Monitor problems. HELP!

I turned on my computer today and got the normal boot-up messages. After the computer was supposed to start windows, the screen just went black. I thought the computer froze, so I reset it, and same thing happened. The keyboard lights still worked and the hard drive was accessing every now and then. I figured it wasn't froze, something else must be wrong. I typed in my password (this is what the computer was waiting for, but I couldn't see it) and the hard drive started accessing again. I then figured it must be my monitor. But the text screens still worked!?? I started windows in "Safe Mode" and got it to work. I set the resolution to 640x480 and when started in "Normal Mode", it works. I seem to have lost the 1024x768 resolution on my monitor. This is weird to me. Is there something else wrong or is this a common thing to happen?

 

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I'm going to try and write how you've analysed and try and equate an answer to the problem.

The problem previous to Win98 was the screen saver would continue outputting visual signals, this on graphics cards that uses systems RAM meant it would cause wear on the RAM through usage.

So the programmers created an "Interrupt" method of causing the graphics card to "Unload/Pause/Standby" it's drivers.

Hypothetically, the point here is that different "Pixel areas" (monitor size) can have different frequency ranges, and that bringing the monitor online from standby might require some information through telemetry to work out wether or not the monitor should load at that frequency rate. If the frequency rate is wrong, it might stop the monitor from loading.

This would mean that decreasing the monitor size would have altered the frequency level allowing you to "see" the OS.

Now why would this suddenly drop out and alter so you can't see a previously usable rate?

1st thing, check that your monitor hasn't been pushed against a wall and caused the cable to bend at too steep a degree. (This is the most frequent reason for Screen failures, as any break in the wires could cause inconsistancies in how the screen reacts)

2nd thing, Check a search engine for commentary on similar problems with the monitor/graphics card/OS. Although you can skip this and look at below, sometimes there are answers available.

Well there are different potential reasons:
You might have been using a windows driver for [Default Monitor], to which it might be a better idea to make sure it knows the type and Frequency ranges. This could have been altered through the installing of a program, or drivers.

You might have too much loading up at the start. Now you might wonder why this would make a difference, but if you are using an AGP card that uses your systems RAM you could be filling up the area it would take. Or it doesn't load correctly, (notibly Matronix has it's own software controls for monitor resolution.)

This is probably unlikely, but it brought forwards the next point.

Your BIOS settings might be different, (A static charge can alter a BIOS set although it's a rariety). Notibly if your using an AGP card, you don't have to worry about SHADOW RAM, since most of the AGP card have their own processor/memory addresses on their board.

Hope this helps

 

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Sometimes I have a simular problem on my old computer. I know what mine is. Incompatible driver. I changed from the original video card.

Sometimes the driver gets "lost" on boot up. I usually go to safe mode, reinstate the driver, then reboot. After that everything is go.

 

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i agree with wet1 it should be a driver problem

 

I tried switching back to the hi-res mode on my monitor and it worked. Guess the screen's okay. I'm using a Magnavox monitor with a default SVGA driver, so I went to the Phillips/Magnavox website to get a driver. They had every driver except mine.

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(The model numbers skipped mine) *oh well* I would still like to know what led up to it not working and how I can avoid it in the future (cuz I can't get a new driver!)