Question: My HP m8000e desktop computer with 2048MB RAM and 300GB hard drive, seems to have a serious problem I worry about. When I start my computer, the monitor goes blank for more than 60 seconds. Why is that?

Answer: This is a very common problem, it can be caused by more than one thing.

First, make sure your monitor power cord is plugged into a working grounded AC outlet. Power up the monitor and be sure the power light is on, indicating that the monitor is receiving power.

Second, Make sure the monitor is firmly connected to your computer.

If you have a KVM switch, make sure the switch is correctly set to your computer You might need to connect the monitor directly to your computer to make sure the KVM switch is not damaged.

Make sure the computer is not in power save mode by pressing any key on your keyboard. You can also try to reboot your computer by pressing reset or the power button on your computer for more than 4 seconds.

Make sure your video card has enought power and if it needs to be connected to your power supply. Please refer to your graphics card manual.

If you have more than one video card, or multiple monitor outputs, try to connect your monitor to a different output and wait a few seconds. If you are using hdmi or dvi, you might need to restart your computer manually a few times by pressing the power button on your computer to make it work.

Make sure all cards, memory, hard drive and all cables connected to them are seated firmly.

Try to reset your bios (this will erase all user defined bios settings and go back to factory set defaults). Refer to your motherboard manual how to do this.

If you hear a hissing sound from the monitor and the monitor is blank, the inverter board on your monitor might be bad. The inverter board can be replaced without buying a whole new monitor. Ask your service guy to repair it. Hopefully your warranty is still valid.

Question: I have a E173fp 17 inch flat panel LCD monitor from Dell. I think many of my friends have the same problem as I do with the exact same Dell flat panel as I have. When the system is switched on, the monitor lights up for a second and then it switches off immediately. But the green light is always on. I have rebooted the system, I have tried to remove the monitor cable and plug it back in. When I do this, the monitor turns off and on. I have tried to alter the power features, the resolution of the monitor, downloaded updated drivers from Dell and viewed Dells troubleshooting advice on the cd that came with the monitor. Nothing have been resolved and I still have a problem. I am lost. I need this monitor to work for me. What should I do?

Answer: The problem might be a fault detection circuit in most of the flat panel screens to shut down the circuits if some problem occurs. One of the greatest things, which cause this kind of problem, is imbalance in the inverter outputs. This kind of imbalance in the Dell systems occurs due to the failure of bulbs. Also more frequent failure of one of the inverter branch circuits paves way to such problems. Apart from this bad solder connection, weak capacitors, blown fuses or shorted transistors also can be the reason for this kind of crisis. Replacement of these parts will be the better solution for this problem. Start to replace the inverter circuit first, go with the replacement of the bulbs second and video circuit last.

The E173fp 17 inches flat panel is one of best product with high resolution and clarity. But most of the monitors do have exactly the same problem. Also turning down the brightness to about 57 may stop from the occurrence of such problems. Many users have tried such solution and it worked. This solution helps someone out and saves them some money.

Some times the same problem would occur in a different manner. The display becomes black in the middle of some work. This may also occur when you are typing or when you change web pages. For this kind of problem in LCD monitor, there may be problem in the video card. It may have turned bad and started to malfunction. Prior to checking about that, just try to move to the video card. NVIDIA GEForce 6150KLF is the video car in such systems. Pull it out and just try to update the driver for that. After getting it installed for the update, stay the lit, but then keep shining. Also try to update the driver for that again. It will come up that it may uninstall all the previous components that it needed to and then would update the driver. Say yes to that and it will get updated with SP26787 driver. That is the number. After this is over the security system will come up and will say that it had updated the system. After this update is over, the monitor will be all right and start working well. Hence the problem seems to have been fixed.

Question: My monitor, a Dell SE177FP sometimes displays a number of upright color lines. There are changes in the color of the vertical lines that appear as well. It changes into pink, greenish or black. Sometimes the image jumps and the image gets blurry. There are not any buttons to press on the monitor that will help, except the power button.  I have tried to resolve the issue using a Dell troubleshooting wizard. That wizard displayed some images on the screen. But I could not see any of the images really, the color lines started to appear. I need to know where to go from here.

Answer: The issue you are having should be easily resolved. It does not sound like your LCD screen has turned bad or started to malfunction. You can check the monitor by connecting it to another computer. If the monitor does not appear to have any display problems then you most likely have an issue with your computer and need to troubleshoot it and not your monitor. If the monitor still does not display the image correctly, pull the VGA cable off your computer and check for any damaged or bent pins. If there is any damaged or bent pins, the display may not work very well. If the cable is damaged in any way, replace it and your problem should go away.