Help needed. Any Techie Experts Out There?
I have a problem; being a Sunday, I have to solve it myself.
I have two linked computer screens.
A HYUNDAIIT X91D Digital on NVIDIA Geoforce 7050 PV/ NVIDIA nforce630a as my primary screen and
A HYUNDAIIT X91D Analogue on NVIDIA Geoforce 7050 PV/ NVIDIA nforce630a as my (right hand) secondary screen.
Power is flowing correctly to both left and right hand screen. When I boot up the graphic is (very temporarily!) appearing on the right hand screen. After which the screen remains stubbornly black.
Working with only one screen is not the immediate problem. What is excercising my mind this morning is that I can only open Firefox in the left hand screen if I have Internet Explorer open at the same time. thus temporarily solving the problem of not being able to see or reply to comments on the site. Phew!
However, although Microsoft Outlook will open on the left hand screen and thus display incoming e-mails, if I try to reply, the ‘new’ e-mail transfers to the right hand screen, where I can’t see it to write ! Ipso, I can’t reply to any e-mails or indeed send any at the moment.
Can you think of a work around that will allow me to force the ‘new’ e-mail to open on the left hand screen – or any idea what is wrong? Always remembering that I am in the middle of God fearing France on a Sunday and thus cannot nip down to PC world to buy this cable or that card……Replies in the comments would be appreciated!
Yes, I have just thought that I might be able to ‘send’ via the web based e-mail server….I shall try that whilst you put your thinking caps on!
UPDATE: Yep! that works, I can use web based mail to reply – I still have to solve the original problem though……!
Laterally thinking Anna…..
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March 6, 2011 at 09:24 -
I have a 2 screen set up. If one of the screens is turned off when windows boots it automatically reverts to a single screen set up.
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March 6, 2011 at 09:29
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March 6, 2011 at 09:27 -
As a quick bodge, try going into Control Panel and changing the graphics setup from “extended desktop” to “duplicated displays”. So windows that are currently pinned to one monitor or the other will be forced to display on both.
That should make the Outlook reply window available on your main monitor…although it effectively turns your machine into a single monitor system.
If you do this and the right hand monitordoesn’t show the same as the left it also gives you a clue as to what’s wrong!
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March 6, 2011 at 09:40 -
Didn’t have the ‘duplicated display’ option you mentioned, but unticked ‘extended desktop’ anyway, and that correctly turned off the right hand monitor so that e-mail displays on the same monitor now……thanks for your help. Still open to suggestions as to what is wrong with the other monitor.
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March 6, 2011 at 10:00 -
I’ve found that Windows occasionally, for some reason, loses track of a set of dual monitors, and one stops working.
The solution is to revert to one monitor, then re-activate the second.
You can do this by going to Control Panel Display Settings, then you select the non-working one from the Display drop-down box and UNtick “Extend my Windows display onto this monitor”.
Activate it like that, then select the same monitor and now TICK “Extend my Windows display onto this monitor”. This should then give you a display on both monitors, and you should be able to see the mouse moving from one to the other.
In doing all this, you may find that your START button and taskbar are no longer where you want them. If so, just select the monitor you want them to be on and TICK “Use this device at the primary monitor”.
I hope this helps. Unfortunately I’m going out soon so won’t be able to reply till this evening.
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March 6, 2011 at 10:16 -
OK, that forced a brief (and dim!) display onto the second monitor, but quickly reverted to black. Does that indicate a faulty monitor or a faulty graphic card, or windows?
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March 6, 2011 at 10:28 -
A brief and dim display that fades to black sounds to me like a hardware fault.
In your position, I think I’d now clearly label the monitors, and start swapping them round to see if the problem can be narrowed down to a particular monitor or a particular graphics card. -
March 6, 2011 at 10:31 -
I’m with CJ…but check the connections on the back of the PC first…an old, wise engineer told me once that 90% of all problems are connectors, seating or fuses.
Swap bad monitor onto good card and see what happens
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March 6, 2011 at 09:28 -
I’ll ring around 12ish (UK time) if you’re still having problems.
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March 6, 2011 at 10:14 -
Hi Anna,
As someone mentioned before, multiple screens can get a bit flakey under Windows – I had four screens and one screen always used to take ages before it burst into life.
What I found was usesful when there were any problems was the free NVidia software called NVIEW where you right click on the application’s window in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen and tell it which window to appear in.
HTH
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March 6, 2011 at 10:46 -
“…taskbar at the bottom of the screen and tell it which window to appear in.”
should be:
taskbar at the bottom of the screen and tell it which monitor to appear in.
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March 6, 2011 at 10:27 -
Can you phone a friend or ask the audience? Or are you the weakest link? Goodbye! Yours unhelpfully
Sister E-
March 6, 2011 at 11:43 -
I can’t help but notice you published your “Problem Page” too early.
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March 6, 2011 at 10:39 -
re. The problem of “new” emails only appearing on the unavailable screen…
If you can get to the taskbar, you should be able to see the label for the window (or message), even if you can’t see the window itself. (It should say something like “New Message” with an outlook logo). Can you then right-click on it and select “Move”? You should then be able to use the left arrow key to pull it back to your good monitor.
If I recall, closing the window in the active monitor will encourage future new windows to be opened on the same one (ie. your good one).
