MundoDragon

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Apr 18, 2009
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Hello everyone,

It's been a while. Should stop in more often, but seems I only come here when I have a problem (Although, in my defense, I do try to help whilst waiting for replies and such). Anyhow, my problem is thus...I've had an Acer AL2216W LCD display for about 2-3 years. A few months ago, it began losing signal at random. When this happened, the only way to restore signal was to unplug the power cord from the back of the display (not the outlet) and plug it back in, sometimes a few times before it would get signal back. Even unplugging the DVI cable from the graphics card wouldnt do the trick. Due to this problem, I took my monitor out of power settings, because upon sleeping, it wouldn't 'wake up' until performing the above mentioned procedure.

Now, I came home from work today, the monitor is black (no power light) and the Vista 'New Hardware Detected' notification is going haywire. Seems it was detecting the monitor signal, losing it, then immediately detecting it again and losing it, over and over again. I figured from day one it wasn't my graphics card that was the culprit, due to the no power light on the monitor, but just to make sure, I disconnected it and hooked it up to my girlfriends PC and sure enough, same issue. Plugged hers into mine and buddabing...in business. I am actually typing from my PC with her monitor (which is an Acer, as well, only smaller)

Now, I disconnect the 22 in. from her PC and plug it into the second DVI input on my 9800GTX+ and open NVidia Control Panel. I go to Dual monitor setup and sure enough, there is the 17 in. working monitor and the 22 in. non-working monitor detected. Upon selecting the 22 in. for cloned display and checking Apply, it automatically reverts back to the single 17 in.

Just as a note, I noticed that when plugging in and unplugging the power cord from the back of the display, the power light will turn amber for just a split second on entry and exit. Also, if I leave the power cord unplugged for a few minutes then plug it back in, the amber light will stay on consistently, just will not turn green and display anything. But once you unplug it and plug it back in, it reverts back to the quick flash of light until unplugged for a few minutes again.

Now, I'm almost positive that this is a bad connection on the power board of the monitor and not the backlight, etc. as I don't think that would cause the power light not to come on. I have a friend at work that is an electrician, but as an added bonus, fiddles with computers as well, which are two good skills to have handy in a situation like this. I'm going to see if he can do anything with it, as it seems such a minor issue and would be a crime to just ditch it.

I'm just curious to as if anyone has any input, quick fixes and/or advice I can give to my friend when discussing the problem and possible solutions. Thank you all for your invaluable knowledge and extreme patience in reading through this somewhat lengthy post, but I like to give as much info as possible. Something overlooked and thought insignificant could be the key difference in a solved problem and an unsolved problem. Again, I value your input, no matter how small.

P.S. Wasn't sure exactly what subsection to post this in, as there is none available for monitors and such, so I just put it in NVidia, as it seems the most appropriate section, due to my graphics card make. I apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause.
 

MundoDragon

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Apr 18, 2009
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Yeah, I thought so as well, but figured I'd ask anyway, cause although I'm very tech savvy when it comes to hardware and software, I don't know very much about capacitors and soldering connections on the circuit boards. I think I'll leave this to my friend. He should know what to do.

I actually tried to open it up so I could see if there were any bad solder joints or capacitors, but they do everything in their power to make sure you don't. I finally gave up and declared the manufacturer the winner. Thanks for the reply, ct.
 

MundoDragon

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Apr 18, 2009
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Well, I do plan on buying a new one, so if you have any suggestions, go for it. Would prefer an even larger screen, but need at least 22 in. (The whole point of something fizzing out is you get to buy something bigger and badder without the guilt 8D) I'm just going to try to have this fixed to replace my girlfriend paltry 4:3 17 in. (Which I'm using now and it's killing me)