Display Problem

[Josette]

Thank you for the additional thoughts.  I was thinking of asking if I could take it back to the place where he showed me how to open the case and this last time installed the video card.  After the initial installation he connected it and let the drivers install.  I assume I could connect it to a monitor there and wait for a while and see if it happens to his.

Taking my monitor to him, I suppose, would be another possibility, but the monitor is heavy and awkward.  I'm leery of trying to carry it down the stairs and out to the car.  It's tough enough just moving it over to a chair when I have to open the case!

The main thing is that this is an annoyance; it would be nice to have it fixed, but it isn't worth spending a lot of money or doing without it for a while.  If it's a symptom of something more serious, then I should have it fixed, but if it's just this, I might as well put up with it.  I wish there were a way to find out which it is.  I hope this repair person here will have some ideas.

What Gateway did this time was first, have me go to safe mode, and the lines were still there.  Then, she had me start up and go to the BIOS, and there were no lines.  That's when they decided it was on the motherboard.

Actually, the first one, a week or two ago (by now I've lost track of when anything happened!) was going to send a new monitor, but seemed to think the video card the more likely problem.

[victoriawinters]

My Dell laptop has a white line on the right side sort of mid-way down the picture.  Tested fine.  But, LCD monitors tend to loose pixels over time.  When I can't read it anymore, I'll replace it.  Meanwhile, I live with the pesky line.  It's my secondary computer anyway and it doesn't block anything I need to operate.

You might try taking your computer and testing it with another monitor.  That way you can sort out which is what.

There are so many times, too numerous to mention, when IT or computer personnel know nothing or can't figure it out.  Then, I just keep trying different solutions and most of the time come to the right one that resolves the situation.

Google on your monitor brand name and model number to see if you come accross a forum or if anyone has posted about the problem.  Many times, I get a solution this way. 

[Josette]

Thank you, Victoriawinters, for the additional suggestions.

The problem has been solved - it's definitely the monitor.  I asked the man at the repair shop who installed the video card about the more recent developments.  At first he said it sounded like the monitor, but then suggested I let them replace the motherboard.

Anyway, I figured it would be harder to carry the monitor, so I took the computer back to him and we tried it with a monitor there.  All was fine.  So, I took my monitor and it was immediately bad, and then tried it with one of his computers, and again it was bad.  So, we definitely determined that it's the monitor.

Gateway is sending a new one and I'm to send the video card back.

This is mostly a nuisance, so as long as nothing worse happens until the new one comes, I assume all's well.

Thanks to all who contributed to helping me.

[victoriawinters]

I'm glad you finally got to the bottom of the problem.