Troubleshooting >>>> Video & Monitor
You are here >>>
Click on the words to go back or use the top menu
Checking your power supply voltages
To get an accurate voltage reading on those motherboards requires opening up the computer and checking the voltages with a voltmeter. There are three main voltage values to check: 3.3 volts, 5 volts, and 12 volts. According to the official specification all three of those voltages must be within 5 percent. But in real life it's better if they are closer than that. So 3.3 volts should be between 3.2 to 3.4 volts. 5 volts should be from about 4.8 to 5.2 and 12 volts should be from 11.6 to 12.4. If the voltages are outside of that range, it's not proof of a power supply problem but it's not good. Some video cards tolerate voltages which are off better than others. With most new video cards, the 12 volt value is the one which is most likely to cause problems.
Quick Tips
- Uninstall your old display drivers and then install the latest display drivers
- Slow down your AGP port via your BIOS settings
- Underclock your video card
- Install additional fans to cool off your video card
- Slow down your AGP port via your BIOS settings
- Underclock your video card
- Install additional fans to cool off your video card
AGP Faults
AGP instability can cause crashes, hangs, stutters, and video data corruption. There are many AGP parameters which you can modify but the two which are most likely to solve the problem are the AGP speed multiplier and fast writes. AGP can support speed multipliers of 8X (eight times), 4X, 2X, and 1X. The higher the multiplier, the faster it transfers data. You can try to fix AGP instability by using a slower multiplier. The other AGP parameter worth modifying is fast writes. Fast writes provide a faster way for the CPU to write data to the video card. You can disable fast writes to see if your video card becomes more stable. If you are using an ATI video card, then you can use SMARTGART to modify the speed multiplier and fastwrites
How does a monitor work?
Like most TVs, the computer monitor has a CRT, or Cathode Ray Tube, which is found inside the computer monitor as illustrated in the above picture. The CRT is the main component and most expensive part within your computer monitor. Within the CRT are three electron guns, Red, Green and Blue. Each of these guns streams a steady flow of electrons, left to right, for each line of your monitor. As the electrons hit the phosphors on the CRT, the phosphor will glow certain intensities. As a new line begins, the guns will then begin at the left and continue right; these guns will repeat this process sometimes thousands of times until the screen has been completely drawn line by line. Once the phosphors on the CRT have been hit with an electron they will only glow for a short period of time; because of this, the CRT must be refreshed, which means the process will be repeated as explained above. If the video card's refresh rate is not set high enough, you may encounter a flicker or a noticeable steady line scrolling from the top to the bottom of your screen.
Crashes, hangs, stutters, or display corruption
Overheating: Underclock your Video Card
If your video card crashes, hangs, stutters, or gets display corruption a few minutes after you start a game, it may be overheating. The same thing can happen when a power supply is overloaded and it overheats. Occasionally you'll run into bad chips which cannot run reliably at full speed. Your video card has two values which can be slowed down: the GPU clock rate, and the video RAM clock rate. You can underclock both of those values to see if your video card problems go away. Underclocking can be done by using programs which are normally used to overclock.
If your video card crashes, hangs, stutters, or gets display corruption a few minutes after you start a game, it may be overheating. The same thing can happen when a power supply is overloaded and it overheats. Occasionally you'll run into bad chips which cannot run reliably at full speed. Your video card has two values which can be slowed down: the GPU clock rate, and the video RAM clock rate. You can underclock both of those values to see if your video card problems go away. Underclocking can be done by using programs which are normally used to overclock.
Monitor is making strange noises
A high pitched tone or high pitched squealing sound
- Move or adjust the height of the monitor
- Turn the monitor off and then back on.
Monitor is making a clicking sound
This type of noise is usually caused by the monitors relays opening and closing. You could hear this type of sound when the computer starts up or when you are playing a game and a display setting is changed. This sound is considered normal
Low volume high pitch whining sound"
Most of the time a monitor will whine because the sealant on the flyback, which is a high voltage transformer, is coming off or apart. The reason you hear it is because of the cycle it's going in. You will have to take it to a shop for them to put sealant on there. DO NOT try to do this yourself due to an extremely high voltage shock hazard, even when unplugged.
- Move or adjust the height of the monitor
- Turn the monitor off and then back on.
Monitor is making a clicking sound
This type of noise is usually caused by the monitors relays opening and closing. You could hear this type of sound when the computer starts up or when you are playing a game and a display setting is changed. This sound is considered normal
Low volume high pitch whining sound"
Most of the time a monitor will whine because the sealant on the flyback, which is a high voltage transformer, is coming off or apart. The reason you hear it is because of the cycle it's going in. You will have to take it to a shop for them to put sealant on there. DO NOT try to do this yourself due to an extremely high voltage shock hazard, even when unplugged.
Monitor has one tint of color
Degausing your monitor
Magnets or electrical interference can cause your display to be skewed or out of color. Most monitors have built in degausing features within the menu, on older monitors simply turn it completely off (remove the power cord) for at least one hour
Diagrams
VGA Plug (Blue)
DPMI Plug (white)
DPMI Plug (white)
MDA
Monochrome , text-only standard, text display at 80 x 25, Max of 720 x 350 resolution
CGA
Max of 640 x 200 (Monochrome) in Graphics Mode.
Max of 160 x 200 (16 colors) in Graphics Mode.
Max of 80 x 25 resolution in Text Mode
Max of 160 x 200 (16 colors) in Graphics Mode.
Max of 80 x 25 resolution in Text Mode
EGA
Max of 640 x 350 (16 colors, 60Hz) in Graphics Mode.
Max of 80 x 25 resolution in Text Mode.
Max of 80 x 25 resolution in Text Mode.
PGA
Max of 640 x 400
VGA
Max of 640 x 480 (16 colors) in Graphics Mode.
Max of 320 x 200 (256 colors) in Graphics Mode.
Max of 720 x 400 resolution in Text Mode
Max of 320 x 200 (256 colors) in Graphics Mode.
Max of 720 x 400 resolution in Text Mode
XGA
Upgrade to the VGA video card.
Max of 1,024 x 768 (256 colors) in Graphics mode
Max of 1,024 x 768 (256 colors) in Graphics mode
SXGA
Max of 1400x1050 in Graphics Mode
UXGA
Max of 1600x1200 in Graphics Mode
WSXGA
Supports resolution of 1600 x 900 pixels or 1600 x 1024 pixels
WXGA
Max of 1366x768 resolution