Computer problems

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’m having problems with my computer, so if anyone needs to contact me privately for some bizarre reason (Hey, it could happen!) please use katx@hotmail.com for the next few days.

btw, in case there are any computer gurus reading this, the monitor doesn’t work. It works when it’s hooked up to my sister’s computer but not mine (and her monitor doesn’t work with my computer, either).

2

My first impression is that (somehow) your video driver was corrupted or the resolution changed. It’s also possible that your video card has started to go bad.

In Win9x best way to start diagnosing this problem is this:

  1. boot you computer with the monitor attached.
  2. as the computer starts, do you see any text at all?
    You should. Let me know if you don’t.
  3. if you see text press F8 every few seconds (There’s actually a specific time that you should press it – between the BIOS start and the “starting win9x” message – but that may not mean much to you)
  4. eventually, you should see a text menu. Choose ‘Safe Mode’
  5. this will bring you up in the “basic VGA mode” from here you should be able to reinstall the video drivers. The very fact that you got to this point (or didn’t) is important.

I can probably help you, if you report your findings.

Beyond that, it would be useful to know what model computer, video card, and monitor you have, and what resolution and color depth you usually use (e.g. 1024x768 at 65,536 colors)

I can probably find new drivers for you, if you don’t have the video driver disks anymore.

3

Your graphics card is D.E.D.

Try swapping sis’s card to your computer…if it works, you’ll know.

-Sam

4

Swapping cards may not be a very good test. After all, the drivers for the new card will not be installed. Plug’n’play may detect the new card and switch to VGA, and ask for the drivers for the new card – but that adds too many ‘ifs’. It still won’t tell you if your driver is corrupted (easily fixed) or your video card (requires replacement)

It’s a good idea to have an extra video card around for further testing, if necessary, but I’d definitely start with Safe Mode. Standard VGA is a default for all video cards in the mast many years (except a few fixed-frequency cards, but you only see those with special large screen fixed frequency monitors nowadays, and since your monitor worked on your sister’s computer, I assume you have a standard multifrequency monitor.

5

KP, she has NO video, none…kaput.

Getting win95 to insert VGA drivers would be a wondrous improvement over what she’s got now.

On top of that, it’s a test that will prove without a shadow of a doubt that the problem is with her video card.

When this happens, I’d say it was definitely NOT her drivers, but more likely the hardware.

-Sam

6

Look look look! My computer works.

Apparently, my video card was jarred out of place (I had just moved my comp from one room to another) and it just needed to be snapped back in.

I, not wanting to cause the CPU to explode by touching something inside it (it’s my curse), had my sister check that out yesterday, and she insisted that was not the problem. She had her friend come over and look at the comp tonight and he fixed it.

7

-Sam

8

Ive seen this three times! It was the power supply every time. You’d have to put in a new one. It has enough power to run the computer but not the video display.

9

And there’s Occam’s razor for you.