HELP! HELP! HELP! My monitor is playing Big Ben chimes at me, how do I make it STOP?

Factual Questions
1

ARGGHH! It’s driving me crazy! It’s been doing it off and on for the last week, and the Better Half swears he didn’t reset anything.

E-machines computer, Windows Millenium, IE 5.5

At 40 minutes past the hour, or 20 minutes in front of the hour, it beeps the first two bars of the Westminster “Big Ben” chimes at me.

Up till now it’s been only doing it intermittently, like a couple of choruses here and there, but this morning, just now, it’s started doing it and doing it and doing it… :eek: :eek: :eek:

I want some tea,
I want some tea…
I want some tea,
I want some tea…

I want some tea,
I want some tea…

I want some tea,
I want some tea…

I want some tea,
I want some tea…
And turning the volume down on the keyboard doesn’t help–it’s coming directly out of the monitor…

[weeps helplessly, head bowed forlornly over the keyboard]

[sub]please, won’t someone help me[/sub]

Okay, now it’s stopped.

Of course.
NO, NO, NOW IT’S DOING IT AGAIN, THIS IS NOT A JOKE, SOMEONE PLEASE HELP MEEEEE!!! YARRRRRGGGHHHHH!!

2

Might not be your computer that’s doing it. Check the onscreen controls for your monitor for ergonomic break reminders.

When I was consulting at BigChainStore, Inc., we shipped a computer system out to each store in the chain. They arrived with spiffy new monitors which, if reset to factory default, turned on the ergonomic break reminders which would cause a big, honkin’ red screen to pop up every once in a while to tell people to go take a break.

BigChainStore, Inc. thought this was a bad idea and emailed instructions to everybody on how to shut it off.

3

[speaking through gritted teeth]

We have now definitely established that it’s doing it every 10 minutes, except when it isn’t.

Is there an English version of “onscreen controls for your monitor for ergonomic break reminders”? As in Windows, Settings, Control Panel, etc.

Why would e-Machines think that computer workers need to take a break every 10 minutes, except when they don’t?

Thank you.
[grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr]

4

Are you sure it’s the monitor? What make and model is it? I can’t see the ergonomic brek reminder mentioned in the Emachines’ monitor specs…

5

Extremely Stupid Questions, forgive me:

You don’t, like, have a clock nearby, do you? Does turning the monitor off make it go away?

Have you been having any pratical joke wars with the SO?

6

Oh, your monitor’s got the Big Ben virus, I see!

[sub] [sup] better reformat the CRT :wink: [/sup] [/sub]

7

Are there buttons on the front of the monitor for changing the brightness/contrast, screen size/position, and things like that? If so, is there a Menu button which brings up an on-screen menu you cycle through using the up/down buttons? That’s where those kinds of settings are usually accessed.

8

These will be controls literally on the monitor itself. Each monitor is a little different. But they always seem to be just below the screen. You don’t use your keyboard nor mouse to access them. Some monitors actually have junk like this built in. The computer doesn’t know it’s happening. But then again, I have only seen visual break reminders.

Can you swap your current monitor with another to see if the problem follows the monitor?

9

Did you get your computer from emachines.com?

If so, probably the best bet would be to contact their technical support – I skimmed the support FAQ on monitors to see if I could find the answer, but I had no luck.

10

Unplug the monitor. Unplug the connection from the computer to the monitor. Wait a half hour or so and plug things back in.
You may have some control chip in the monitor that has gotten the idea that it should sound a bong every once in a while. It might be a feature for which software controls were never implemented. If you deprive the chip of all possible sources of power it might forget that it wanted to drive you nuts.

11

Can’t help the problem, but I just have to say that if this were to happen to only one computer supplier, it would have to be eMachines.

12

What’s the brand name and model of the monitor?
(Pompeii pocket monitor 600XL, etc.)

