[LiNo]

Last week outta nowhere my LCD Viewmaster monitor started turning itself off during operation (using XP). At the time turning it off then on again would bring it back to life, however on Friday that option stopped working. The screen would display for a microsecond in full colour, clear as day, then go black. Looking at the screen close up I can make out some of my icons and wallpaper but on the whole it's was super dark and unworkable.

Getting my hands on an old CRT monitor didn't help - when windows booted the monitor would turn itself off into standby mode - I was unable to even alter settings as nothing could be seen at all.

I took it to a local PC repair place and they installed some service packs or something and it works now on the CRT but not my LCD. I called them up and they said that I need to change the refresh rate in Display properties but when I go into display properties the option isn't there - it's all greyed out.

Monitor type comes up as default monitor, and in Device Manager there are no monitor controllers listed.

I am at a loss and don't want to format / reinstall if it means neither monitor will work again.

Any and all help is very appreciated as this is the first problem i've encountered since buying this PC 2 1/2 years ago.

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Do you get any difference if you boot the PC, keep tapping the F8 Key from the off until you get options screen then selecting safe mode

[Retired Tech]

Do you get any difference if you boot the PC, keep tapping the F8 Key from the off until you get options screen then selecting safe mode

[LiNo]

No difference in safe mode. The extra monitor options simply aren't clickable. Can't click on properties, or opt out of "use hardware default setting".

I also notice that I can only choose between 16 bit and 32 bit colour - shouldn't there be another option?

[Retired Tech]

You could possibly be missing 256 colours but you wouldn't want that over 16 or 32bit

Have you looked for a reset button on the LCD

Usually, safe mode would rule out the grahics card but you could look for new drivers or re-install the existing ones

[LiNo]

How can I add a new monitor, or make it so that windows doesn't grey out all the options in the Display Properties? It comes up only as default monitor.

When I boot I now notice that the Nvidia Geforce text comes up first, so my card is still active and all, but it's not listed in device drivers. even after installing the card through the manufacturer's CD, the problem still isn't rectified...

[Retired Tech]

Boot the PC and keep tapping the delete key right after the beep until it enters set up, look through for onboard graphics and disable this if it isn't already.

Device manager should show Nvidia for the display adapter, the monitor can be plug and play or have you looked for software on the manufacturers site

[LiNo]

I've downloaded the Nvidia drivers from their site but there are still no Display Adapters listed in Device Manager - very strange, I can't get it to show...