My Nana's computer (Dell with a 17' monitor-1.5yr old) has recently been having a few problems. We seem to think it may be a problem with a driver, but we're not too sure. I think it happened when she was using Outlook Express typing out an email. The monitor went blank, the little green lit ON button on the monitor went amber and it stays blank until you restart it. The harddrive's still running though, so it's just a problem with the monitor. It's happened a couple of times on the Internet, and then a couple of times offline. We were going to go to the F12 setup section, but by the time I press F12 and select the 'sector' selection (don't have the manual with me), it's already 'shut down' again. When you press a button on the monitor, it goes on about Power Saving mode and to press a key to get out of it, but it doesn't do anything.
Is it a virus? Can anyone suggest what may be wrong or what drivers may need to be reinstalled? We will be calling our computer guy this week.
Update:We can't really get it to start up for all that long (to get into Settings). The power cords are all in too - just in case anyone was going to suggest that. The monitor is still on, just amber which means a problem with something, according to the manual.
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
This is the same thing that happens when you switch the computer off. The amber light is simply an indication that the monitor is not receiving a signal. This MAY be a problem in the monitor itself, but the odds are firmly against it. It may also be a broken wire in the cable, near the plug, which you may be able to check by moving it a bit and checking if the amber light changes to green momentarily, but chances that this is the case are very low as well. Some people suggest it may be the display driver but - again - this can hardly be the case as it worked well before. But you can check this by starting up Windows in Safe Mode. If that results in a steady (but low-resolution) display it is the driver, otherwise it is not. Internet or local, or whatever program you use, have nothing to do with it. And while it may not be impossible that there are viruses around that switch off all graphics drivers I have never heard of them.
This leaves a probability of more than 99% that the problem is in the graphics card itself, or its connector. Open the computer cabinet and take the graphics card out. You can use a pencil eraser to clean the gold coated contacts of its seating. Be sure to remove all debris from the eraser before reinserting the card. This may very well solve the problem. If it doesn't, all that you can do is replace the graphics card. Success!
Look, every application you got installed on HD (win 98, xp, Lynux) got basic program to recognize connected monitor according with motherboard chipset that is definee into the BIOS. From my experience your trouble occur if something isn't OK with MEMORY cards. If memory cards (DDR, SDRAM etc)) got some trouble or if some trouble occur in SLOTs on the MB, program in BIOS will automaticaly shut down monitor. So, the problem could be in MEMORY CARDS or in installed application. Check it simple on the way that connect in PC monitor you're borrow from some of your friends. If the application program installed on HD is OK program will automaticaly recognize this new monitor. Best Regards and veradisca! Neven.
I had the same sort of thing and had to replace the not very old LCD monitor. Can you borrow another monitor to try, in case the graphics card is faulty. This could create the same symptoms.
Check in power settings to make sure you do not have the monitor set to shut down at 15 minutes or some such. You can get there by Control Panel>Display Properties>ScreenSaver Tab>Power button (at the bottom there...,) Check that hibernation is disabled as well, unless you want it to hibernate.
i doubt that it is the track. it could factor generally to the drivers of your snap shots card. check out getting an replace for them, make certain you even have the Ntune application, and down load the right variation in your working process (home windows 7 64bit) which will have to variety the concern out.