[NTLUG:Discuss] Video woes

[Dennis Myhand]

Steve Baker wrote:
> 
> Dennis Myhand wrote:
> 
> > I have a somewhat off-topic video question.  I have a system running a
> > Slackware variant.  I went to bed last night and it was fine.  I got up
> > this morning and the video seemed washed out.  Any white text was a
> > light blue in color.  Did I loose a video card in the night?  Or is this
> > more of a monitor problem?  Thanks, Dennis in Victoria
> 
> Sounds like you lost RED (White minus Red ==> Cyan...light blue).
> 
> Can you see any red anywhere on the screen?
> 
> If you aren't sure, surf over to this site:
> 
>    http://www.videouniversity.com/tvbars2.htm
> 
> ...the colour bars in the image at the top of the
> screen should look (from left to right):
> 
>    Grey, Yellow, Cyan, Green, Magenta, Red, Blue.
> 
> If you see:
> 
>    Dark blue/grey, Green, Cyan, Green, Blue, Black, Blue
> 
> then you lost Red - then it could be:
> 
>   1) A bad connection - try wiggling the video cable - you might
>      get lucky!
> 
>   2) A dead RAM in the video card (unlikely I'd say)...you needed
>      an excuse to pick up one of those sexy new GeForce 4 Ti 4600's
>      anyway!
> 
>   3) A monitor problem (more likely)...bad news  :-(
> 
> If there is *some* red - but it's dim - then it's unlikely to be the
> cable...but it's hard to tell whether it's the card or the monitor.
> 
> The very best way to diagnose this is to borrow another monitor and
> see whether the fault goes away.
> 
> One time (years ago) when I had a colour plane go out like that,
> I butchered an old video cable and crossed over the Red and Blue
> video signals.
> 
> Now, if the places that were once Red light up in brilliant Blue, and
> blue pixels go black (or dark red) you know that your monitor has a
> problem.  If places that were red stay dark and places that were blue
> show up in a nice, brilliant red - then you know that your graphics
> card has failed.
> 
> ----------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------------
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Well, you hit it on the head with the red being gone from the monitor.
I am back to using the old 14" monitor and things look fine.  Guess I
got the 17" flat screen to replace the 15" Phillips just in time for the
Phillips to cash in the chips.  Thanks for the input, Dennis in Victoria