No VGA Signal at Native Resolution

I have an HP a6130n desktop, running Windows Vista Home Premium
(32-bit), connected to an HP w17e monitor.

It has apparently been working well, but after the PC had been unplugged
for a hour or so, the user would lose video on startup. She could see
video during POST and Windows startup, but the screen would go black
right before the Welcome screen.

With the exception of the video, the PC appears to work normally -- you
can hear the startup sound, the hard drive works a bit, and it will
shutdown normally with a tap of the power button. The monitor LED shows
amber, which means no signal. Booting in Safe Mode produces video.

A problem, if not *the* problem, is that the system cannot produce video
when set to the native resolution of the monitor: 1440x900. Anything
less is fine. I've tried the driver that was on the machine, which was
probably from HP's factory install, as well as a fresh driver from nVidia.

Unfortunately, both of those drivers appear to default the screen
resolution to native, so I get no output. By uninstalling those
drivers, I can get the system to fall back to a more generic Microsoft
driver that defaults to 1024x768, and produces video. I can bump
resolution up to 1360x768 with no problems, but 1440x900 again earns me
a black screen.

I replaced the CMOS battery because of the odd emergence of this problem
after the system was unplugged, and because they cost $2. I was not
able to try a good, heavy VGA cable to see if that's causing a problem.

Other than the wild speculation about the VGA cable, do you have any
ideas as to what might be *the* problem?

Grinder wrote:
I have an HP a6130n desktop, running Windows Vista Home Premium
(32-bit), connected to an HP w17e monitor.

It has apparently been working well, but after the PC had been unplugged
for a hour or so, the user would lose video on startup. She could see
video during POST and Windows startup, but the screen would go black
right before the Welcome screen.

With the exception of the video, the PC appears to work normally -- you
can hear the startup sound, the hard drive works a bit, and it will
shutdown normally with a tap of the power button. The monitor LED shows
amber, which means no signal. Booting in Safe Mode produces video.

A problem, if not *the* problem, is that the system cannot produce video
when set to the native resolution of the monitor: 1440x900. Anything
less is fine. I've tried the driver that was on the machine, which was
probably from HP's factory install, as well as a fresh driver from nVidia.

Unfortunately, both of those drivers appear to default the screen
resolution to native, so I get no output. By uninstalling those
drivers, I can get the system to fall back to a more generic Microsoft
driver that defaults to 1024x768, and produces video. I can bump
resolution up to 1360x768 with no problems, but 1440x900 again earns me
a black screen.

I replaced the CMOS battery because of the odd emergence of this problem
after the system was unplugged, and because they cost $2. I was not
able to try a good, heavy VGA cable to see if that's causing a problem.

Other than the wild speculation about the VGA cable, do you have any
ideas as to what might be *the* problem?

The fact that it is VGA, takes all the fun out of it. There are more
ways for DVI/HDMI to screw up, than VGA.

Perhaps you could review the EDID the monitor is passing ?

http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/moninfo.shtm

Maybe the video card is delivering 1440x900 but
at the wrong refresh rate ?

Paul

On Mon, 31 May 2010 23:09:12 -0500, Grinder
wrote:

I have an HP a6130n desktop, running Windows Vista Home Premium
(32-bit), connected to an HP w17e monitor.

It has apparently been working well, but after the PC had been unplugged
for a hour or so, the user would lose video on startup. She could see
video during POST and Windows startup, but the screen would go black
right before the Welcome screen.

With the exception of the video, the PC appears to work normally -- you
can hear the startup sound, the hard drive works a bit, and it will
shutdown normally with a tap of the power button. The monitor LED shows
amber, which means no signal. Booting in Safe Mode produces video.

A problem, if not *the* problem, is that the system cannot produce video
when set to the native resolution of the monitor: 1440x900. Anything
less is fine. I've tried the driver that was on the machine, which was
probably from HP's factory install, as well as a fresh driver from nVidia.

Unfortunately, both of those drivers appear to default the screen
resolution to native, so I get no output. By uninstalling those
drivers, I can get the system to fall back to a more generic Microsoft
driver that defaults to 1024x768, and produces video. I can bump
resolution up to 1360x768 with no problems, but 1440x900 again earns me
a black screen.

I replaced the CMOS battery because of the odd emergence of this problem
after the system was unplugged, and because they cost $2. I was not
able to try a good, heavy VGA cable to see if that's causing a problem.

Other than the wild speculation about the VGA cable, do you have any
ideas as to what might be *the* problem?


I suspect I came across this issue a few weeks ago - but I
do not remember all the details.

