[debodun]

A few weeks ago, I had a problem with my Dell FP monitor when I found the screen grayed out (I had turned on the desktop system and went to do something - when I came back, the monitor was just gray). I tried turning the monitor on and off several times, but couldn't view the desktop. I did some troubleshooting and swapped an old CRT monitor in place of the FP on the system I am currently using. The CRT worked fine. Then I connected the FP to an old desktop I have that was running Windows 98 and the monitor worked on that system, so I reconnected the FP to my current desktop (Windows 7 - 64 bit). It worked fine until yesterday. As soon as the desktop appeared on the monitor, it started to get a horizontal line near the bottom right corner, then slowly grayed out. I did the troubleshooting again - swapping an old CRT monitor in place of it, then hooking up the FP monitor to an old desktop. The FP worked there. I swapped the FP back to my current system and it worked about three hours and started to gray out again. Now I'm back on the CRT monitor. Here is a photo of what the FP screen looks like and the connector that goes to the computer.

 

BTW, the FP, which is over 15 years old (it came with my Windows 98 setup), has two captive cables - one connects to the monitor port on the back of the desktop - the other is a larger connector and I don't know what it's supposed to connect to.

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15 years? Wow! Consider yourself lucky that it worked that long. Sounds like it's on it's last leg and needs to be replaced.

[SpywareDr]

15 years? Wow! Consider yourself lucky that it worked that long. Sounds like it's on it's last leg and needs to be replaced.

[debodun]

I connected the FP monitor to the old Windows 98 computer and left it on for several hours. No problem. It seems to only be when it's connected to the Windows 7 computer. The CRT monitor I'm now using with the Windows 7 system has operated fine so far. So where could the problem be?

[SpywareDr]

<shrug> Dunno. Sounds like some incompatibility with the Windows 7 computer. If it's fine when Windows 7 is running in safe mode, it may be a software conflict or an incorrect setting somewhere. Do you have the resolution set correctly?

 

If it was working correctly with the Windows 7 computer fairly recently, try using Windows System Restore to roll Windows back to a point in time when your computer was functioning correctly. It allows you to undo system changes without affecting your personal files, such as e-mail, documents, or photos.

Video: Fixing a problem using System Restore

If that doesn't help, try restoring an earlier system image or backup.
 

[debodun]

I haven't changed anything to my knowledge and the FP monitor has worked with the Windows 7 system since I purchased it over 5 years ago.

[SpywareDr]

If it was working, and it isn't now, something must have changed.

[123Runner]

Are you connecting the FP to the 15 pin on the board or is it going to a separate graphics card?

The 15 pin you are showing is quite cruddy looking. So it could be the crud on the cable and corresponding crud on the female connector you are plugging in to that is creating a bad connection.

[debodun]

I plug it in the back of the computer in the port that fits it.

Edited by debodun, 17 September 2016 - 12:54 PM.