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March 6, 2011 at 10:48 -
Ah, I see you’ve already got past this bit
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March 6, 2011 at 10:52
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March 6, 2011 at 11:20 -
My own preferred method of dealing with computer problem is (a) shouting loudly (b) shouting loudly and cursing profusely (c) attacking said computer with a weapon, Basil Fawlty style.
Doesn’t work, but I feel better-
March 6, 2011 at 12:09 -
“…..attacking said computer with a weapon, Basil Fawlty style.
Doesn’t work, but I feel better”That’s because you’re not hitting it in the right place.
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March 6, 2011 at 11:35 -
Sounds like your X91Ds are not the same as mine, then. Were yours bought in France?
I’d try plugging the monitors into another PC, and borrowing monitors from elsewhere and plugging them into your PC, till the problem was narrowed down.
FWIW the prices of monitors have come down, and you should now be able to get a 22-inch for about 120GBP, which IIRC is about what I paid for my X91Ds in 2007.
Now I HAVE to go out. Goof luck.
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March 6, 2011 at 11:35 -
Get a life.
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March 6, 2011 at 14:20 -
Wahahahahahah
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March 6, 2011 at 11:41 -
Anna, I know I’m a bit late to the party but it sounds as if your monitor is suffering from backlight inverter problems – the screen has miniature florescent tubes in the back to give light so you can see anything. I had that problem with one of my monitors which was doing as you describe. That sort of fault can be repaired – I fixed mine but then I’m an engineer.
As has been suggested before, you should try and swap the monitors to see if it is the monitor or the video card. The monitor should have both DVI and VGA inputs unless it is different to the specifications I’ve been able to find. That means you have only yo change the cables at the monitor end to swap them over.
If it does turn out to be the monitor you can always drop it off here if you’re passing and I’ll see if I can fix it.
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March 6, 2011 at 11:50 -
Try the application of this indispensable Technician’s tool…….
Keep one handy for if the problem recurs.
Hope that helps Anna.
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March 6, 2011 at 14:24 -
That’s more like it!
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March 6, 2011 at 14:49 -
You are all such helpful ladies and gentlemen – thank you so much!
It is the monitor, having had an superb lunch with my friends, I have now returned and figured out – pace Ivan – how to exchange the monitors with their different fittings – and the right hand one is dead as a dodo. Ivan has also given me an excellent link to a firm in France that can have a new monitor here in two days, so all will be well come Wednesday – excellent technical support my friends.
In the meantime I shall just squint at the one remaining monitor, so blogging may be lighter than usual!
I would love to switch to a Mac, but couldn’t afford all the new software to go with it.-
March 8, 2011 at 12:20 -
Anna- how old was the monitor that failed?
I’m now sitting looking at my two 2007-vintage X91Ds and wondering how much longer they’ve got…
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March 8, 2011 at 12:50 -
I can’t say as to the age of Anna’s monitors but I’ve had a couple that apparently stopped working – in both cases it was an IC fuse in the backlight inverter that decided to give up. Once replaced – required taking them apart – they are still in service – 19″ Relisys from 2000 and a Hansol from 2001.
From that I think you have little to worry about with your monitors until they start to drop pixels.
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March 6, 2011 at 13:20 -
You could try what the born again Christian I used to work with did whenever his software didn’t work.
Curse vilely and punch the monitor.
I don’t recall it ever fixing the software, but he seemed to feel better for it.
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March 6, 2011 at 13:24 -
Anna, I’ve told you before. You wouldn’t need two screens if you had a 23″ iMac. I’ve 3 windows visible at the moment and all are readable. Can’t do that on the Windows laptop. Good luck though.
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March 6, 2011 at 14:24 -
Good one. Macs are sadly underestimated.
And I’ve just realised that I understand more about computers than I thought I did.
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March 6, 2011 at 15:46 -
I don’t know if it applies EU-wide but there was a recent ruling that ‘fit for purpose’ can mean longer than the manufacturers guarantee. Someone got a hefty discount on a replacement item after several years of use. Might be worth a Google and help with the haggling at Computeur-Monde.
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March 6, 2011 at 20:21 -
There is only one solution get a Mac, if only because they just work.
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March 7, 2011 at 21:40 -
Especially when it’s raining.
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March 6, 2011 at 23:04 -
I get completely confused à propos chronological order of comments, but …
have to say: “Yes”, get a Mac & your problems will be less …
I do understand your concerns about getting new applications, though And .. the backlight is a nasty problem, which has been invented to make us pay even more money. It would have been so easy to replace a little battery, but you cannot. Not you … just the “specialist”, who has the right tools to do that. Not us mere mortals … ##@%!!P!**#!!!
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March 6, 2011 at 10:31 -
March 6, 2011 at 10:52 -
Hmmm… not sure what you mean by that. I have two Hyundai X91D monitors, and they have both analog (VGA) and digital (DVI) inputs.
Do you mean the two graphics cards have different outputs? That shouldn’t stop you swapping the cables between the two monitors.
JohnRS makes a good point- seating of your connections- before changing anything I’d agree you should check whether any have become a bit loose. Fiddling can sometimes fix a problem.
Did you move any of your hardware shortly before the problem started?
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March 6, 2011 at 11:09 -
March 6, 2011 at 11:45 -
Anna, that says it is the backlight that is the problem and they can be swooped at the monitor because it should have two sockets, one each for the white plug and blue plug.
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