Basically the video is detecting the monitor as a TV and
going into a mode (480i?) the monitor can't support. It
does this when windows finishes booting because that is when
the driver loads.


Why it is doing it now after the system was unplugged I
can't say unless there is a bios setting that was lost due
to a low battery.

Anyway, install the most recent driver from nvidia.com, boot
windows to vga mode from the boot menu (not safe mode which
may not give you the driver loaded so the control panel for
video is castrated), then go into the nvidia control panel
and set the monitor type to "digital" instead of (whatever
the other choice is, it seems like analog or tv would be the
other choice but the exact word it was I don't recall).

Next, reboot the system to normal mode (regular boot). I
wish I remembered more about the problem but I was really
busy that day. It might've been an nForce 2 chipset's
integrated video, I can't remember which system that was but
it may apply to more chipsets than just one.

On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 22:55:54 -0400, kony
wrote:

... then go into the nvidia control panel
and set the monitor type to "digital" instead of (whatever
the other choice is, it seems like analog or tv would be the
other choice but the exact word it was I don't recall).

Next, reboot the system to normal mode (regular boot).


Above I mean set it to digital even though it is an analog
output you are using.

However, I vaguely recall nVidia changed their control panel
with the very newest drivers, I was previously referring to
any driver with the 190 series control panel including what
you probably got from nvidia.com last time. It might've
been a setting in the TV setup wizard, I can't remember.
Just look around till you see a choice between digital and
something else with it defaulting to the something else and
set it to digital.

On 6/1/2010 9:55 PM, kony wrote:
On Mon, 31 May 2010 23:09:12 -0500, Grinder
wrote:

I have an HP a6130n desktop, running Windows Vista Home Premium
(32-bit), connected to an HP w17e monitor.

It has apparently been working well, but after the PC had been unplugged
for a hour or so, the user would lose video on startup. She could see
video during POST and Windows startup, but the screen would go black
right before the Welcome screen.

With the exception of the video, the PC appears to work normally -- you
can hear the startup sound, the hard drive works a bit, and it will
shutdown normally with a tap of the power button. The monitor LED shows
amber, which means no signal. Booting in Safe Mode produces video.

A problem, if not *the* problem, is that the system cannot produce video
when set to the native resolution of the monitor: 1440x900. Anything
less is fine. I've tried the driver that was on the machine, which was
probably from HP's factory install, as well as a fresh driver from nVidia.

Unfortunately, both of those drivers appear to default the screen
resolution to native, so I get no output. By uninstalling those
drivers, I can get the system to fall back to a more generic Microsoft
driver that defaults to 1024x768, and produces video. I can bump
resolution up to 1360x768 with no problems, but 1440x900 again earns me
a black screen.

I replaced the CMOS battery because of the odd emergence of this problem
after the system was unplugged, and because they cost $2. I was not
able to try a good, heavy VGA cable to see if that's causing a problem.

Other than the wild speculation about the VGA cable, do you have any
ideas as to what might be *the* problem?


I suspect I came across this issue a few weeks ago - but I
do not remember all the details.

Basically the video is detecting the monitor as a TV and
going into a mode (480i?) the monitor can't support. It
does this when windows finishes booting because that is when
the driver loads.


Why it is doing it now after the system was unplugged I
can't say unless there is a bios setting that was lost due
to a low battery.

Anyway, install the most recent driver from nvidia.com, boot
windows to vga mode from the boot menu (not safe mode which
may not give you the driver loaded so the control panel for
video is castrated), then go into the nvidia control panel
and set the monitor type to "digital" instead of (whatever
the other choice is, it seems like analog or tv would be the
other choice but the exact word it was I don't recall).

Next, reboot the system to normal mode (regular boot). I
wish I remembered more about the problem but I was really
busy that day. It might've been an nForce 2 chipset's
integrated video, I can't remember which system that was but
it may apply to more chipsets than just one.

The system in question is using an integrated GeForce 6150LE with a VGA
output.

On 6/1/2010 10:02 PM, kony wrote:
On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 22:55:54 -0400,
wrote:

... then go into the nvidia control panel
and set the monitor type to "digital" instead of (whatever
the other choice is, it seems like analog or tv would be the
other choice but the exact word it was I don't recall).

Next, reboot the system to normal mode (regular boot).


Above I mean set it to digital even though it is an analog
output you are using.

However, I vaguely recall nVidia changed their control panel
with the very newest drivers, I was previously referring to
any driver with the 190 series control panel including what
you probably got from nvidia.com last time. It might've
been a setting in the TV setup wizard, I can't remember.
Just look around till you see a choice between digital and
something else with it defaulting to the something else and
set it to digital.

Can do -- thanks.