Ok, so I'll be frank - someone else touched my computer, and when they were done, they turned off the monitor (to 'conserve energy'; nevermind its an auto-shut off etc etc... BLEH :P).

When I tried to turn the monitor back on earlier today, it tried to warm up, blipped green, and then cut out - i.e., the orange light was blinking, which I honestly don't know what it means except it was supposed to be on, but it couldn't display anything. After multiple attempts, this situation repeated itself, again and again - a few seconds of bizarrely colored display, a huge green rolling blip, and then POOF nothing. -.-

Firstly, I shut down windows (without being able to see! That took a while...) and took apart my tower and unplugged everything, vacuumed everything out and then reattached all my plugs.

When I rebooted this time, I do now have display - although the color balance still hasn't reached optimum (despite all my tinkerings) and everytime I see a rolling green blip I cringe and cross my fingers, hoping my display won't go on the fritz again.

Now, according to my hardware manager, my display adapter, my monitor, and my video card are working properly; but, this can't obviously be correct since things are still all higgledy piggledy (i.e., color balance still off, text blurry, images unclear, etc etc).

My question - what's the easiest way for me to confirm which item is fried, so I can plan on replacing it appropriately...?


Thanks for anyone who's willing to lend a hand here - I REALLY appreciate it!

*^_^*

PS - I'm running Win XP Pro on a Dell Dimension 8200; video drivers updated etc, but its about 9 years old or so as far as I can reckon...

Well you can try another monitor with the video card thats already inside.

If that doesn't work the try another video card that on the monitor that "seems" bad.

Dear Zero1-

Thank you for your offered advice.

Unfortunately, I only have one PC - this one, and it is only quasi workable (the 'white fields' on DAL's pages are actually kind of orangish-red... hmph) and limited cash for a while.

If, however, no other options come up, I'll go out and buy a new monitor and video card and see if that resolves things - thank you!

That is the only computer in the house? Your dad (sorry if I was wrong to assume that you're younger than 18 and live with your parents) doesn't have a laptop where you can do a dual monitor?

... I'm almost 30 years old. This is MY PC ... it was hijacked by some visitors and they turned off the monitor to do me a 'kindness', and now it is no longer functional.

I'm quite the adult, thank you for asking, and I live quite independently - hence why going out and spending lots of money isn't particularly a good idea at this point in time, since Christmas just passed and the new year is here, etc, etc...

Thanks again for trying; but this has nothing to do with my personal life and more to do with my need for technical assistance...

Try booting into Safe Mode and see if there is a difference.

Is this an LCD monitor or CRT?

If CRT see if you see a DeGauss button.

Ok; rebooted into safe mode quite a few times, attempting to troubleshoot:

It's an older (9-10 years old) monitor; I'm presuming CRT since it DOES have a degauss.

The degauss resets the screen dimension and color defaults; however the 'white spaces' still come up as odd funky colors - orange or puce or chartreuse and sometimes pink.

Thank you, Jephree! According to the Dell website, this is my monitor:
94WRF DISPLAY..., MULTISCAN..., COLOR..., 19, DUAL..., P991, DELL AMERICAS ORGANIZATION..., MIDNIGHT GRAY...

Does that help...?

Do you know if the monitor is plugged into an independent graphics card or the motherboard?

One way to tell is via this diagram:



Is the monitor plugged into the upper area or the lower?


Also another "quick" test: completely remove the power from the monitor (unplug it from the wall) for a few minutes.

The monitor's plugged into a graphics card; I'm fairly certain its just the monitor that's fried now since I left the PC unattended (with the monitor on) for a bit and when I returned it seemed to have resumed its normal semblance of color and display.

Thanks for your help - I think I just need a new screen, heh. ^_^

It does sound like a monitor problem.

Are you saying it became "OK" again?

If you need help or advice in a new monitor please ask.

As a blessing in disguise a new LCD monitor should improve your viewing as well as providing future longevity regardless of the computer itself.