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parsec
Moderator Group Joined: 04 May 2015 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 4996 |
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Unfortunately, things break. It would be great if the longer a device functioned normally, that in turn meant the chances of it continuing to work increased along with its working lifespan. Alas, that is not the case. Electronic devices give us very little if any warning before a component fails. Which brings us to the modern day cliche, "It was working fine but suddenly broke". Exactly how it is. "It still works without a problem, except.... ". No, it has a problem now, otherwise you would not be looking for a solution to a non-problem.
Well, if you can't try one of the monitors from one of the other two computers on the PC system that has the display issue, you cannot demonstrate that the Acer monitor is not at fault.
You just described a perfect Catch 22 situation. If that was correct, how could the Intel video source ever be used? Consider, when you install Windows, do you install a video driver during the installation? When Windows starts for the first time after the installation is complete, what video driver is it using? The answer is a video driver "native" or built in to Windows. When you disconnect your video card (no cables connected to it) and connect the cable to the Intel graphics on the mother board's IO panel, even without clearing the BIOS/CMOS, Windows should detect it needs to load a driver for the new video device. If it does not do so, pressing the Reset button will give it another chance to do so. Otherwise, a CMOS/BIOS clear is required.
Perhaps it is best to stick with the wrong resolution, if you allow this situation to anger you to the point of inducing a stroke. Do you own the equipment, or does the equipment own you? Yes, nothing beats the hands on approach, if I was there we could check if that monitor is at fault in a few minutes. |
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rossdorn
Newbie Joined: 13 Jun 2015 Status: Offline Points: 29 |
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Once more, Parsec,
?žElectronic devices give us very little if any warning before a component fails. Which brings us to the modern day cliche, "It was working fine but suddenly broke". Exactly how it is.??/p>
Sadly, that is not the point. The problem is not that something broke, the problem is that its cause cannot be pinpointed. It can be the monitor, it can be the videocard, it can be one of several drivers, and one of several used firmwares, it can be the videocard, it can be the SSD or it can be Win 7.
?žWell, if you can't try one of the monitors from one of the other two computers on the PC system that has the display issue, you cannot demonstrate that the Acer monitor is not at fault.??/p>
I HAVE tried them, all of them work, but none of them can test 1680x1050 for me. I need to test an identical monitor, which then might show, that there is actually nothing wrong with the first one?
I remember trying the display on both the VGA sockets and only one of them, the Nvidia, which I used ever since, worked even then. I saw no reasón to assume that this was not normal. So the motherboard did not work correctly from the very beginning? But that would be another issue, right? Beause the problem itself did not arise until three years later??/p> Well... what to do.... |
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Xaltar
Moderator Group Joined: 16 May 2015 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 24653 |
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Sadly, as Parsec insinuated there is only so much we can do to help you on a forum. Troubleshooting is somewhat of an art form. Often times testing methodology takes a back seat to gut feeling when you have been doing it for a while and on a forum, lacking the ability to look at the problem first hand, it is very difficult to find a gremlin. All we can do is talk you through some troubleshooting steps as to where we suspect the problem could be. If any of those steps are followed incorrectly or missed out it renders the entire process moot.
If I were to come to your aid in person I would have brought a laptop or netbook with me and tested your monitor at the desired resolution on that. If there was a problem with it it would immediately become evident. The next step if the monitor checked out would be to try and get your iGPU to work by clearing CMOS after removing the dedicated GPU. If that proved impossible then it would identify the motherboard or CPU as the fault. At this point I would remove, carefully clean and reinstall your CPU after checking for bent/damaged pins on the motherboard. If this did not resolve the iGPU problem then the entire system would be taken back to my workshop so I could test the CPU on another board and determine if the motherboard or CPU is at fault and then replace the offending component (likely motherboard as CPUs tend not to be the culprit). It all seems so simple written down this way but its the things that happen during each step that are difficult/impossible to translate to a forum medium such as: I sit down at your PC and smell burned electronics, I investigate and determine your PSU is damaged. Replace the PSU and the problem persists. Further inspection reveals that the damaged PSU caused damage to the motherboard... As you can see there are many variables to encompass. At this point, based on the information you have provided and the steps Parsec and I put you through your problem could be, in order of likelihood: 1. Screen fault 2. Bent pins on the motherboard CPU socket or poor CPU connection. 3. Power Supply Unit (this last one only because a faulty PSU can cause all kinds of random havok and it should be tested or replaced only if items 1 and 2 prove not to be the fault.) Given that the problem occurred over time I would say the screen is likely the problem, nothing else makes sense. LCD monitors save specific data for each resolution so it is possible a single resolution may be corrupt or damaged while others appear to work correctly. Now the iGPU problem I believe is a separate issue that has been in place since the system was built. It could easily be as a result of bent pins or improper CPU seating into the socket. If you could provide the monitor Brand an model number I will take a look and see how to reset it to its factory settings and clear any potentially corrupted resolution information. I am afraid that is the last thing I can think of to help you without physically being there. Good stuff sticking with it, this is how we learn |
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rossdorn
Newbie Joined: 13 Jun 2015 Status: Offline Points: 29 |
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Hello xaltar, I did not expect you to be around still... Thanks for putting it all together for me, once again.
