VGA : No Signal issues

[Valiea]

Hi, I am having issues with my monitor (recently more-so than ever) saying "Monitor going to sleep" at which point I can do nothing to make it active again, and when I turn it (the monitor) off and then back on it reads VGA : No Signal at the top.

I am using :

Compaq q2009 Monitor

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560

Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 @ 2.93 GHz

8GB ram

DX 11

OS - Windows 7 Home Prem. 64-bit

Asus P5QL-VM DO MoBo

My question is, how do I fix this annoying issue, why is it doing this, and what can I do to prevent this in the future?

[Creotor]

A workaround might be changing your Power Options in Control Panel so that your monitor never gets turned off. Not a real solution, but if it works, it'll at least keep you happy until you find one.

Does taking out the cable and plugging it back in do anything or do you have to reboot to get it to work?

[Valiea]

The problem isn't when I leave the computer alone it goes asleep and then won't wake up. It's that it goes to sleep while I'm doing stuff right here and then won't wake up. I did just set it to never go to sleep so we'll see how that goes.

---------- Post added 2012-01-02 at 11:31 PM ----------

Forgot to mention my Demon 580 POWMAX Power Supply.

[Deleted]

Can you try with a different VGA cable?

[Dazzy]

If it's going to sleep while you're using it, it's a monitor problem, it's going bad and it's MUCH cheaper to buy a new one than having it fixed, sorry.

With a vga cable it's either 100% or 0% (except for the 3 color pins), if any other signal is missing it won't work at all, period. If it was a color pin, you'd be missing a color.

[Deleted]

It could just be wiggeling loose so that the monitor turns off.

[Valiea]

Could it be that my Demon POWMAX 580 can't supply all the stuff inside my rig?

[Midnight Man]

I'm not sure exactly what version/manufacturer of the GTX560 card you have - I have a GTX570 here, and it doesn't have a VGA output - only HDMI and 2 x DVI. Question is, are you using a DVI to VGA converter, and if so, do you have access to a spare to swap out with to test? Ditto for the cable itself.

Looking at the specs of the monitor you have, it seems a little under-suited to the rest of your rig (I don't mean this in any way to offend etc, please don't misunderstand!). Do you have access to another monitor to test with?

I think we really would need to eliminate one of the three possible causes - monitor, cable or PC. The easiest way to do that is slow and selective swapping out of whatever you can (borrow from family or friend), from there, once the cause is known, the fix is readily apparent and achievable

[Valiea]

I am using the MSI card and yes, a DVI to VGA converter. I have already tried swapping the converter piece and do you mean the cable for the monitor to the card?

I do not have another monitor to test, and unfortunately when I bought it (From best buy. Dumb) I had asked for a different one than the one I currently have. Little did I know it was wrong until a buddy of mine told me it was not the one he recommended (This was before I became wise enough to check everything's right before I use it).

[Deleted]

Compaq q2009 is a budget monitor so you get what you pay for unfortunately. Here's a few steps to check if there's anything affecting the monitor itself. Follow these steps if turning the display power options off from the control panel does not work.

1. Check the cables are tight and the VGA cable does not have any twisted pins.

2. Reset the GPU. Take it out and back. Reinstall the drivers.

3. Overheating. Are the CPU and GPU over the moderate heat range.

4. Power consumption. Is the power supply strong enough for your rig and the monitor.

5. Clear CMOS. This will reset your Bios and all the settings you might have changed to factory default.

[Deleted]

-Double post-

[Valiea]

I reset the GPU and nothing is overheating, my processor is around 40c and my GPU is at 26c pretty consistently. From what I saw the VGA has no twisted pins and everything is tight and seated properly.

I don't know what CMOS is or how to reset them.

On a side note, my PC is currently working without my 1tb HD connected. I took it off the Power Supply to see if it would run without having to use wattage for that, and currently it is. However when I did have it plugged in to everything and still hooked up correctly, the top of the tower (in the back where the PS is) I was getting a weird pulsing sound / vibration. This has only occured since I put in the new Video Card (Upgraded from HD 5770 Radeon to MSI N560 GTX GeForce card) -- AND -- Installed the new 1tb HD.

