7 replies to this topic

[Adela]

Hello Friends:

I have a 17" monitor that came with my Dell computer and with win98, for 6 years. At one point it started to take about 6 minutes to open! When I upgraded it to WinXP I thought it would cure itself, but it didn't, except it now takes about maybe 3 or 4 minutes.

Someone suggested to test it before replacing it just in case it may be a minor thing to fix. A neighbor can lend me her laptop but neither she not I know how to test it.

Would someone be so kind as to tell me how to test my monitor with a laptop? Thanks ever so much! Adela

[-pops-]

Regarding the opening time, do you mean the time for the whole machine to come to life or just the monitor to come on? Do you get the Windows startup jingle within a reasonable time and have a blank screen or is the whole thing slow?

I don't know how to test the monitor on a laptop but something you could try is to disconnect the monitor from the computer and then switch it on (the monitor, that is). Most monitors will indicate something on screen - either a message telling you there is no signal or sometimes an alternating screen of coloured bars. See how long it takes to appear.

[djohn]

As pops, we need a little more information please. To test your monitor with a laptop just plug the data cable into the laptop, turn on both the laptop and the monitor then right click on the screen of your laptop, choose properties/settings/advanced, look for your graphic card or video card then you should see the 2 Icons for the 2 monitors. Switch over to the main monitor from there by clicking on the monitor Icon at the rear of the two and dragging it to the front.

[Adela]

Hello and thank you pops and Djohn. The neighbor who'll lend me the laptop to test my monitor is out of the country but will return the week of Oct. 9, at which time I'll try your suggestions.

I see that's going to take a little doing to test it, I thought it would be just a matter of plugging the monitor into the laptop... LOL!

Regarding the opening time, do you mean the time for the whole machine to come to life or just the monitor to come on? Do you get the Windows startup jingle within a reasonable time and have a blank screen or is the whole thing slow?

I can't tell whether it's the monitor or the computer that causes this long delay, but I can tell you that while the monitor is black my mouse doesn't seem to work so that I can't open the computer...On the other hand, I could try to open the computer with the keys on the board to see if the computer works while the monitor doesn't?

Thanks again. I'll report you the reults when I get the laptop. Adela

[Adela]

Hello again! I now have my neighbor's laptop. I followed the steps that djohn so kindly gave me:

To test your monitor with a laptop just plug the data cable into the laptop, turn on both the laptop and the monitor then right click on the screen of your laptop, choose properties/settings/advanced, look for your graphic card or video card then you should see the 2 Icons for the 2 monitors. Switch over to the main monitor from there by clicking on the monitor Icon at the rear of the two and dragging it to the front.

...except that I couldnt complete it because on the "advanced" I didn't see any "graphics" or "video" card buttons or tabs so I didn't know where to go from there. In the advanced step I saw these tabs: "General", "Adapter", "Monitor", "Troubleshoot" and "Color Management". I did try all of these but no cards either. Would it be under some other different name maybe?

In one of the steps I did see 2 large monitor-looking icons No. 1 and No. 2 but they weren't at the rear, rather one by the side of the other. The No. 2 was inactive (grayed out). Would the No. 1 be the main monitor and to be dragged to the front? Since it wasn't in the rear I don't know if I have the right one?

Hope to hear from you as to what you think? Thank you very much! Adela

[Adela]

Hello after quite some time! But I wanted to report that I suffered with the slow monitor for a while until I bought one from a neighbor for $15 bucks and though a little smaller than mine, at least it works normally to ie me to when my comp. goes belly up!

Thank you for all your good efforts to help! Adela

P.S. Anyone knows why my signature doesn't take the black (or any other) color? Thanks.

[-pops-]

P.S. Anyone knows why my signature doesn't take the black (or any other) color? Thanks.

In the "Edit your signature" box, highlight the part you want to change the colour by dragging the mouse across then click on the colour box (the "A" with the down arrow on the panel) and select the first black colour - this should come up as "colour #000000". The colour when posted in a message should come out as black.

[Adela]

Thank you pops! I had done that a few times but...how stupid can I get??? It seems I forgot each time to click on "update" LOL!

Love your little kitty!!! Adela