- Top 10 Things to Do Before Calling the Computer Repair Guy
- Monitor/Display Issues
- Mouse/Keyboard Problems
- Sound Troubles
- Printers & Peripheral Problems
- Troubleshooting Tips and Great Method
- Virus and Spyware Solutions
- Internet Woes
- Blue Screen of Death
- How to Find a Good Computer Repair Shop
- Computer Repair Scams (Videos!)
- Michigan Computer Repair
- Oscoda Computer Repair
- Las Vegas Computer Repair
- Long Island Computer Repair (by City)
- Long Island Computer Repair (by Company)
- Nassau (516) and Albany Computer Repair
Monitor/Display Issues
So your whole computer might be fine, but that's worth nothing to you if your monitor's not working and you can't see anything! Follow these steps to make sure that you've done everything correctly, so you can really be sure that your monitor is wonky. These steps are aimed at the beginner, but advanced users can forget sometimes too. Hey, no one's perfect.
1. Make sure there's power
You'll see this step repeating itself often throughout this site, but that's just because I want you to make sure you don't forget! Most monitors have two cables, one power cable and one signal cable. Power cable goes into the wall electrical socket, and the Signal Cable goes into the computer. So make sure they are where they should be!
2. Disconnect and Reconnect to power on both ends.
Sometime's all that's needed is a little re-seating (which just means unplugging and re-plugging everything back in) to make sure stuff just wasn't loose. Everything should fit together snugly and firmly, if it doesn't, then you may have the wrong wire in the wrong place.
3. Check the signal cable to make sure it's connected on both ends.
On some monitors signal cables can be a headache, with all those prongs and screws something's bound to go wrong some time. Just make sure that both are connected on both ends securely and that should be enough. (Tip: don't screw anything in so tight that you can't unscrew it when you need to disconnect it. Finger-saving tip of the day.) There are Two different types of cables, your monitor should have one or both of them. VGA, which looks like this:
And DVI, which looks like this:
Either way, all you have to do is plug them in where they fit and there should be no problems.
4. Try different video ports on the back of your computer if it has them.
Sometimes your computer will have multiple ports (which are what the monitor cables plug into) If you have more than one, try your monitor on all of them. If one doesn't show you anything, the other could very well serve you better.
5. Try a different monitor or a different computer.
If stuff still isn't working despite following all these other steps, then the next thing to do is to plug your monitor into a different computer. If it works, on the second computer then you know the problem is with your computer, and if it doesn't then you know the problem is with the monitor. As another step you may try a different monitor into your computer to see if the same problem occurs.
Well there you have it. A simple guide to making sure that your display is indeed defective and not just a connection issue. Thanks for reading, I hope it helps, and stay tuned for more!