old pc, W10 help

[pdg]

In the mean time, what sort of smartphone do you have? Honestly most of them have better cameras than laptops do these days anyway.

The computer isn't a laptop, it's a desktop so has no camera built in.

Editing video on a phone is an exercise in frustration.

Even if I shot a video with my phone, I'd export it to a real computer for editing.

 

[pdg]

Unfortunately, there's no easy way for him to install the driver pack until he can get in to the desktop. I think there is a very good chance that installing the driver pack will fix the problem, but he can't do it with the machine in this state.

I pretty much assumed he'd have installed the drivers as part of stage one of OS install.

I'm probably wrong about that in hindsight...

 

[hoshin1600]

update:

here is some more details
its a dell monitor model # 2001FP if that means anything to anyone.

so i hooked up the monitor to my lap top that has Vista on it. the screen is not split in half like the PC but the resolution is not great. the monitor works fine for 2 to 5 seconds then goes black. if you power down the monitor then back up you get a few seconds of display before it goes black. if i unplug the monitor from the laptop and/ or the PC you get this screen saver icon that moves around.

this seems to work fine. it doesnt go black. at one point of powering up and down and pressing buttons at random i got a small pop up window saying something about power saver mode. so i am now wondering if the monitor itself is going to a black screen saver type mode after a few seconds. within those few precious seconds i was able to access the monitor adjustment screen and press the return to factory settings button but it didnt change anything.
so it seems there are two issues going on at the moment one is the black screen of the monitor and the second is the Windows 10 creating a spit screen image. if i can get another monitor i will try hooking it up to the PC and see what happens.

 

[MetalBoar]

update:

here is some more details
its a dell monitor model # 2001FP if that means anything to anyone.

so i hooked up the monitor to my lap top that has Vista on it. the screen is not split in half like the PC but the resolution is not great. the monitor works fine for 2 to 5 seconds then goes black. if you power down the monitor then back up you get a few seconds of display before it goes black. if i unplug the monitor from the laptop and/ or the PC you get this screen saver icon that moves around.
View attachment 21733

this seems to work fine. it doesnt go black. at one point of powering up and down and pressing buttons at random i got a small pop up window saying something about power saver mode. so i am now wondering if the monitor itself is going to a black screen saver type mode after a few seconds. within those few precious seconds i was able to access the monitor adjustment screen and press the return to factory settings button but it didnt change anything.
so it seems there are two issues going on at the moment one is the black screen of the monitor and the second is the Windows 10 creating a spit screen image. if i can get another monitor i will try hooking it up to the PC and see what happens.

Yep, sounds like the monitor has problems. It is interesting that it lasted long enough to get through an install and then died, but that does sound like the symptoms of a bad monitor and heat can easily kill and LCD monitor so maybe not super surprising. Unless you like to solder and are a handy electronics bench tech it's probably toast. There are worse things to have go out, but obviously you can't do much without one.

 

[jobo]

Well, that speaks volumes as to your level of comprehension.

I put a graphics card in which needs a supplementary supply, which the PSU doesn't have.

Ergo, it now needs one, but doesn't have one.

Not everyone treats a computer like a kitchen appliance.

Well you should have fitted the correct card or even better just left it alone

 

[jobo]

update:

here is some more details
its a dell monitor model # 2001FP if that means anything to anyone.

so i hooked up the monitor to my lap top that has Vista on it. the screen is not split in half like the PC but the resolution is not great. the monitor works fine for 2 to 5 seconds then goes black. if you power down the monitor then back up you get a few seconds of display before it goes black. if i unplug the monitor from the laptop and/ or the PC you get this screen saver icon that moves around.
View attachment 21733

this seems to work fine. it doesnt go black. at one point of powering up and down and pressing buttons at random i got a small pop up window saying something about power saver mode. so i am now wondering if the monitor itself is going to a black screen saver type mode after a few seconds. within those few precious seconds i was able to access the monitor adjustment screen and press the return to factory settings button but it didnt change anything.
so it seems there are two issues going on at the moment one is the black screen of the monitor and the second is the Windows 10 creating a spit screen image. if i can get another monitor i will try hooking it up to the PC and see what happens.

Plug it into your telly ?

 

[hoshin1600]

Yep, sounds like the monitor has problems. It is interesting that it lasted long enough to get through an install and then died, but that does sound like the symptoms of a bad monitor and heat can easily kill and LCD monitor so maybe not super surprising. Unless you like to solder and are a handy electronics bench tech it's probably toast. There are worse things to have go out, but obviously you can't do much without one.

What makes you think the monitor is bad? When nothing is plugged in the test screen screen saver that I posted doesn’t cause the black screen and the initial dell logo at power up also works fine.

 

[MetalBoar]

Normally, when a monitor shuts off after just a couple of seconds it means that its gone bad, especially if it does the same thing on 2 different computers and you were able to do a factory reset.

I missed the part where it gives you the screen saver/test pattern without shutting down if it's unplugged. It's still troubling that you get the same behavior both places, but my first reaction to this would be to check the monitor cable on both ends to make sure there aren't any bent pins or lint or anything in ends and then make sure you really get both ends of the monitor cable seated fully when you plug it back in. If that doesn't help I'd see if you have or know someone who'd loan you another cable and test it with that.

 

[pdg]

Well you should have fitted the correct card or even better just left it alone

And again, lack of comprehension.

There's no such thing as "the correct card", and leaving it alone would mean a pile of components.

This is what I mean about treating a computer like a kitchen appliance...

If you buy a toaster you get a complete appliance.

