Can a monitor cause lockups?

[blueonblack]

My system has started the random lockup, just freezes with no warning and no error messages, requiring a power down to get it going again. The last time this happened the screen came up with the wrong resolution and now my display properties screen doesn't recognize my Acer monitor. It calls it a "Generic Non PnP monitor" and won't give me the proper resolution option for its size (1680x1050). The DVI port failed on it a few weeks back but it has been running fine on VGA.

If it were just the fail-to-recognize issue I'd be pretty sure it was the monitor but I've never seen a monitor cause a system to freeze. Has anyone else?

I'll be getting a spare monitor to test it this weekend but I thought I'd ask the masses if anyone has seen this happen while I'm in testing limbo.

[slaveofconvention]

I've never personally come across a monitor causing system crashes. I can't see how it can, not if you're connected via the blue 15pin D-sub VGA connector - that's strictly one way stuff. Some devices use the DVI connector for limited 2 way data transfer.

Having said that, I may have seen almost every possible problem in the years I've been doing hardware stuff, but I'm in no way confident enough to say I can be sure....

[blueonblack]

Actually, I'm using a DVI-VGA adapter as my video card only has DVI output and now my monitor only has VGA input.

[Indybird]

Actually this happened to me with one of my friends computers; you wouldn't believe how long it took me to figure that out...

-Indybird

[blueonblack]

This was evidently the case, as I've been running a loaner for a few days and not only was it properly recognized but I've had no lockups since. :D

Now to figure out how to score that new wall-sized monitor....

[Diamon]

I don't think a monitor can cause lockups. In this case it's probably a compability issue between the GPU and/or its drivers, wheather you use onboard graphics or an add-in card.

[blueonblack]

I doubt that very much. The monitor worked with the same hardware configuration for quite a while. Then the DVI port on the monitor quit. Subsequently the hard drive was wiped and Windows and all drivers were reinstalled. No change, but it worked perfectly well on the VGA port through a VGA-DVI adapter off of the video card, and through the same adapter from the onboard DVI as well as straight from the onboard VGA. There was no difference at all in the situation whether I was using my ATI card or the onboard video.

The lockups started shortly after that, and shortly after that Windows stopped recognizing my monitor as an Asus 22-inch widescreen and wouldn't give me proper resolution options.

I swapped it for an HP 17-inch LCD and all the problems went away. Windows recognizes it, the resolution options are correct and I've not had a single lockup since, even though I haven't made a single change in any software at all.

Through all that, the only constant in the equation was the monitor. I'll have another system together soon that I can use to test it, but I've got no reason to think it will work any better.

[msmrx57]

Sounds like something on the board of the monitor died, but doesn't sound like a capacitor issue. How old is the monitor, is it still under any warranty?

[Luke122]

Does the monitor have the same behaviour on another system? If so, troubleshooting is completed, monitor is culprit, discard.

[blueonblack]

Sounds like something on the board of the monitor died, but doesn't sound like a capacitor issue. How old is the monitor, is it still under any warranty?

The monitor is out of warranty, but I mod things way too much to even consider warranties any more to be honest. This one has had the wall-mounts drilled and retapped to fit screws I had on hand when I first got it. Modded and warranty voided the day it arrived at my house. :)

[msmrx57]

The monitor is out of warranty, but I mod things way too much to even consider warranties any more to be honest. This one has had the wall-mounts drilled and retapped to fit screws I had on hand when I first got it. Modded and warranty voided the day it arrived at my house. :)

Well then tear into it and see if you can mod it back into a functioning monitor. :D