Computer question.

me ^ | 3/9/07

[LouAvul]

Thursday I lost the video feed on my computer. Long story-short: The only way to get it up and running was to install a new video card and and new monitor.

What kind of phenomenon would cause that?

Thanx.

[HAL9000]

Are you using a surge protector for your power supply and Internet cables?

[LibFreeOrDie]

You didn't ask the person who sold you a new video card AND a new monitor?

[Mr. K]

... a bad video card and monitor?

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Buy a Mac < /S >

[SWAMPSNIPER]

"What kind of phenomenon would cause that? "

---

Did you rip the label off your mattress? That would do it!

[LouAvul]

Power supply is surge protected. Internet connection is not.

[Viking2002]

*AHEM* Did you install the new card in the same slot as the old one?

(Stick with me, folks. I do this for a living.) ;-)

[LouAvul]

Did you install the new card in the same slot as the old one?

Yes.

[HAL9000]

I'd recommend surge protectors for the computer and everything connected to it - the monitor, the printer, the modem, and the Ethernet cables to protect against a power spike. Or even better, get a UPS (uninterruptible power supply). That will give you a chance to do a proper shutdown in case of a power failure - or keep the system from shutting down due to a momentary glitch.

During a lightning storm, I try to disconnect most of my equipment. But if I had a direct hit by lightning, there is no guarantee that the equipment is absolutely safe even with those measures.

There is also the possiblity that your video card or monitor had a bad component. There have been a lot of bad capacitors used in electronics lately. They might like like a small bulging tin can if that is the problem. Do any of them smell smoky?

[Viking2002]

I assume, then, that you installed the new card with the old monitor first, and with that not working, you attached the new monitor afterward?

[LouAvul]

Yes, I installed a new PCI card in a different slot, but had the old monitor. Still didn't work. I then bought an AGP video card (the old one was AGP), still with the old monitor. Still didn't work.

I assumed the monitor was bad, so I installed a new monitor with the old card. Still didn't work. Then I installed the new card with the new monitor. Now it works.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Voltage spike.

The effects of which can be so variegated that just about any type of anomaly can be seen...from one PCI slot dying to a total fry of the motherboard and/or peripherals.
Consider yourself lucky to have gotten away with a vid card and monitor.

Now...go out and buy yourself a nice piece of protection from American Power Conversion.

[Viking2002]

I'm not sold on a voltage spike from the outlet, although it's within the realm of possibility. Most modern power supplies have a fusible link built into the inverter board to prevent catastrophic damage to components even more sensitive to spikes and ESD than your video card, like the CPU and RAM. My guess is that your monitor (which has a high voltage power supply that'll ramp up the power feed to the anode to the tune of 25,000 volts or more) probably overloaded and sent a spike down the video cable, cooking it off from that direction. It's what we in the trade call a' murder-suicide'. Death by peripheral. LOL I've even seen hard drives fail catastrophically, and take the processor with it due to the proximity of the IDE bus to the processor socket. If you look on eBay, there are oodles of companies that sell what are known as POST cards - they plug into the ISA and PCI slots, and give audible and LED status codes for everything from the power supply, down to the condition of the slot itself. And they're only about $10-12.

[JockoManning]

Do you have any advice for someone in the market for a laptop? According to consumerreports dot org, Dell Inspiron E1705 is a "quick pick" as of February 2007. Do you know of any websites that could help me research this? Thanks.

[Viking2002]

It depends on what you're looking for in a laptop, but (and I may be a touch biased, being a Dell tech) I've never had any issues with Dell as a general-purpose portable. In fact, I'm running an old Pentium III C600 that's been almost bulletproof in the time I've had it. Another consideration is the price. Even Walmart sells no-name laptops for under $500 now.

[JockoManning]

Thanks for the helpful info. Appreciate it.

jm