Now, I added the 1TB HD with the 5770 and had no pulsing, and very very few of these VGA No signal things. After I upgraded the card, it has happened a lot more frequently.

I'm assuming that since I was having very little issues with the new 1tb HD with the old GPU and then once I installed the new GPU my PS couldn't handle the use it is a Power Supply issue.

Is this a safe assumption?

[Gouca]

I reset the GPU and nothing is overheating, my processor is around 40c and my GPU is at 26c pretty consistently. From what I saw the VGA has no twisted pins and everything is tight and seated properly.

I don't know what CMOS is or how to reset them.

On a side note, my PC is currently working without my 1tb HD connected. I took it off the Power Supply to see if it would run without having to use wattage for that, and currently it is. However when I did have it plugged in to everything and still hooked up correctly, the top of the tower (in the back where the PS is) I was getting a weird pulsing sound / vibration. This has only occured since I put in the new Video Card (Upgraded from HD 5770 Radeon to MSI N560 GTX GeForce card) -- AND -- Installed the new 1tb HD.

Now, I added the 1TB HD with the 5770 and had no pulsing, and very very few of these VGA No signal things. After I upgraded the card, it has happened a lot more frequently.

I'm assuming that since I was having very little issues with the new 1tb HD with the old GPU and then once I installed the new GPU my PS couldn't handle the use it is a Power Supply issue.

Is this a safe assumption?

Googling is hard

CMOS is the small battery on your motherboard. Dismount it for 15 minutes after disconnecting all the power, this resets the motherboard's memory.

Do the FAN(S) in your GTX 560 spin after it has lost signal? Have you connected all the additional power connectors to both MoBo and GTX 560?

[Valiea]

Googling is actually hard when your --edit-- Monitor loses signal every 2 minutes. Yes the fans spin after I lose signal, and I'm fairly certain I have connected all the power connectors properly.

I have reinstalled all my drivers twice. and my GPU so far has been ok except for the weird pulsing from (I'm assuming) the PSU

[Deleted]

Demon POWMAX 580. This supply has only 580 watts. Your motherboard demands an average of 120 watts of power. GTX 560 an average of 150 watts, 170 on load. CPU around 60-65 watts. Around 350 watts for these 3 pieces. If we add the monitor (30 watts), the rest of internal pieces (hard drives, memory, sound card, dvd-drive, fans) and an external hard drive, it might be that your power supply can't handle the load and is running on it's limit.

If you can get your hands on a 750 watt power supply, give it a try. It just might be it.

[Midnight Man]

Demon POWMAX 580. This supply has only 580 watts. Your motherboard demands an average of 120 watts of power. GTX 560 an average of 150 watts, 170 on load. CPU around 60-65 watts. Around 350 watts for these 3 pieces. If we add the monitor (30 watts), the rest of internal pieces (hard drives, memory, sound card, dvd-drive, fans) and an external hard drive, it might be that your power supply can't handle the load and is running on it's limit.

If you can get your hands on a 750 watt power supply, give it a try. It just might be it.

Also just to add to this - if the power supply is a couple years old, it won't be pushing 580W any more, you could count on up to 20% less (10% loss each year) due to component degradation.

[Valiea]

So I just went out and got a Corsair HX850 power supply. So far (as of 5 minutes on) it has not lost VGA signal. So hopefully this is fixed now. I appreciate everyones help, glad I'm able to get answers from people who understand computers much better.

[Deleted]

Keep us up to date. Hope this works for you.

[Valiea]

Hey Vurtney I was just thinking, what monitor would be good for several (2-3 years at least hopefully) years?

[Deleted]

Go for nothing less than 8ms response time, 2 or 1ms is best, because there will be no image "ghosting" involved. Naturally each brand has some variations on contrast ratios, inputs and all that. I haven't used a PC monitor since the LCD TV's were introduced so i can't really give a specific brand.

My current PC monitor is a Sharp LC-40LE530E (3ms response time and very low input latency) but this is because i work in 3D environments as well. I'm not saying you should get a LED tv for a monitor

I'm sure there a many reviews for 2012 gaming monitors out there. I can't really give a specific model off the top of my head.