WTF just happened to my monitor?

General Questions
#1

I was creating a webpage using Netscape Composer. Suddenly my monitor went “black” – not really black, but a very dark greenish/greyish colour. I powered down to reboot, and I could hear all of the normal sounds of Windows coming up. But the only thing on the monitor was a pulsating irregular green spot in the centre, very reminiscent of the little dot in the middle of old-time TV tubes when you power them down.

I tried to power down the monitor, but it wouldn’t let me. So I powered down the computer again, and I was able to power down the monitor when the computer was off. When I pushed the monitor power button again, I got the little graphic that says “check your monitor power”. I powered up the computer and I’m using it now.

I’m using a Gateway computer system with NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 and an EV700 plug’n’play monitor.

So WTF happened? Am I losing my monitor? Do I need a new card?

#2

If possible, try attaching the monitor to another computer first or attach your monitor to another computer.

#3

The monitor is working normally now. How will connecting it to my laptop aid in diagnosis?

#4

If the monitor behaves when attached to a different computer, then it is probably not the monitor.

#5

Is your monitor cable hooked up all the way to your computer?
I had some monitor hooked up to an old 286 something like 8 years ago, and one day it lost all the blue, then all the green, and finally all the red. I spent all day trying to figure out what was wrong with the computer, only to realize my little brother would always swing his legs under the computer desk, and had partially dislodged the cable from the jack.

#6

Here’s my WAG (and it really is a WAG)

Some power supply circuits have a “crowbar” which is kind of like shorting out the circuit with a big hunk of metal (like a metal crowbar, hence the name). It’s a protective circuit that shuts down the power supply if something goes wrong. I’m guessing that the high voltage supply in your monitor somehow crowbarred, due to a glitch or maybe a component that is going bad but not quite dead yet. When you managed to shut it down the crowbar released, and now it works like normal.

Keep in mind that’s just a guess.

#7

So it sounds like the monitor and not the card? That fuzzy green dot leads me to think so, but I’m not sure.

#8

Sounds like the monitor. Does the monitor make an intermittand very high pitched squealing noise. If it happens again, give it a smart thump and if that doesn’t fix it power it off. let it cool down and switch it on again.

Check that the computer is ok by using a second monitor etc

Unless the monitor is vry good it probably isn’t worth getting it fixed.

#9

I unplug appliances for a full minute, this resets them inside & they often work just fine,this
is probably what you did. Look at the back of the monitor, there is a date on it, what is the
date of manf on the back?

#10

It just did it again. I turned off the monitor for several seconds and then turned it back on.

#11

It sounds like a componant of the monitor power supply may be over heating. Is the area around the monitor free of obstructions? Do you have any thing piled on top of the monitor? DO NOT take the cover off and go poking around. The CRTs carry enough voltage, even when unplugged, to kill ya. Unless you have a discharge tool and know how to use it. Heck, I know how to use one, and It scares me!