HP Monitor (LA2205WG) trouble

[phallan]

Heya!
At my job we just bought a new computer for our graphic design
department for a newly hired employee. However we took the bigger Monitor and gave it to the main graphic designer simply because he needs it more (that computer is not as good as this brand new one).

However when you turn the monitor off or the computer goes into hibernation-mode it gets tricky. It doesn't want to start up again, the computer is running but the monitor just says "No Signal..." and we have to restart the entire computer for it to work (leaving unsaved, important work at risk).

We've tried to install new drivers for the graphic card and yet it doesn't seem to work.

Information about the computer that now has the monitor
Windows XP Professional SP3
Intel Pentium 4, 3,4 GHz (single core)
2Gb RAM
ATI FireGL V3100 (graphic card)

Thank you, beforehand. Anything will help really. Just let me know if you need any additional info, for example about the computer that the monitor was delivered with.

/S.

[t_blake07]

Hi phallan,

Did this happen with the monitor that was hooked up to the computer before the new monitor came into the picture?

You said that you have updated the video card drivers, to no avail... What about the onboard video? Have you hooked the monitor up to it after the problem presented itself?

[phallan]

Would I have to upgrade the built-in video card even though I have a "real" one? And do you mean if I hooked it up to the new computer after the problem occured with the old one (the one we moved the brand new monitor to)?

Current setup:

NEW MONITOR ---> OLD COMPUTER

OLD MONITOR (HP1955) ---> NEW COMPUTER

If you mean did I change it back to new comp --> new monitor and the same with the old, then no. Do you want me to try that?

/S.

[t_blake07]

Would I have to upgrade the built-in video card even though I have a "real" one? And do you mean if I hooked it up to the new computer after the problem occured with the old one (the one we moved the brand new monitor to)?

Current setup:

NEW MONITOR ---> OLD COMPUTER

OLD MONITOR (HP1955) ---> NEW COMPUTER

If you mean did I change it back to new comp --> new monitor and the same with the old, then no. Do you want me to try that?

/S.

Sorry, I should have worded that a little better.

Have you tried to plug the new monitor into the old PC's onboard video connection?

And... Did the old monitor have this problem while connected to the old PC?

[phallan]

Nah that's what I thought you meant at first then I started to ponder and look where it got me

Anyway, I'm going to try what you said right now, when I get the opportunity. And regarding if the problem ever occured on the old computer, no it did not. That's what bothers me the most

/S.

[cruisin702]

Did you update the drivers for the monitor?

[t_blake07]

Ok. I have had this happen to me a few times with a couple different PC's/monitors. One thing that is real easy to do and it did fix the problem for me once, is to have the monitor turned on, and then boot the PC up. If you still get nothing, then shut the PC down, and completely unplug it and the monitor. Leave it unplugged for a minute or two. If they are both plugged into a surge protector, then just hit the reset/off switch. Then boot it back up with the monitor turned on. Sometimes a new monitor is just stubborn and won't let the motherboard detect it.

If that doesn't work, it's possible that the motherboard might need the drivers updated on it. It is an older PC, so i'm thinking that could have something to do with it.

Have you had the new monitor plugged into the PC it came with at all? It could be DOA.

Lastly, when/if the monitor still doesn't show anything after the PC is booted up, check to see if the HDD lights are lit, and stay lit. (It will blink off an on, thats normal. As long as they stay active.)

[phallan]

Ok, I will try that too. You didn't miss the fact that the monitor is working on the old computer did you? The problem is that when it goes to sleep/we turn the monitor off by pressing the power button. That's when it won't start. It starts perfectly fine if you reboot / start up the computer (with the old computer)

It feels like your fix is usable if the monitor doesn't work at all with the old computer
But maybe it's me pondering too much again xD, I'll try it anyway, maybe the motherboard thingy will work

[cruisin702]

Link to drivers for the monitor

[phallan]

OK. We tried to unplug the DVI-cable and use VGA-cable instead and now it works fine when turning it off/on and we are currently testing what will happen if the computer hibernates. Seems pretty weird if the problem lies with the DVI-connection doesn't it ?

EDIT: Hibernation works fine, too. Maybe the cable is defect.

/S.

[t_blake07]

Yes, that is the same problem I was having. It wouldn't display anything after coming out of hibernation. Put it to sleep,    and then try to wake it up. Also, the monitor should go into a power save mode. (which is what the problem is I think), so you really don't have to turn it off after putting the PC to sleep mode.

[t_blake07]

If the problem was the DVI, then you might need to update the drivers for the monitor, (as per cruisin702), and/or the driver for the motherboard. Lets see what happens after it wakes from hibernation first though.

When you switched from DVI to VGA, did you also switch from plugging into the video card, to plugging into the onboard VGA?

[phallan]

Ok. with the VGA-cable it woke up just fine from hibernation. We then tried to exchange the DVI-cable (if the case was that it was defect) and put another one (from the new computer for now..) but the same problem persists. It does NOT respond from hibernation or even if we turn it off. But the weird thing is even if we get that problem - that it doesnt wake up from hibernation or from turning it off - the screen works again if we simply plug the DVI out and back in again.

Currently trying to update drivers for the Monitor.

When you switched from DVI to VGA, did you also switch from plugging into the video card, to plugging into the onboard VGA?

Well no, there is no onboard DVI nor VGA port, apparently.

/S.

[phallan]

OK. News about the monitor update.

It did unfortunately not help, the monitor still refuses to start after turning it off / hibernating. After lunch we will try updating the motherboard drivers even though I have no idea what motherboard it is, I guess I'll have to crack the computer open. Also we will try plugging the NEW Monitor tot he NEW Computer with DVI-cable and see if that causes the same error.

Thank you for the help you've given so far, we have obviously eliminated lots of possible errors and pretty much nailed it down to the DVI-connection.

Stay tuned if you want to help me / find out what solved it!

/S.

[t_blake07]

Thats odd that there is no other video outputs on the old computer.

You can Download, install and run... www.cpuid.com . (version 1.53 with Installer)

That should tell you your motherboard's model # so you can look up the drivers for it.

But I have an interview in a few hours so i'll check the progress when i'm done with that. Good luck.