Slight burning smell now screen goes black after a few seconds...help?

cpu

Happily downloading and surfing when I get a faint burning smell and my screen goes black.

I reset the pc and it seems to load ok but each new screen (i.e. windows initial load screen, user select screen) only shows for a second or two then goes black and screen stays black thereafter.

Opened pc up and nothing appears untoward. Could it be the graphics card has burnt out? It's only been replaced less than a year ago. If not that, any suggestions as to what it could be?

TIA

johnmc

Ehm ......... hope you've got fire insurance!

You've obviously got alternative internet access. Try the suspect monitor on that. If you still get the same thing either replace the monitor or leave it on and claim off the insurance :-) [JOKING, honest!]

It may be the graphics card. I would first check the air throughput on the power supply and the PSU fan.

You can also go into the BIOS and check the hardware temperature.

Good luck, but any smell of burning and turn the machine OFF at the mains.

Zahc

It's difficult diagnosing from afar, but if you have on board graphics as well as a graphics card (most PCs do), I'd connect my monitor to that which, if you get a picture and it stays, would point to the fact that your card has let go.

Zahc

(and what johnmc says!)

cpu

Thanks guys. I'm on the laptop and I don't seem to have the right connections to hook up the monitor to it.

Also there is no other available connection point on the back of the pc to try to hook the monitor to so even if it did have on board graphics, I don't know how to try that out.

I'm going to uplug the monitor and lug it next door to try to connect it to neighbour's pc so that should tell me if it's the monitor or the pc.

:beer:

cpu

Looks like my monitor is gone. Wont work on other pc and I got a shot of another monitor to try on my pc and so far (5 mins) it seems to be ok.

Thanks for help.

tawnyowls

Sounds as if the display setting was set too high for the monitor to cope with and it's burnt itself out. Leave it for a day or two, then try again, having first set the PC at the lowest resolution (prob 800 x 600). If that works, try setting it at a higher res. If you can't get it to start at all, then I suggest you follow johnmc's suggestion and ring your insurance company.

xycom1

If it's a flat panel monitor then it sounds like one of the components on the backlight circuit have gone - I had exactly the same problem with a Toshiba laptop (after switch on, display works OK for a while then just goes black - if you point a torch at it, you can still see the display but because the backlight isn't lit, it doesn't appear without extra light on the screen).

Solution was to set it up as a desktop PC - i.e. plug a new external monitor into it.

cpu

Update and new query: monitor was still under warranty and company said something had burned out, picked up the faulty one and sent out a replacement (refurbished).

Refurbished one arrived with a missing back panel, a damaged base (so the monitor sat at an angle) and the menu buttons wouldn't work.

Called company to complain and after some to-ing and fro-ing with complaint phone calls, they are sending out a new one (not a refurb) and a slightly better model as an upgrade to make up for the hassle.

Problem is, I was just packing the refurb back up for return and tried the buttons again and they seem to be working now. I'm a bit concerned that the company think I was lying about this fault, just to get a better monitor from them. (I'm not btw.)

The monitor had sat for about 4 hours to acclimatise to room temperature and it had been switched on and running for aout 6 hours and the buttons still were not working, so why would they start working now (the following day) all of a sudden? The monitor had been switched on for hours when I tried them again, so I don't know if they only work when the monitor has been on for a while or if they would have worked from cold (pc switch on).

Is there a reasonable explanation for this kind of thing happening, or is it one of those weird unexplainable things that I can't prove happened and is going to look as if I was making it all up? I don't even know if they will work properly from now on in or if it's an erratic thing and they may become unresponsive again.

The monitor still has it's other problems so I would still be pushing for it to be returned, I just don't like feeling or looking like I was lying when I most definately was not. I don't know whether to tell the company or whether to just play ignorant and pretend I didn't try them again after the first night, so as far as I was aware, they were still not working.

I'm no angel but I don't feel good about being less than upfront. I'd be happier if I thought it could be an erratic fault, but I have a feeling this kind of problem wouldn't be erratic?

Thoughts please?

albertross_2

I'd tell what happened if they ask, lot's of "refurbed" stuff is just recycled, pulled off a shelf somewhere, so maybe this was returned from someone else with an intermittent fault, and never fixed. If it has bits of case missing, they are going to have to sort that out anyway.

John_LG

I'm with Albertross on this, own up if you like, but don't feel guilty - a bit of a cheek to send you a refurb anyway, especially if it has cosmetic damage. As you send it back, make sure you have a covering letter, you can mention the intermittant fault then, to save you being passed around on the phone. You've been open, and you get your new monitor. Good luck!