Starnge computer/monitor problem

Last week I was on my computer and the monitor (CRT) killed itself (which made all the lights go out). I tried replacing the fuse in the monitor and tried changing the power cable over to see if that was the problem but that didn't help. (The monitor was very old so I guess it gave up).

I decided just now to use my computer with the monitor for the computer which is down stairs. I have used it with this before and it worked, but now when I turned my computer on it started up normally and i could see the spash screen for the motherboard, the funny text that pops up and means something (not sure what yet) and the WindowsXP loading screen...then as it is about to display the XP login screen it turns the monitor to stand by. I try moving the mouse, hitting the keyboard and turning the montior off and on but none of this helps. I then tried it a few more times checking that the cable between the monitor and pc was properly attached and it was.

Has anyone had anythign similar happen? Could the montiors suicide attempt have damaged my graphics card some how?

Thanks for any help you ca give
Matt

Can you get into 'Safe Mode'? If so, I'd double check the Display Settings and the monitor settings.

Most likely the computer is trying to switch to a refresh rate that is higher than what the monitor supports. Pretty much all monitors switch off when they detect a non-supported resolution or refreshrate, rather than risk damaging the electronics.

Most monitors will show you an 'out of sync' error message on the screen, but not all do.

If you're running a high-ish resolution or refreshrate, there's a good chance that an older monitor won't be able to support the same settings, and goes to standby when you try to use it. You'll have to change your system settings to something that will work, but since you can't see what you're doing that involves going into safe mode:

To start up in safe mode, start pressing F8 just before the XP loading screen normally comes up. That way XP will start with a minimal set of drivers and standard settings, which means that the display adapter should stay at 640x480 at 60Hz which is pretty much supported by every single monitor out there.

You can then go into your display settings and apply a low refresh rate, and also select a low resolution.

Reboot again in normal mode, and most likely the screen should stay working.

alternatively, you can also download a driver disk for your monitor from the manufacturer's website, although really all that is is a small configuration file which tells the computer what resolutions and refreshrates the monitor will support. You can accomplish the same by manually picking a low(er) refreshrate.

After you are back in normal mode and can see what you're doing, you can gradually increase your resolution and/or refreshrate again until you figure out what the maximum is that it will support. If the screen goes black after switching, just wait 15 seconds without typing anything, and windows will revert to the previous refreshrate.

I got into safe mode. The display settings were the same and it said there was no problem with my graphic card drivers.

did you make sure to (re)select low settings, and apply them? Most likely it will continue to work after a reboot into 'normal' mode.

Alternatively, you can remove your display drivers so windows boots up in standard VGA again (640x480x16 colors), and re-install the video drivers... But that's a bit messy, of course.