Bizarre monitor fault or something more serious?

[joydivision]

I supplied a PC last Feb, just a standard Haswell Pentium, 4GB RAM, Asus motherboard, WD Black and Corsair PSU. Not high end but all high quality components.

The monitor I supplied was a 22" Philips as it was on offer at the time.

My client told me in passing a few months ago that it doesn't always seem to turn on first time as the switch is a bit funny. I went to see it last week and soon realised the switch is fine, but what is happening is the when you switch the desktop on the monitor back light comes on but there is no VGA picture on the screen, there is no error messages on the screen it seems to think it is getting a VGA signal but the screen itself is blank with just the back light.

However when this happens the PC seems to boot up as normal and Event viewer and the HD LED confirms this. There is nothing in event viewer about the graphics card and the PC thinks everything is fine.

Has anybody come across this before? I will probably lend them one of my spare monitors for a week and see if solves the problem but the warranty on the monitor will run out soon. The problem is it is very intermittent both times it boots perfectly.

It happens I would say 1 in 20 boots, the monitor back light comes on but the no output displayed and the monitor thinks it has got a VGA signal.

 

[mr m]

It sounds like the screen is flaky. The monitor will usually tell you if it doesn't see a VGA signal input.

Do you have dual inputs (VGA -DVI) on the monitor? If so and the PC has a DVI output try switching sources. Also, I've seen bad/flaky cables do funny things. Some monitors have detachable VGA cables so try that if you have that option.

Good move swapping in a spare. Intermittent issues are the worst to nail down but you'll know soon enough where the problem lies.

 

[joydivision]

Indeed, it was only by fluke I saw the fault, as the way the customer described it sounded like a case switch or PSU issue. I will try swapping the cable, sadly it is a VGA monitor only otherwise I would have tried an HDMI/DVI cable.

 

[altrenda]

Does the monitor have an external power supply? If not, it could be bad caps in the power supply of the monitor.

it's a simple fix, but since it's new, maybe covered under warranty.

I have 3 nice monitors and a 32 inch Samsung TV that were heading for E Waste because they had similar symptoms. $10 worth of caps, a simple 45 minute teardown, solder and reassemble, and they are good as new. One is an HP, one a Westinghouse, and the other a Samsung. Most monitors, regardless of brand, look remarkably similar on the inside.

 

[Kitten Kong]

Personally I would RMA the monitor, and lend them one whilst the RMA is taking place.

What's the point in attempting to see what the problem is?. It's still under warranty, so use it.

 

[joydivision]

Thanks, is it an easy process as I don't have any of the packaging. The problem is 95% of the time the monitor will work perfectly, so I can see them receiving it and saying no fault.

I also at this point don't know for certain it is the monitor, but it sounds like others agree that the monitor is the most likely fault.

Does seem a bit too young to be capacitor issues, but with the crap Chinese stuff they use it is likely.

 

[Kitten Kong]

It should be easy enough ian.

Not having the packaging shouldn't prove a issue. Obviously you still have the invoice. That's all that matters.

Just say it's intermittent, if possible use one of your machines, and the monitor, and record when it does it. That's proof enough for anyone.

 

[Kitten Kong]

Save yourself time and money here ian.

 

[joydivision]

Yeah the problem is I have not been able to rectify the fault since and it was bought from your favourite company

I will collect the monitor anyway on Monday and drop them off a loaner.

 

[Kitten Kong]

Now your going to have issues replacing it from MD now..

Seriously.. Ring ebuyer, speak with your account t manager. See what if anything they say about the matter. Especially with it being intermittent.

 

[Markverhyden]

Many OEM's allow advance exchanges, especially for common products. I've done it many times before. Just have to give them a CC for security and, as a bonus, you get the proper packaging to ship back the old one.