[ale] Can Bad Video Settings Fry LCD Monitors?

Ron Frazier (ALE) atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com
Wed Oct 30 01:51:20 EDT 2013


Hi Aaron,

Totally talking off the top of my head here.

I looked up the pinout for vga and pin 9 is 5 VDC.  Maybe the regulator on the video card is a bit off.  I don't know if the monitor would use that signal or not.  You could try a different video card.  Basic ones are pretty cheap.

Long shot, but the power supply in the pc could be wonky.  You can get free standing power supply testers at Frys but I've never tried them.

Also a long shot.  Easy to say and hard to do, check for likely causes of static electricity.  Maybe your friend is zapping things when touching them after walking on the carpet.

Consider the AC power.  Make sure there aren't heavy loads like laser printers (because of the fuser), motors, heating elements, refrigerators, air conditioners, etc. on the same circuit that could cause brownouts or surges.  If he's powering things from an extension cord, you might need a heavier cord.  You could try adding a UPS.  Also, get a Kill-A-Watt EZ from Home Depot and check your voltage.  Most LCD power supplies are universal and will accept any voltage from 100 V to 250 V I think.  Older ones may be more finicky.  Definitely make sure the system is on a good quality A/V rated surge protector of 2000-3000 joules.  Note that, according to what I've read, UPS's don't have but about 300 joules of surge protection.  So, I have a really good surge protector ganged in series with a UPS.  Better UPS's can boost sagging voltage and cut high voltage within limits.

Sincerely,

Ron



Aaron Ruscetta <arxaaron at gmail.com> wrote:

>I set my housemate up with a Linux system running Mint 13 - an older
>Dell desktop with stock VGA graphics adapter.'
>
>He's been using spare 17" monitors from my standby collection and
>that seem to have been been recognized by the system auto configs,
>but  he just had a second monitor go dead on the system.  The first,
>an AIWA, went to black screen and won't even power on now when I
>try to test it now.  The second, a pretty decent ViewSonic, stays
>black with active VGA connected, is a solid white screen when
>active DVI is connected and the power light flashes yellow after
>an initial blue power up.  Neither will display any of the internal
>settings menu windows.
>
>I'm concerned that there may be something in the video settings
>or Xconfig or Dell graphics card that is stressing these monitors
>to death. I know that with some of the CRT's it was possible to
>fry them with bad horizontal and vertical frequency settings. Any
>one hear of or experience this with LCD panels?
>
>Could totally be coincidence, but I'd rather not burn up any more
>of my spare screens, so any thoughts appreciated.
>
>in peace,
>aaron



--

Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 Mail.
Please excuse my potential brevity if I'm typing on the touch screen.

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier
770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT techstarship.com
Litecoin: LZzAJu9rZEWzALxDhAHnWLRvybVAVgwTh3
Bitcoin: 15s3aLVsxm8EuQvT8gUDw3RWqvuY9hPGUU




More information about the Ale mailing list