What is hard for me to understand is this double sympton. When I simply pull out power and VAG cable from the monitor, and connect it to my wife's computer, also Win 7, its the exact same problem at 1680x1050, the native resolution. That would normally mean, it is the monitors problem, right? But, back at my computer (where the picture is only, but always centered at 1600x1200) NO MATTER what resolution is set, the very first start up picture, MSRock, is ALWAYS moved to the left.... no matter monitor is connected.... Now that is a puzzle to me, but.... You two did what was possible and I thank you for it, I think I will do the reasonable thing, leave the 1600x1200 resolution, so I can use the monitor and wait till it either breaks down completely, or... by a miracle goes back to normal.. So, what to do, but to wish a good day... PS You live in Bulgaria? In the 70s I drove through Bulgaria and Sofia several times on my way to Turkey, lovely country side, but then, I was only driving through, did you live there in the "old" days? |
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Xaltar
Moderator Group Joined: 16 May 2015 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 24653 |
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I moved here in 2006 My wife is Bulgarian so it was a natural choice to come here for us to raise a family. It really is beautiful here.
Now that you have tested the monitor on another PC and it had the same problem we can be certain the monitor is the problem The Asrock logo being off center is not a problem with the PC, again, the monitor saves settings for each resolution including positional data so obviously that resolution is not set correctly in the monitor setup One last thing we can try, give me the make and model of your monitor so I can find how to reset it to factory defaults (unless you already know how). If it is just a corrupted buffer in the monitor then it may resolve it.
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rossdorn
Newbie Joined: 13 Jun 2015 Status: Offline Points: 29 |
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Last night I put "ACER X223W" in Youtube as a last gamble and found many posts, and among them one that had the same problem and also used NVidia. THere, in the Control Panel, under "scaling", and I still have no idea what scaling means, there are three possibilities to click offered: Aspect ratio, no scaling and full screen. The YouTube video suggested setting it from the normal "no-scaling" to full screen. I did...
And now the display works normally again... It is so complicated to get to that control panel, so no way can this be changed by accident. And they told me that "no scaling" was normal and for GAMING it is set to 1600x1200, but had not updated anything for months and so why and what and how is a puzzle, and no one knows what changed the setting, if it indeed was changed.... So, in the end I got lucky, and it saved me from buying an new monitor. I guess, as you write, the monitor needed to be set to factory defaults, but the acer menu offers no choice for that and it is not possible to contact the company per e-mail. So, all right then, have a nice sunday and thank you for everything |
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Xaltar
Moderator Group Joined: 16 May 2015 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 24653 |
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You are most welcome Rossdorn
Glad to see you have your problem sorted now
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parsec
Moderator Group Joined: 04 May 2015 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 4996 |
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I'm glad you figured this all out, although a question remains which may be an aside at this point. What suddenly caused the need to adjust the scaling in order to get the image centered on the screen correctly. I was unaware that you had tried the other monitors you have with the apparently original offending PC, as well as the Acer monitor on the other PCs. Did I miss that or did you mention that for the first time in your post above? This test was critical IMO, but could not be accomplished given the resolutions you had available on those monitors. I fell into the trap of assuming one or more of your monitors had higher resolutions available, as I do in my world. That is a debugging 101 mistake. Frankly, when I look back on our suggestions, we (I) failed to ask how you were changing the resolution of your display. I assume now that was via the Windows Display option in Control Panel. Also, the fix you found in the Nvidia Control Panel software should have been an obvious suggestion on our part. Then you had this phenomenon: "But, back at my computer (where the picture is only, but always centered at 1600x1200) NO MATTER what resolution is set, the very first start up picture, MSRock, is ALWAYS moved to the left.... no matter monitor is connected...." That occurs at the "very first start up picture" because the default resolution that had the problem was active at that point. The adjusted resolution that did not have the problem became active only after the video card had fully woken up and changed to the non-default resolution. My theories about the sudden cause of this problem are either an automatic Windows update of the Nvidia video driver caused an incompatibility with the default scaling settings and that Acer monitor, or the monitor itself deteriorated a small amount and required the change of the scaling option. I'm starting to lean towards the former. |
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Xaltar
Moderator Group Joined: 16 May 2015 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 24653 |
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I was thinking it was probably a refresh rate change or some such, either way the problem seems to have been resolved, at least for the time being
I can't believe I missed checking refresh rates and such in my suggestions Thank you for your patience Rossdorn and I hope you continue to visit the forums for more discussions and info
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rossdorn
Newbie Joined: 13 Jun 2015 Status: Offline Points: 29 |
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Look, guys, for someone with my experience in forums... this has been a pleasure.
And on top of it, it was only because of your continuing attempts to help, that I kept on looking and only by sheer luck I found the solution to the riddle, on YouTube of all places. I might have tried other things, like buying another display and have been really p....off with myself for having wasted the money... So, thanks and keep up the good work |
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