jeffw_00 Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 (edited) Hi - My wife uses an 21" ACER 1600x1200 LCD Monitor for her business system. Recently, it's developed a problem where it consistently won't return from standby. Both monitors are set to power down after 30min of idle, and when the mouse is subsequently wiggled, the other monitor comes back. This one sometimes comes back for a second but then stays black (standby, not off). It can be restored by power-cycling it (sometimes twice is needed), or by re-running the nVidia multi-monitor wizard. So far here's what I've tried:1) re-installed drivers2) Swapped nVidia 5200 video card for nVidia 6200 card (which also required me to install a newer revision of nVidia drivers)3) Switched the monitor from DVI to VGA (plugged in a DVI/VGA adapter into back of video card).Nothing seems to make any difference. We hate to trash the monitor since it still looks great, and 1600x1200 monitors are very hard to come by (i would have to get her a 1920x1600 monitor, takes more desk space, and she does need the high-resolution), but this is an annoying problem. Any suggestions on how to fix this would be muchly appreciated. Thanks!/j Edited February 18, 2010 by jeffw_00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 I doubt it's a display problem, I would search MS knowledgebase for possible culprits or nvidia's forums. BTW: which OS is she using the display on?http://forums.nvidia.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffw_00 Posted February 18, 2010 Author Share Posted February 18, 2010 (edited) Sorry - it's a 3GHz dual-core white-box desktop running WIN XP SP3. If not the video card or the drivers or the monitor, then ?no help from MS knowledgebase - waiting for registration confirm from nvidia forum/j Edited February 18, 2010 by jeffw_00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewmur Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 I doubt it's a display problem, I would search MS knowledgebase for possible culprits or nvidia's forums. BTW: which OS is she using the display on?http://forums.nvidia.com/ I have to disagree, Striker. This behavior is typical of an LCD monitor who's PS is about to fail. Once they are up and running, they are fine. But they have a problem turning off and back on. The overload protection circuit trips with the power on surge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffw_00 Posted February 18, 2010 Author Share Posted February 18, 2010 Actually, there's no problem turning it on manually, just when it returns from standby. PS = Power Supply?/j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 Workaround, if no solution is forth coming: set the monitor to never power down and simply press the off button on the monitor if she is going to be away from the computer for a period of time. I do this a lot on my desktop computers. On my laptops, I simply close the case so the display shuts off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffw_00 Posted February 18, 2010 Author Share Posted February 18, 2010 (edited) yup - that's what we're doing, bur she'd have to do it with -both -monitors.. Edited February 18, 2010 by jeffw_00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffw_00 Posted February 18, 2010 Author Share Posted February 18, 2010 also - if the PS tripped, wouldn't the monitor turn OFF rather than go into standby? It doesn't turn OFF ever, just stays in standby. sorry if I didn't make that clear before Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=66410&hl=Have a look at that thread and finally at the very last post reply on page 2: it's nvidia bug. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewmur Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 (edited) also - if the PS tripped, wouldn't the monitor turn OFF rather than go into standby? It doesn't turn OFF ever, just stays in standby. sorry if I didn't make that clear beforeNo. I've had this happen with several LCD monitors and each of them acted a bit differently. But none of them turned completely off. But if you swapped the monitors from one connector to the other and the problem stays with the Acer, them the problem pretty well has to be with it. IOW, if you have one monitor plugged into the DVI connector and the other into the VGA and then you swap the monitors between the connectors and one monitor has no problem no matter which connector it uses, and the other monitor has problems with both connectors, then the problem MUST be with the monitor. Edited February 18, 2010 by lewmur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffw_00 Posted February 19, 2010 Author Share Posted February 19, 2010 hmm =- i hadn't thought to swap them across connectors (duh!) - will try that tonight http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=66410&hl=Have a look at that thread and finally at the very last post reply on page 2: it's nvidia bug. that's not quite my situation - but I'll try the workaroundthanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b2cm Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 On standby the video card turns off the video port/s, but from standby the video card does not activate the ports when it is supposed to. This probably is because you have bad drivers or video card, or a display that cannot be detected when in standby. Try checking the LCD settings (power management and default mode)and updating video card drivers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffw_00 Posted February 19, 2010 Author Share Posted February 19, 2010 (edited) Thanks B2cm, but if you read my initial post, I've already tried different cards and different drivers. More info: swapping connections on the video card didn't help. Neither did the "ALT-F5" trick in the nvidia post. Everytime the machine comes back from monitor-power-down (not standby, only the monitors are powered down, this is a desktop), it takes between 0-2 power cycles to get the Acer up. Otherwise works fine 8-{thanks everyone, if you have any other ideas please post./j[unfortunately, the registration process on the nVidia forum seems broken so I can't cross-post there. I've tried to register twice and the process succeeds but all subsequent logins fail. If I try to re-register under the same name it says the user exists, but if I try to log in or get my password it says I don't. I'd contact a moderator but that function is reserved for registered members (sigh). Just not my