My brand new monitor died...

[CingularDuality]

Got a brand new 19" .20 dot pitch Samsung that was absolutely gorgeous! Problem is that it no longer works.

Was working fine until I upgraded from 1G to 2Gigs of RAM and from a SB Live! to a SB Audigy2 Value. I have an Antec TruPower 430w PS (I think that's what it is...).

Now my video card (eVGA brand 6800GT AGP) seems to be dead as well as my monitor. I can't get another monitor to work with my PC and my monitor doesn't work on my other 2 PCs either.

Before the monitor and vid card died, the monitor (over the course of about a week) started to flicker and then display a blank screen. I suspected a bad video cable to start with, because if I wiggled the monitor from side to side or tapped on it, it would sometimes flicker back to life. Over that week, it came back to life less and less frequently and I found that wiggling the video cable didn't really do anything, it seemed to be something loose inside the monitor.

My questions are:

Is it possible for a dying vid card to kill a monitor?

Is it possible for a dying monitor to kill a vid card?

Is it possible that my two upgrades required just enough additional power to kill my video card?


Playing BF2 on my son's computer is simply NOT going to cut it, and Samsung is being a PITA with regards to honoring their warranty. Newegg.com doesn't RMA monitors, they let the manufacturer deal with it...

Any advice appreciated...

[Rampage]

Typically if your video card is truly "dead," you'll get a POST error code (a series of beeps as your computer runs self-tests right after power-up). If you aren't getting beeps, a dead card would not be my first guess as the faulty component.

Have you tried removing the newly-installed components to see if that makes a difference? You might have multiple issues...the new RAM may not be playing well (or maybe it's seated incorrectly, who knows?).

Have you had a chance to try a different monitor without the new sound card installed? These are just thoughts...trying to narrow it down some for you.

[RandomGuy]

Is it possible for a dying vid card to kill a monitor?

That's unlikely if the rest of your parts are intact.

Is it possible for a dying monitor to kill a vid card?

Yes, but there should be protection from that kind of failure.

Is it possible that my two upgrades required just enough additional power to kill my video card?

It's hard to tell but I'd say it's unlikely since you have a large supply.

[Acid]

is it possible that when you or the person that put in the new cards and RAM bumped or disconnected a wire or fasstner or someithing that would cause the monitor to flicker and then die. i guessing thats the problem because it wouldnt flicker if it burnt out and it wouldnt load up if the card was dead.

[CingularDuality]

Originally Posted by black death5

is it possible that when you or the person that put in the new cards and RAM bumped or disconnected a wire or fasstner or someithing that would cause the monitor to flicker and then die. i guessing thats the problem because it wouldnt flicker if it burnt out and it wouldnt load up if the card was dead.

That's actually the first thing I suspected. This is the first video card that I've owned that required it's own molex power input and I figured that was what was causing the problems: I knocked the power cable off the vid card.

No such luck. It was firmly connected, as was every single other card, including the memory... Removed and reseated them all for good measure...

BTW, at this time, the Samsung monitor will not display anything at all on 2 seperate PCs. I also can not get my PC to display anything at all on two known-good monitors.

[kormendi]

Originally Posted by CingularDuality

Before the monitor and vid card died, the monitor (over the course of about a week) started to flicker and then display a blank screen. I suspected a bad video cable to start with, because if I wiggled the monitor from side to side or tapped on it, it would sometimes flicker back to life. Over that week, it came back to life less and less frequently and I found that wiggling the video cable didn't really do anything, it seemed to be something loose inside the monitor.

Sounds like the back light might be dead. Try looking at the screen very carefully when hooked to a known working PC and see if you can see the slightest ghost of an image.

I have an LCD that works great minus the back light. If I look really closely under good lighting I can see the image... sorta.

If its brand new, it should still be under warrantee. Contact Samsung and send it back for a repair/replacement.

[CingularDuality]

Originally Posted by kormendi

Sounds like the back light might be dead.

It's a CRT.

[Rincewind]

From experience I would say the number one component to cause a system to crap out is the PSU. BE this from faulty components or from not being able to handle an areas particular power grid nuances. Even the quality vendors are slipping on what they deliver. If I were you, I would pull the vid card and test it on a different computer with a different monitor.

Test each new component seperately to isolate the cause of the failure. It may be that your monitor died and if it did it's most likely independent of what's going on in your system unless it's a power issue with a faulty surge protector or wireing in your house.

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by CingularDuality

Is it possible that my two upgrades required just enough additional power to kill my video card?

I'd say probably not. The extra ram only adds another 30W or so to your power consumption, and that's assuimg you actually get to that seat. the Audigy uses comparable power to the live cards, (looking at maybe a 10W increase there) And your monitor has independant power, of course. Generally speaking, you can't break parts by underpowering them, they just won't run. (the power supply, on the other hand, will often burn out if you try underpowering stuff, because they'll try to draw more current to compensate for the power loss, which drives the voltage on the rails down, which causes parts to shut off. But the higher current has this tendancy to burn out the PSU wires )

so yeah, the first step in troubleshooting problem PC equipment is to check things individually in known working environments to figure out what exactly is dead. If the monitor is truly dead, I would suspect it to be a mfg. defect and I'd get it RMA'd. It's possible (though unlikely) that it's demise could have burned out the connector on your vid card. Best thing to do there is to put your vid card in a working set up and check it.

[Acid]

exactly my thought too. plug the video card into another working pc and see if it works, if it doesnt, the problem is with the video card (or you broke 2 monitors). if it isnt, then the monitor is busted. the thing loose is most likely a power cord or a wire (i dont know since i dont know what it sounds like) if the backlight is out, that will still cost you some money unless it is under warrenty. try looking at the connector cables to see if any of the pins are bent. i fixed another guys problems in the forums with that tip. if a spike is bent, it wont display a certain color or it wont show up on the computer as a monitor or any other crazy thing.