Strange Monitor Problem... (1 Viewer)

[Jeremy Allin]

OK, I was called to fix a monitor problem for a friend, but I'm having little luck. I'll explain the situation as best I can, any ideas would be appreciated.
The computer is running Win98 (Second Edition). The bootup process starts fine, right up until the Win98 splash screen. The monitor then does a soft shutdown (colour changes from green to yellow), just like when you shut the computer right off but don't shut off the monitor by yourself. After this, Windows seems to be loading up fine as the startup sound comes out of the speakers.
I flipped the monitor off manually, then back on. When it comes on, it's nothing but a mess of wavy lines, scrolling like mad - in short, nothing is distinguishable.
The owner informed me that she had changed the colour settings from High Colour (16 bit) to 256 colours when she installed Scrabble that came in a box of cereal. After that, this problem has persisted.
Any ideas, guys? Keep in mind that I can see nothing in Windows at this point. :frowning:
Thanks!

 

[John*Jones]

Hey Jeremy, I'm no expert but I recall screwing with the display settings and experiencing a similar problem. I booted up in safe mode (hit the F8 key when booting) and was able to change back the display settings there. I can't garauntee this will work, but hey i'ts a suggestion

 

[Chad Ellinger]

Yeah, it sounds like the display settings got set to something invalid. Adjust them in safe mode, then see if you can get the correct monitor driver installed (Plug and Play Monitor works for most modern monitors) so that only compatible settings are allowed.

 

[Jeremy Allin]

Thanks, guys!
I don't know why I didn't try safe mode, but I'll head back over to her house this morning and give it a whirl!

 

[ThomasL]

It's very likely with Windows that the game installed its own video card drivers. I had the same thing happen with a game under Windows 95 with my sister's kids a number of years back. Caused no end of aggravation on Christmas day until I realized what the game had done. Definitely boot up in safe mode which should use the generic/standard VGA driver. Once there, you can check the video settings and you may have to re-install the video card driver or let Windows do it for you via plug 'n pray errr...plug 'n play
good luck,
--tom

 

[John_Berger]

he owner informed me that she had changed the colour settings from High Colour (16 bit) to 256 colours when she installed Scrabble that came in a box of cereal. After that, this problem has persisted.

Discounting hardware failure, those problems are just about guaranteed to be a refresh rate and/or resolution setting that is incompatible with the monitor.
The best thing that you can do to try to prevent this is to tell Windows exactly what kind of monitor it is. Don't rely on a "Plug and Play Monitor" setting because Win 9x fails miserably in the proper detection of refresh rates and resolutions, even if the monitors are relatively new. Under Display Properties --> Settings --> Advanced --> Monitor, tell Windows EXACTLY (or closely enough) which monitor you are using. That will give Windows its restrictions on frequency, resolution, and refresh rates that the monitor is capable of displaying.

 

[Eric Kahn]

I had this very thing happen to me, you need to reload the video card drivers into windows because it is trying to output a resolution that the card no longer supports so it is sending no signal at all, the start up splash is in the lowest resolution which all cards default to when no drivers have been loaded