Monitor only displays text

I'm experiencing odd behavior with my monitor (ASUS VH236H 23 Inch Widescreen LCD).

When I boot my computer I see the traditional BIOS startup text. If I boot into Linux I see the boot text messages and the text login screen. If I boot into Windows I see the Win 7 loading animation.

However, once a main operating system kicks in, my monitor goes black and says that it's lost the signal. This confuses me, because every operating system I try has that happen, but I see all the normal "text mode" text that gets output. The problem seems to be once an OS tries to start using the video card driver.

I plugged a VGA monitor into the graphics card via a DVI->VGA converter and it works, so I'm guessing it's not the graphics card's fault (although I suppose it's still possible it is).

I haven't had any issues with the monitor or graphics card before this. The problem first happened after I'd been using my computer for a while with no issues, then I rebooted and since then I can't get an OS to bring up a windowing system.

I've rebooted, cold booted, power cycled the monitor, etc, to no avail.

1) Does this sound like its the monitor's fault?
2) Is it possibly the graphics card's fault, even though it works on a different monitor?
3) Do monitors have a "text" mode vs a "graphics" mode, meaning that one could get messed up without effecting the other?

Any help or insight would be appreciated.

Been a while, B-Con! Good to see you back, even if only for a moment. How's things?


This is a good one...

Well, let's see-- the BIOS and initial scripts (both Linux and Windows) are all executed in a low resolution; say 16-bits @600x480.

One would think that the Win 7 splash has a higher resolution than that... I know the .jpg is 1280x764, but I don't know what the actual color resolution is.

My point is (I know I had one around here somewhere), I'm thinking that maybe your monitor's hardware is having a hard time decoding the higher-resolution outputs from your video card.

It's also possible there was a driver update that screwed things up, though this seems less likely since you have the problem with both Win and Linux and driver updates to both OS's generally don't happen at the same time.

Is there a 'reset to defaults' setting on the monitor? Try that. I assume you tried booting Win into safe mode and got nowhere... you could also try booting straight into console with your Linux and then try running X-- maybe there will be an error message of some use, though now that I think about it, that's probably not going to happen.

annoying problem indeed, especially when my brain isn't workin to well there actually is a "text mode", it's been around since the early 90s when monitor's were physically getting larger but resolution wasn't scaling with it, but that VGA compatible text mode used some arbitrary 16-color palette and I don't think any modern BIOS or loading screen forces that mode, except on some specifically designed SVGA compatible video cards which force SVGA Text Mode, so unless you bought a card specifically for it's support, I doubt your card is using it. I have used these cards in various projects like LCD-based MAME cabinets, and they are somewhat hard to track down

But in this case my money would still be on the video card being the issue as it is entirely possible for the video card to correctly show the POST mode but fail as soon as the driver is asked to load. The drive loads as part of the OS, and tells the video card to load certain settings. If those settings are not something the card is capable of doing - due to some damage or defect - then yes it will force you to a blank screen. The drivers these days control everything for a video card outside of the ROM bios image flashed to the card which determines things like clock speed frequencies and forced switching. Once your driver loads, it is in control of what clock speeds the card is running at idle, 2d, 3d, and so on, along with the corresponding voltages if this is a modern enough card.

As complex as a monitor is, it is largely a dumb device and usually when things go wrong it is plainly clear that the monitor is to blame. But if you wish to trouble shoot a bit more you might try loading another box onto that monitor and seeing if it has the same problems.

The monitor can cause a problem such as this, and that is usually caused by the scalar hardware as Dngrsone points out, and obviously it would effect everything outside of a given resolution. Usually when this problem occurs you can simply use an alternate display method, such as going from VGA (which is analog) to DVI (which is digital) and one tends to be un-effect.

So if you can plug that monitor into some other PC and just verify that it is working that way, then you can rule it it being either the card or the monitor.

But my money would be on the card, it is not difficult for a card's bios to become corrupted, or for the components controlling the outputs to become damaged or worn out, especially if it is an older card. Then again newer cards have defects too and far more complicated IO systems so its possible all over really.

So if it is the card that's at fault, odds are you are going to need to replace it, unless flashing a new bios on there sorts it out, but you'll need another video card to do that anyway. If it is the monitor that is at fault, you will have to send it back to the manufacturer, unless you can get your hands on a used on with a cracked screen or something that you can source for parts.

Have you tried safe mode with windows? I have had this issues several times with windows updating the graphics drivers. If that doesnt work I would try a fresh install on a spare drive if you have one laying around. Other then that I am with stang on this one.

Try resetting your monitor to its factory defaults. Sometimes this works.

I can't explain why it works, it just may. This happened to me. My second monitor was having this issue, and I couldn't even get the boot-up screen to work without switching the cables while it was running. But it would always shut off when windows loaded up.

I simply had to unplug it and replug it. The menu wasn't working. If the menu works a factory reset may work. It may not be broadcasting properly to your system.

Hey guys, thanks for all the advice.

Life's going well, Dngrsone. Good to see the same avatar & user title combination. :-)

Well... the problem is kind of fixed, I suppose.

When I posted the problem had been going on for a couple days. I first tried Dngrsone's advice of forcing a lower resolution. I configured X in Linux to run at 1024x768 and the display worked. I then tried the normal full resolution and lo and behold, it worked. I booted into Windows 7 and Win7 Safe Mode and both worked.

Thanks again for all the advice, just resetting the resolution in one of the OSs apparently cured whatever glitch had occurred and it's back to normal. (I should've thought of that myself.) Should it occur again, I'll make use of the other techniques here.

You can try your monitor in another one computer mainframe.