13

Thank you everyone. I am now breathing deeply (you never know when those old Lamaze exercises may come in handy, “Contraction begins…deeeeep cleansing breath innnn…tshoooooo…and ouuuuuttt…whooooo”), and I am remaining VERY CALM.

Reuben’s comment about whether it is in fact the monitor has caused me to examine more closely the Face of the Fiend. (BTW, it’s just an E-machines monitor, says “E-machines” right on the front.) I have now formed the tentative hypothesis (how desperately we puny humans struggle to find reasons for things!) that it may have something to do with the fact that the Better Half has his Payday hooked up to the computer, the Payday being that Tiny Black God which none of us, including me, is allowed to touch, on Pain of Death.

Here it sits, like Gollum, next to the monitor. I will have to wait for the High Priest of the Holy Payday to get home from work before I can test my hypothesis.

Thank you to everyone. “Visualize…a peaceful beach…tschoooooo…and out…”

14

By any chance has anyone installed this shareware program?

http://www.5star-shareware.com/Business/ClocksAlarmsReminders/big-ben.html

15

Normally I would think that it is very unlikely the monitor has a clock chiming feature built in but who knows maybe this is something new. If this is the case you need to play with the monitor controls to shut it off.

If there is no feature like this built into the monitor you are most likely hearing the speakers attached to, or integrated into, the monitor (if that is the way your system is configured) and the chiming feature is simply a software applet gone awry.

The puzzling part of this is that is the keyboard’s volume control is normally directly linked to the sound applet volume and it should turn the sound down, but it’s not. I can only think that possibly the driver for the keyboard sound control is not operating properly or is not loaded.

If the speakers are molded into the monitor face there is probably a a volume control on the front of the monitor. If there are simply hung on the side you will need to use your system sound control applet to control the volume.

If it is system based, as far as the chiming program goes use your system information applet to go to > tools > system configuration >startup and see where it is being loaded and defeat it by toggling it not to load on startup.

Does the sound stop when you click on the PC’s speaker icon (bottom right) and toggle mute?

16

??? I’m familar with most PDA etc. toys but you’ve stumped me. WTH is a “payday”? Are you talking about a Palm PDA= pee-dee-aaa = “payday”? Are you talking about the Payday 2.1 application that runs on Palms and Visors. What?

If there is a PDA linked to the PC most of these have their own chiming and alarm features built in and you are possibly hearing the PDA?

17

Whew! Glad to see you’re calmer now, DDG. I was thinking, “One of our most calm, rational, prolific posters is losing it? This means real trouble!” You were scaring me! :slight_smile:

18

Okay, by Payday I mean the palmtop computer thingie that Himself is hardly ever parted from, except to leave it plugged into the computer sometimes (he was with great difficulty dissuaded from sleeping with it). We all just refer to it as the Payday–I wasn’t aware it had another actual technical name.

Ever so gingerly I pick it up from its spot by the monitor, and reverently glancing at its face, discern the cruel runes “Mako” and “Diamond”.

The monitor has no buttons on the front other than brightness controls, etc.

Everyone in our household knows better than to install shareware programs, which have messed up our computers more times than I care to remember. Anyway, Big Ben 2.2 says it chimes every quarter hour, and this is chiming sometimes every 10 minutes, and sometimes every 20 minutes, and sometimes every 30 minutes…

Does anybody know a reason why a Payday (Mako, PDA, whatever), would have a way to chime or beep every 10 minutes? To remind you to do what?

If I am in fact hearing the voice of the Tiny Black God of Mako–in Mako’s name, why?

And now of course, since Astro has given me some concrete suggestions to try to turn the thing off, the beeping has stopped…

19

Unplug the monitor from wall, or just turn it off, if its the monitor, see, & its off, it won’t beep! otherwise its the computer.

Now wasn’t that easy?

Could be a heat alarm, I no guess no more until you do above trick.

20

Here’s what your dear sweet he-who-shall-not-be-questioned has:The diamond mako

I’ll keep lookin for the big ben feature.