Possible monitor trouble?

[Barrister]

Okay, so awoken by the crazy early morning thunderstorm I tried to go on my computer to check Languish.

But my monitor was acting all wonky.  There was no image.  If I turned if off, then on it would show an image - but only for one second, then the image would shut off.  It was as if it went into power saving mode.  The problem took place in both OS X and Windows.

I didn't have a ton of time to trouble shoot the problem, so I'm hoping it goes away tonight.  This monitor has occasionally had problems wakening from sleep, but a quick on-off would always solve the problem.

It is possibly important to note that this was during a thunderstorm, and while the problem was already happening, we did have a momentary power black out.

Any ideas?

[viper37]

Yes.  Stop buying Mac.

Is the monitor power cord connected to the computer or to an electric power bar?  is the bar ok (no reset, no damage from the thunderstorm)?
Recheck your cables, connection to the computer, to the power outlet, etc.

If your monitor has a menu, check it for possible leads. Maybe the monitor was resetted during the storm, you never know.

[Barrister]

Fuck.

It's not the monitor.  It's something with the Mac.

I hooked up another monitor, and it displayed the same problem - it would shut down after 1-2 secs.  Actually this monitor was more helpful, as it displayed the message "going to sleep".  So for some reason my computer is sending a message to the monitorto go to sleep.

And because it happens under both OS X and Windows I suspect it is hardware based - likely the graphics card.

At least I live in a town with an Apple Store - I predict an expensive trip in my future.

[katmai]

is this the computer that you paid and upgraded the video card for?

[Barrister]

Aye.  Went from 8800 GT to a 5770 bout a year ago.  Nah - must've been longer ago than that - baby wasn't born yet.

I predict they give me grief because the 5770 isn't technically supported in my Mac Pro.  Never mind the fact it worked flawlessly until now.

[viper37]

If you still have your old 8800GT, put it in place instead of the 5770, you will see if your monitor still shuts down.  I don't suppose Macs have integrated video cards, do they?

[Barrister]

If you still have your old 8800GT, put it in place instead of the 5770, you will see if your monitor still shuts down.  I don't suppose Macs have integrated video cards, do they?

Nope - the 8800GT was fried.  That's what led to the new card.

Many macs used integrated graphics, but not the Mac Pro.

What I will do is take it down to the Apple store.  If it is the video card (as I suspect) that can diagnose it better than I can at this stage.  But still it's a weird problem - because before the monitor goes to sleep for that split second I can see the screen image is flawless.

[Grey Fox]

If this was a Windows PC, I'd say it's a power issue.

[Barrister]

If this was a Windows PC, I'd say it's a power issue.

But the computer itself continues to run.  Because I can see the screen for a second at a time if I power the monitor off then back on.

[Grey Fox]

If this was a Windows PC, I'd say it's a power issue.

But the computer itself continues to run.  Because I can see the screen for a second at a time if I power the monitor off then back on.

I mean, with your power supply or somewhere in the motherboard. Something isn't getting enough voltage so the chipset is turning to sleep.

But it's just an opinion. I don't know anything about MACs.

[Barrister]

If this was a Windows PC, I'd say it's a power issue.

But the computer itself continues to run.  Because I can see the screen for a second at a time if I power the monitor off then back on.

I mean, with your power supply or somewhere in the motherboard. Something isn't getting enough voltage so the chipset is turning to sleep.

But it's just an opinion. I don't know anything about MACs.

No, you could be on to something.  Remember the Mac Pro in particular is just a big PC workstation.  There's very little that makes it uniquely a Mac.  I could list off the specs for it and only the EFI would give any hint that is a Mac rather than a Windows PC.

SOmething on the motherboard though?  That makes me shudder.

So if you suspected that was the problem, is there nything I could do at home to try and fix it, or at least diagnose it?

[Grey Fox]

I'd try a different PSU first but it's something I have on hand, you might not.

IIRC correctly you have an insane amount of ram, try reducing it to see if anything happens.

[DontSayBanana]

I mean, with your power supply or somewhere in the motherboard. Something isn't getting enough voltage so the chipset is turning to sleep.

But it's just an opinion. I don't know anything about MACs.

Actually, that's not a bad idea.  I haven't heard of it being a common problem in a few years, but I'm suddenly remembering some ATI cards had fragile capacitors that resulted in black screens when blown.  Wonder if the power surge fried a capacitor on the vid card...

[DGuller]

I thought bad capacitors were a thing of the past, or at least I really hope that's the case.  It's easy to visually inspect your video card, though.  Look at the cylinders sticking out of it, and if some of them look popped with goo escaping from the top of them, your card is fried.

[Barrister]

I'd try a different PSU first but it's something I have on hand, you might not.

IIRC correctly you have an insane amount of ram, try reducing it to see if anything happens.

10GB of RAM is hardly insane.

No Mac Pro compatible PSU on hand.  Taking out some RAM is pretty trivial so I could give that a try.

I'll take a quick look, but I'm almost certain it is not a blown capacitor.  For whatever reason the monitor is being forced into sleep mode - not that it isn't receiving an image at all.  When I power the monitor up I can see a perfect screen image - for all of one second, before the monitor goes back to sleep.