[dianenk]

Hi,

Have 2 identical Dell Dimension desktops E521 series. 17" flat screen monitors with NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE graphics card. Both run windows XP SP3. One in dtrs room, one in son's room.

Dtr called me, reports not being able to "type" on her screen. (was not there when this happened). tried a re-boot. Then monitor was just a black screen.

Came home, turned computer on, monitor light turns green for a second, then stays amber. When I try to toggle input mode (should be VGI) get error message that says "digital input in power save mode press computer button or any key on keyboard or move mouse". Pressing any button or moving mouse does nothing.

If I turn the surge protector off, i will briefly get the blue Dell logo. But a regular turn on off the computer gets me nothing at all on the screen.

Tried swapping out with son's monitor. His monitor is blank (black screen) amber power light, on her computer. Her monitor works fine on his computer.


Searching this message board and Dell support site (which sucks by the way), leads me to believe it might be a graphics card problem (?).

Of course, both computers are out of warranty.

I'm not afraid to open the case to switch out new cards if necessary. (have done this type of work on previous computers).

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Frustrated Mom (who is really hoping that this can be solved soon. Life with a 12 year old girl who can't be on AIM or MySpace really sucks! And 15 yo son won't let her use his computer of course.)

[dustyjay]

Is this using the Integrated Graphics card, or does it have a PCIe Video card?

[dianenk]

Oh, shoot. I think it is integrated. I'll have to look at it again. I do know that it uses the VGI cable to go from monitor to the computer. If it is integrated then I can't just replace it, right?

Thanks

[dustyjay]

A VGA CAble can work with a lot of the PCIe Graphics cards as well. My Graphics card can take any of the cables for instance.

Do you get boot up sounds? or is it just not booting? If it just isnt booting it could be a problem else where.

[Megabite]

If I can understand correctly.......you swapped the blank monitor for another one on the bad PC and the monitor worked OK on the bad PC?


What happens if you try to get into safe mode by tapping F8 immediately on PC start-up

and if you see a black screen with white lettering will finally come up the use the arrow keys to choose Safe Mode and press the Enter key

[dustyjay]

I read that the otherway around, a known good monitor did not work on the computer in question but the Monitor from the computer in question worked on a known working computer.

[dianenk]

Okay, here's what happens:

1. Boots okay, plays the usual start up music.
2. Tapping F8 key does nothing - monitor screen is still blank (there is no image at all on monitor screen when booting up).
3. When booting up, there are a series of numbers (1-4) on front panel of the tower that light up. there is also what looks like a "battery" icon that lights up. After start up is finished, none of the numbers are lit, and the "battery" icon is flashing intermittently.

What I did before, Megabite, is I took daughter's bad monitor, hooked it up to son's computer and the monitor works fine. I took son's good monitor, hooked it up to daughters computer and his monitor did not work at all.

Hope this helps. By the way, how do I determine if the video card (should that be the problem) is integrated or not.

Thanks

[Megabite]

Sounds more like a power supply problem....as the monitors check out ok.......

[dustyjay]

Does the Video CAble plug into a socket that is paralel with the side of the case just below the USB Ports or is it plugged into a horizontal socket below that?

[dustyjay]

If the former it is integrated, if the later you are using a Video Card.

[dianenk]

The cable has two white ends,and I just realized I was calling it the wrong thing. It is a DVI cable. (I am not using the blue VGA cable) Both ends of which plug into a pin socket. On the tower, the socket is located on the bottom of the computer. Right next to this pin socket (which the DVI cable is hooked into) is a blue pin socket that my manual says is an "optional video card".

I suppose I could try using the good cables and power cord from son's computer and see if this would correct daughter's monitor problem. Do you think it is worth a try?

Thanks again.

[dustyjay]

It may well be a problem with the graphics card, can you hook up to it with a VGA Cable? Even if it were a software problem, you should at least see the POST Screen when you first turn the computer on.

[dianenk]

Dustyjay - we must at least be on the same wavelength since I just got done trying it with the VGA cable. Same thing happens.

I did go ahead and open up the tower, took the card out, cleaned it off (along with the rest of the dust bunnies in the tower) and hooked everything back up.

I know for sure it is not the monitor since the monitor shows a green light on and it's color diagnostic screen when the cables are unplugged from the card (both the DVI and the VGA cable).

My next step will be to try son's graphics card in daughter's computer. That will have to wait until tomorrow though. Getting late here and I don't want to have two computers down for any length of time.

Thank you for ALL for your help. I will get back to this thread when I have tried the next step. Again thanks, and goodnight.

[dianenk]

Well, I thought I had it fixed, but not only did it not fix it, I'm getting the 1 2 3 diganostic lights staying lit and computer does not even boot.

I did go ahead and buy a new graphics card. NVIDIA GeForce 8400, PCI express. Went ahead and put it in.

Yea, booted up and I had graphics. Everything working. Downloaded the drivers, told the system to restart and then again, nothing. system booted up, but monitor did not come on again. From what I have read it is not coming out of power saver mode.

did some more research. suggested replacing the power battery (C 2032 button battery), did that. Nothing again.

now the system does not even boot. just the fans run and I get the 1 2 3 LED lights staying lit. According to Dell site this indicates "another failure". Recommends calling Dell Support. Some sites say that the motherboard is toast.

I'm just too tired right now to attempt to speak with Dell support. I think I am out of my league now. May just have to take it in somewhere to be worked on.

Any suggestions? Thanks again.