If you buy a laptop or a pc from pcworld you get a complete appliance.

On the other hand, you can get a motherboard, ram, a graphics card, a sound card, a case, a psu, a cooling solution, a drive or two - then put it together to make an appliance.

The latter is what I'm doing with parts I have on hand or obtained second hand, and I'd rather spend a few hours here and there doing that over buying an internet toaster.

 

[pdg]

What makes you think the monitor is bad? When nothing is plugged in the test screen screen saver that I posted doesn’t cause the black screen and the initial dell logo at power up also works fine.

The monitor self test isn't the same as feeding it a video signal...

The fact it's doing the same thing with a functioning laptop is something of a clue. The monitor itself doesn't need drivers, but the card does. The laptop should have this sorted if it's working.

The split screen thing - you said black vertical line - was that like a narrow band or a third of the screen? Either way, that can be a driver issue.

One of my monitors goes into power saver between the splash screen and the login screen, but it wakes up for login and stays awake...

Just going black, unless you're getting the power saver message that's something else.

 

[pdg]

Oh, @hoshin1600 - have you tried booting in safe mode yet?

And how are you connecting it - hd15 / DVI?

 

[Gerry Seymour]

But it worked with Windows 7,,, see above

To me, that implies an issue with either the video driver in Win10, or an issue with the video card that isn't (at least often) hit upon by the way Win7 uses the card. There may be a different instruction being used by Win10 that hits the problem area.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

To me, that implies an issue with either the video driver in Win10, or an issue with the video card that isn't (at least often) hit upon by the way Win7 uses the card. There may be a different instruction being used by Win10 that hits the problem area.

With the additional information of the monitor not working on the laptop, either, I suspect - as others have said - there's an issue with the monitor. As Click and Clack (Car Talk) often reminded us, sometimes things just go wrong coincident with a new event, without the new event being particularly at fault. The Win10 installation both stressed the monitor differently, and introduced a new driver. Either of those could trigger an existing problem in the monitor.

 

[hoshin1600]

Update:
I borrowed a newer monitor and Abracadabra everything works fine.
One problem down. Now I need a new monitor.
Since I am looking to edit and create video content, any suggestions on a monitor?

 

[Martial D]

Update:
I borrowed a newer monitor and Abracadabra everything works fine.
One problem down. Now I need a new monitor.
Since I am looking to edit and create video content, any suggestions on a monitor?

My last 3 have been BENQ LED monitors. Never had an issue, great quality.

 

[pdg]

Update:
I borrowed a newer monitor and Abracadabra everything works fine.
One problem down. Now I need a new monitor.
Since I am looking to edit and create video content, any suggestions on a monitor?

Something big.

Decent resolution.

Preferably 2 of them...

Second can be smaller, but it's unbelievably nice to have the toolbars on the smaller screen so you're not covering parts of the image with them.

Apart from that, the badge doesn't make a huge difference (mainly, there is still crap about).

I'd look used, the one you had fail is honestly an anomaly these days.

 

[dvcochran]

Not all computers, will run Windows 10, it must be at least 5 years old, out Windows 7 back on, if it works leave it alone,

Nb, you have downloaded a 64 bit version of Windows 10 ???

@jobo could be on to something. Check to see which version your PC is. Windows will let you load both 32 and 64 bit versions on the same PC so you can have two hard drive partitions running different versions. You got soaked paying $150 for the 10 download. Sorry.
Did you do a clean install or an upgrade? If you paid $150 you should have the full version. Try a clean (destructive) install and maybe that will snap things pack in order. It is a long shot but if the monitor is using a USB port, try another one to see if the one you are using is bad. Or, if you have a USB monitor, try it.

 

[pdg]

@jobo could be on to something. Check to see which version your PC is. Windows will let you load both 32 and 64 bit versions on the same PC so you can have two hard drive partitions running different versions. You got soaked paying $150 for the 10 download. Sorry.
Did you do a clean install or an upgrade? If you paid $150 you should have the full version. Try a clean (destructive) install and maybe that will snap things pack in order. It is a long shot but if the monitor is using a USB port, try another one to see if the one you are using is bad. Or, if you have a USB monitor, try it.

Read above, a different monitor works fine and the original one doesn't work on anything...



(Oh, and for win10 I would have downloaded the iso free from the ms site and either lived with the "not activated" message or got a key from a scrap machine... But it's been spent now and at least it's (probably) fully legit.)

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Update:
I borrowed a newer monitor and Abracadabra everything works fine.
One problem down. Now I need a new monitor.
Since I am looking to edit and create video content, any suggestions on a monitor?

Something with HDMI (or DVI - same signal, just need an adapter) so you can easily use it with other PC's and laptops. If you're trying to get the best possible quality on your videos, you'll want a high-resolution monitor to work with. If (like me) you just want acceptable videos for YouTube and such, a mediocre monitor will probably suffice. For most other uses, bigger is definitely better. You can get a 24"-ish model for pretty cheap, so I'd be reluctant to go smaller than that for desktop use. I prefer they not have a glossy surface (some still do), as this creates glare which not only makes it harder to see, but increases eye strain.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Read above, a different monitor works fine and the original one doesn't work on anything...



(Oh, and for win10 I would have downloaded the iso free from the ms site and either lived with the "not activated" message or got a key from a scrap machine... But it's been spent now and at least it's (probably) fully legit.)

I buy from resellers for my virtual machines (to run other versions of MS Office for training), and pay ~$30 a copy, I think. It's probably mostly legit - they claim to be an authorized MS reseller (badge and all), and haven't been shut down in the year or so I've been buying from them.