected via a d-sub cable.

 

[MGregoir]

If it shows your BIOS screen and then cuts out when Windows loads, boot into safe mode, set a lower resolution, then tinker with it.

 

[97tbird]

nope. it doesn't show a thing, other than what I described.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Does the system use a video card (plugged into a slot) or is the video "jack" directly on the motherboard? You might have to pull the case off and just make certain that every cable, and every card is well seated before digging too deeply into software.

Also, is the message present on the screen still there when you intentionally disconnect the monitor cable from the computer?

Do you have another monitor - either LCD or CRT to try?

 

[VK56VD]

I suggest the above recommendation. Connect another monitor and see what happens before guessing what could be the cause. This will help you eliminate the problem in the monitor or a hardware issue, maybe driver issue with the computer itself.

 

[97tbird]

thnx guys...
seems pretty common with these LCD monitors...may need a new one...some sort of board failure...
some people have had luck with resetting it, and I'm gonna unplug the monitor and plug it back and see if it does that...i have forgotten how to reset using the front buttons on the monitor...
I don't have any other monitors in the house...

 

[97tbird]

no go. nada.

 

[Quest]

check to see if you can push it down to lower resolution: 800x600 @60Hz and try again.

If, at this resolution and still won't work, then your monitor maybe hooped.

G'luck.

Q.

 

[97tbird]

yeah I would do that, but i can't see anything LOL. I have to find another monitor somewhere first so I can operate the desktop at all.
OR did you mean to change the res. at the monitor itself? I pushed all the buttons on it, and nothing really got me anywhere.

 

[OVERKILL]

If you hit F8 on startup, do you get display in VGA mode only?

 

[97tbird]

i have no clue. shall I try that?

 

[OVERKILL]

YES!!!!!!! TRY

 

[97tbird]

nothing happened.
only thing that has changed is now it is saying optimum mode is "1024x768"
I'm p*$*&$d...

the main reason I wanted to do this was to get some new songs on to my wife's old ipod mini. and the desktop was the pc where that ipod was "authorized"!
I don't know if I can authorize the ipod mini to a NEW computer or not..i've forgotten the limit...
anyway now I can't get into that desktop, Idk what to do....when wifey comes home i'm gonna try connecting the ipod to my laptop and see what it says..

 

[uc50ic4more]

Do you have another video card in the house that you could remove from it's computer and stick in the old one?

It looks like your monitor isn't seeing anything on the other end of the cable. My first suspicion in these types of cases is the seating of the video card or jack onto the motherboard. The second thing I'd suspect is the cable. Not only do interconnections account for a large percentage of issues like this, they're pretty much the only things you as a consumer can correct reliably.

Does your laptop have a jack for an external monitor? If so, does the monitor with with that?

 

[97tbird]

laptop can only use a CRT monitor as an external monitor; no LCDs.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: 97tbird
laptop can only use a CRT monitor as an external monitor; no LCDs.


Really? Does it say that somewhere on the laptop, or does it sport an incompatible connector?

 

[97tbird]

it says on the manual, and pretty much everywhere on the Lenovo support site.
the Fn/F7 hotkey combo's are:
CRT, CRT+LCD(own) and LCD(own)

 

[OVERKILL]

You can still use an external LCD. It's written that way for clarity.

 

[97tbird]

aah yo sho?
for clarity of what?

 

[OVERKILL]

To differentiate the internal LCD from an external monitor. Nothing more than that. I've worked on thousands of laptops, I do know what I'm talking about