Help, Nerds! My PC is freaking out!

Evening. If you are a nerd :) thanks for responding to my panicked cries.

I'm posting here in desperation. After installing a new monitor less than a week ago the display has (in the last 24hrs) fragmented into four uneven quadrants. The top part of the screen is replicated on the bottom part, and the cursor arrow disappears on the right to reappear on the left...you get the idea.

SWMBO is the tech-head and she is stumped. Bits have been uninstalled, reinstalled, settings changed etc. Tech support and IT chatrooms have been fruitless. We both get the feeling it's one of those obvious things that we're just not clueing in to (but most stuff goes over our heads:rolleyes:).

Anyway, if there's a fix anyone can offer, I'd be glad to hear it.Advice cheerfully accepted from all, even those without pocket protectors.

I can't even see the start button, for crying out loud!:(

Regards,
Rus.
(Not a nerd, as such, but so uncool as to be considered family...)

Plug your old monitor , or a borrowed one in. if its ok take the new one back to be replaced. if the old one is doing the same then the computer is at fault

But check the monitor first otherwise your only chasing your tail


The trouble with life is there's no background music.

Sounds like you're trying to run the monitor at too high a refresh rate.

I'm assuming you bought a CRT monitor correct (ie. not a thin flat LCD type monitor) ?? Does the monitor do the 'split screen' trick when booting up or only once into the actual windows screen ?

Steve.

Steve : No, it's an LCD screen, but thanks for the refresh rate tip (does it still apply in the case of LCD monitors?:confused::o). It doesn't happen while it's booting up, which is why I suspect dodgy settings, or the like...but this ain't my forte.

Ashore: I'm acting under the assumption that my OH has already done that (it's what I'd do, too), but she's not here so I can't confirm that...(The shed is mine, the computer is hers, I don't ask too many questions, and vice versa).

Regards,
Rus.

Oh I see. If it's an LCD screen I'd say it's stuffed then but I'd try Ashores idea before jumping the gun.

I've seen many CRT type monitors hold on as long as they can to high resolutions & refresh rates but then 'give up' by splitting the picture into halves or quarters with strange flickers and the like. Once you set the resolution and refresh rate down a little lower they're usually right as rain again however keeping them set too high can also cause permanent damage to some components (by letting the smoke out) so it's not a good idea to run them too high for too long. If you can hear your monitor 'scream' it's prolly not good :)

Refresh rates aren't too important on LCD screens to my knowledge ... the LCD monitor I'm using here is classed as a 'professional workstation' display and only has the choice of 60Hz and 70Hz within Windows. Either way the picture still looks absolutely perfect so I'm not too sure if it even needs a refresh rate to be set.

Steve.

One other thing you could try is to start the PC in safe mode (if it's Windows) try pressing F8 during startup and select safe mode. This will be a basic set of drivers and if it still plays up I'd be looking at the monitor.

Actually Rusty ... either try booting Windows into Safe Mode as per 'sideshowbob's advice or see if you can pull the resolution down to 640x480 or 800x600 then if that fixes it you can work from there.

If it's not happening during bootup it's got to be a Windows graphics setting for sure !

Steve.

Pretty sure safe mode has been tried...starting to look like warranty time.

Bugga. I was hoping for "Oh, you silly, it's just a simple reconfiguration of etc."

Thanks all.
Rus.

Oops, missed that in the cross-post, Steve, will check that out, ta...

It's bugging me that it's OK during startup tho ... if it's really faulty it should be happening all the time, not just within Windows resolutions.

Steve.

Yeah sorry ... I just cross-posted you too.

Over to you good buddy !

Steve.

No good with resolution, I'm afraid. Also went through trouble shooting to the point where it advised me to contact the manufacturer:rolleyes:. Then I fished around to maximise this window again...We've still got the old monitor, so we'll cope (hate to have real problems, hey) but the new one just looked so pretty.

I don't want to mess with it too much, cos she'll know. I'm not supposed to try and fix things like this.

And no, that isn't the cause of this glitch!

Regards,
Rus.

It certanily doesn't sound like a resolution problem as this usually gives static lines accross the screen

Take the monitor back and get them to plug it into one of their computers
either that or type [email protected]
this wont help but theres some great pics of my grandkids. on second thought this wont work either until you fix the monitor problem

Just a thought what type of connections are available on the monitor is it a dedicated computer monitor what's the brand. If its an LG there may be a problem because some of their lcd stuff does not support plug and play and you need to connect to the RGB1 port


The trouble with life is there's no background music.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rusty

Evening. If you are a nerd :) thanks for responding to my panicked cries.

I'm posting here in desperation. After installing a new monitor less than a week ago the display has (in the last 24hrs) fragmented into four uneven quadrants. The top part of the screen is replicated on the bottom part, and the cursor arrow disappears on the right to reappear on the left...you get the idea.

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Post a piccy, post a piccy!!
It sounds cool. :cool:

Al :)

Al, I'd post a pic, but a screen capture comes out normal!

Ashore, the brand is Acer, I think it's got onsite service, which is the next step, I suppose. Just means someone has to be home.

Cheers,
Rus.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rusty

Ashore, the brand is Acer, I think it's got onsite service, which is the next step, I suppose. Just means someone has to be home.

Cheers,
Rus.

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Acer does have a service, unfortunately not a local store to take it back to try on another computer.do you have no friends or neighbours to try on their computers to save going through all the phone "try this try this etc " if you could isolate the fault within either the computer or the monitor it helps


The trouble with life is there's no background music.

Trying on others PC's is a good idea; however, now that everything's open for business we'll give their service dept a go. (Yeah, it's definitely the monitor).

Thanks everyone for your assistance.

Rusty.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rusty

Pretty sure safe mode has been tried...starting to look like warranty time.


Rus.

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Good luck Rus...warranty time is that magic time when you discover just HOW good that deal the computer shop guy gave you really is.

Cheers Martin

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rusty

Ashore, the brand is Acer

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I know it's probably a bit late now, but I'm in IT and we had a really bad failure rate with ACER monitors a few years back. Nearly an 80% failure rate after the 3 year lease period. I also wouldn'y buy a BenQ product, they are just rebadged ACER. I know it's not the news you want to hear but it might help someone else.