Odd Video Problem

Background: I had a monitor die while still under warranty. Samsung fixed it at no charge, even paying the shipping both ways. But I can't be without a computer for two weeks, so I bought another monitor first. I also have two computers. For convenience, I will call them old computer, new computer, etc.

One day, I turn on old computer, which is connect to old monitor and get no video. It does NOT give me the flashing 'No Signal' message like it does when there is no connection. It gives me the same message as when the video card goes into standby mode. So, it knows it's hooked up to a video card, but it's not getting a signal from it.

No way of telling from that if the problem is the monitor or the card, so.... I switch the old monitor to my new computer. And... it works fine. Okay, so I guess it's the video card in the old computer. Just to be sure, let's connect the new monitor to the old computer. That works fine too. Curious. So I reconnect the old monitor to the old computer, the way it started out, and now it works fine.

Not being able to reproduce the problem, I moved on. A few weeks later, I need to use the old computer (and old monitor) so I turn it on and everything works fine. I see that Windows needs to be updated so I do that. I reboot. I get the problem again where the monitor isn't getting the signal. I disconnect the video cable and reconnect it, restart and still no signal. I leave the system off for 10 minutes and start it up - no signal. I think I'll try watching the system LED's for any clues and turn it on again, having made no changes, and it works fine this time.

So..... any ideas? Do I have a poltergeist? Is a component on it's way to failing? Could it be a cable issue?

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Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project

Hmm. can't say much as I really haven't run into that before. I will say though, this is my first monitor that is flat panel with dvi and hdmi, ie digital! 24inch 1680x1050 res.

Had it for about 2 years, then one day, nothing. I turn it off, on... nothing. I grab an old monitor, plug it in, there's my desktop. Still hopeful I plug my currently defunked flatpanel back in.

I leave the monitor off for over day, turn it back on, nothing. But i notice that if i listen realllllly closely, I can hear something from it. Turning it off doesn't actually turn the dam thing off, it goes into standby I assume. So parts are actually still powered.

I unplug for 20 minutes, Monitor is back and purring along just fine.
I suspect, that being digital, perhaps a decoder or whatever a monitor would use (not an expert on monitors), scrambled, hence i got no output. Some time later I was able to back up this claim as it happened again, only this time, if i used an analog cable plugged into the monitors old 15 pin VGA connector, it worked just fine.

Since then I have moved and It hasn't had a problem since. Only thing I could suggest maybe is power, perhaps a little dirty electricity in the line, caused the chip to drop. perhaps move a few things around, a line conditioner (always good to have with electronics anyway), or replacing a power strip, will help.

Anyway, thats my story

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Interesting. The monitor in question does have both analog and digital input and I did not think to try the analog. Nor did I try unplugging it completely. I'll have to remember those two things if this happens again.

I do have a high-end surge protector and line filter, however it is not a full UPS.

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Paragon City Search And Rescue
The Mentor Project