[Brennan C.]

Hello, my fellow geeks! :-D

First things, first. My system specs:

My monitor is a Samsung SyncMaster 2043NW.
My system is a custom-build, assembled in August 2009.
I'm also dual-booting Ubuntu 10.10, though I haven't used it in a while; still fairly new to the whole Linux thing.

For the last few weeks, upon startup from a hibernation of a few hours or more, my monitor has taken upwards of three minutes to display anything. I know my system has started and is theoretically displaying the login screen, as I can enter my password, hit enter, and hear the Vista "login" sound; when my monitor eventually starts, it shows me logged in. However, until that happens, my monitor just sits there, flashing its little blue indicator light, and making these strange little squealing sounds in time with it.

I Googled the manual for my monitor, and this issue doesn't seem to be covered in there. I checked the drivers for my video card, and they're up to date. It actually automatically updated itself earlier last week, and I thought that would solve the problem. No dice.

Yesterday, I opened up my case to check and see if maybe my video card had become loose on the motherboard. I pulled it out and reseated it. On startup, my monitor ran normally. However, while my monitor started normally after brief hibernations (as it did before), hibernations of few hours or more still caused my monitor to be slow when starting.

I haven't checked to see if I have similar symptoms upon extended shutdowns (as opposed to hibernations), mainly because I'm worried I'll miss the GRUB dual-boot menu, and my system will boot automatically in Ubuntu; I'm worried about how this issue might expose itself in Ubuntu. However, I am going home for Christmas break on Tuesday, and will have to shut my system down when I leave, so if the problem isn't solved between now and then, I guess we'll find out when I come back to school in January.

Anyway, that's pretty much it. Please let me know if you have any insight, or if you need any more information; I'd really appreciate it. :-D

DFTBA,

- Brennan C.

[Neil Jones]

Try another monitor?

[Brennan C.]

Neil Jones, on 12 December 2010 - 03:08 PM, said:

Try another monitor?

Good suggestion, but I don't really have one lying around, right now.

I've also determined that shutdowns have the same effect. No real surprise, there.

[Neil Jones]

Seriously, your best bet is another monitor at this point. Beg or borrow a known working one.
This will tell you where the problem lies. If the problem goes away, it's your original monitor. If it's an issue with the base or the installation, the problem will continue regardless of the monitor.

[Brennan C.]

Hey, sorry for the delay in getting back to you on this. I was away on Christmas break.

So I came back and turned my computer on. My monitor took far too long to start up; I didn't time it, but it was definitely at least fifteen minutes. Since then, the delay time has been consistently as long, if not longer. I borrowed a monitor from my landlord the other day, and it gave picture as soon as I hooked it up to my system. This indicates a problem with the monitor, does it not? Is there anything I can do to fix this thing?

Please and thanks!

Oh, PS: When I turned on my system when I came home, it booted into Ubuntu with the same issue.

[Neil Jones]

So it's a monitor problem.

Almost all new monitors you get now come with three year warranties so you may find it's more beneficial to replace it than repair that one.

[Brennan C.]

Darn, I was afraid it would come to that. Alrighty, thanks for your help. :-D