day...] Edited February 19, 2010 by jeffw_00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolphil Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 thanks everyone, if you have any other ideas please post.One thing you could try...Change the resolution on the display...I know this is an outside chance but I had a few monitors that would not re-sync after standby but would start OK from a cold boot..I am not sure why that happened..Like I said an outside chance but easy enough to try..Goodluck,jolphil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=66410&hl=Have a look at that thread and finally at the very last post reply on page 2: it's nvidia bug.Excellent research striker!Have seen this before as well. Since there was no fix, I just set the monitor to never turn off and the system to never go to standby under power settings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffw_00 Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 One thing you could try...Change the resolution on the display...I know this is an outside chance but I had a few monitors that would not re-sync after standby but would start OK from a cold boot..I am not sure why that happened..Like I said an outside chance but easy enough to try..Goodluck,jolphilMight be an interesting experiment but not really a work-around. She wants the monitor at max res. Means she'd have to down-rez it every time she walked away. - thanks though/j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffw_00 Posted February 25, 2010 Author Share Posted February 25, 2010 So we've settled into a routine. My wife and I swapped monitors, and on the offending one we've been discussing, I bumped up the standby time to a couple of hours, and am getting used to power-cycling it twice when I first use it every day....Thanks though - hopefully the ideas suggested here will help others. I figure I'll get a few months more out of the monitor (an acer 2021 from 2005) and then have to replace it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewmur Posted February 25, 2010 Share Posted February 25, 2010 So we've settled into a routine. My wife and I swapped monitors, and on the offending one we've been discussing, I bumped up the standby time to a couple of hours, and am getting used to power-cycling it twice when I first use it every day....Thanks though - hopefully the ideas suggested here will help others. I figure I'll get a few months more out of the monitor (an acer 2021 from 2005) and then have to replace it.Just a thought. What color is the desktop background? If, as I expect, it is the power surge tripping the PS overload protection circuit, then using a darker background might help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goretsky Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 Hello, Are the following hot fixes installed on the computer: Microsoft Knowledgebase #815304, "The computer does not resume from hibernation or does not Wake-on-LAN from standby"Microsoft Knowledgebase #954434, "A multiprocessor computer that is running a Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, or Windows Vista stops responding on a black screen after you resume the computer from hibernation"Also, I found a patch for a similar issue, but it is for Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition: Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Update for Standby Mode (KB895678) Perhaps one of them will help with the issue.Regards, Aryeh Goretsky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffw_00 Posted February 26, 2010 Author Share Posted February 26, 2010 Thanks Goretsky - But the monitor now behaves the same on 2 different computers (both fully updated), and none of these are quite on-point. The monitor comes back for a second and then goes black. I power cycle the monitor, it comes back for a second and goes black. I power cycle the monitor. It comes back for a second and then gets just a tad brighter. Then it's fine.I think the monitor is on its last legs..../j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffw_00 Posted February 26, 2010 Author Share Posted February 26, 2010 Thanks Goretsky - But the monitor now behaves the same on 2 different computers (both fully updated), and none of these are quite on-point. The monitor comes back for a second and then goes black. I power cycle the monitor, it comes back for a second and goes black. I power cycle the monitor. It comes back for a second and then gets just a tad brighter. Then it's fine.I think the monitor is on its last legs..../j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 No pins bend on either connector, cable or socket?Do you have a second monitor in the house to see how that one behaves on those two machines? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffw_00 Posted February 26, 2010 Author Share Posted February 26, 2010 Hi Stryker - I've swapped cables, and monitors, (as well as computers and video cards), and the problem always follows this specific one. The socket on the monitor is VGA-F, not much that can "bend" there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted February 27, 2010 Share Posted February 27, 2010 I just thought it was a last possibility. Only five years for a monitor (it was from 2005, right?) is not that long. Modern stuff, ahum.(thanks, I edited the typo in the other reply.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffw_00 Posted February 27, 2010 Author Share Posted February 27, 2010 Thanks Stryker. Actually, it's really first-generation LCD, so. Funny though - it's now only after overnight that it needs the double-powerup. If it's just powered down for an hour or so it comes back fine.... Now that i have it (rather than my wife, who works out of the house), it will get lighter use and so maybe will live to a nice old age 8-} Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goretsky Posted February 28, 2010 Share Posted February 28, 2010 Hello,If you are feeling adventuresome you might want to try opening the LCD monitor up and seeing if any of the components on the power supply or DC-to-DC inverter like the capacitors are ruptured. If so, replacing them may solve the problem.Regards,Aryeh Goretsky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffw_00 Posted February 28, 2010 Author Share Posted February 28, 2010 not until it gets more serious - thanks 8-} Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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