PC Hardware A Beginner’s Guide

(^278) PC Hardware: A Beginner’s Guide
If the above is as it should be, check the following:

1. When you boot the system, if you are getting three short beep tones or
   something similar (depending on your BIOS—see Chapter 6) and nothing
   is displaying on the monitor, your video card may be loose or defective.


2. Open up the system case and reseat the video card.


3. Reboot the system. If the problem persists, try the video card first in another
   slot on the same PC and if that fails, try it in another PC. If the card fails in the
   new system, it’s time to get a new video card. If the video card works in either
   the new slot or PC, you may have a bad expansion slot on the motherboard.
   Hopefully, it is not the AGP slot, because that means you either need to switch
   to a PCI video card or get a new motherboard.

The Display Is Scrambled

If the display looks like the picture on a badly adjusted TV set, the problem is most likely

that the refresh rate on the video card is set too high for your system. This is definitely the

problem if the display is okay through the boot cycle and then fritzes out when Windows

comes up. To fix this, do the following:

1. Boot into Windows Safe Mode by pressing theF8key when Windows first
   starts up. When the Startup menu displays, select Safe Mode.


2. Windows will start up and load only the essential device drivers it needs to
   function. Once the Windows Desktop is displayed, right-click an empty part of
   the display on the Desktop shortcut menu (see the section “Resolution” earlier
   in the chapter). Select Properties to open the Display Properties window. Select
   the Settings tab and click on the Advanced button at the bottom of the display.


3. Select the Adapter tab and, as shown in Figure 12-8, a Refresh Rate setting is near
   the middle of the window. If it is not set to either Optimal or Adapter Default,
   you may want to check the documentation for the video card and monitor for
   the best rate. Typically, it will be around 70Hz or 72Hz. After clicking the OKs,
   restart the PC.

The Display Appears Fuzzy or Blurry

A blurry or snowy monitor could be a refresh rate problem (see “The Display is Scram-

bled” above). But if the refresh rate is set as it should be and you’ve had your eyes

checked recently:

1. The problem is not likely the video card and is probably the settings on the
   monitor itself. Adjust the brightness and contrast settings on the monitor.


2. If the problem persists, the monitor may be defective.