I'm so stumped I thought I'd ask the community if they have any ideas.

I have two monitors - a 20" Samsung LCD that plugs in via DVI and a 17" Samsung LCD that plugs in to my DVI graphics card via a VGA=>DVI converter. I have used these two screens for years with no issue.


So, a few months ago, out of nowhere, my dual monitor setup refused to work. One day, upon coming back from leaving my PC idling for ~an hour, it was crashed. When I restarted it, the 20" monitor was blank (there was no "no signal detected" indicator, it was just black). The 17" worked fine. If I UNPLUGGED the 17", the 20" worked again. I tested both monitors by plugging them into the DVI port on my MacBook Pro, and both work fine. Strangely, a couple of days later, the problem seemed to solve itself! Both screens worked again - and not for any of my efforts. I had done nothing, figuring it was the graphics card which I couldn't afford to fix at the time. Oh well. It worked.

A few days ago, I woke the PC up from Stand-by (WinXP). When it came on, the strangest thing happened. My 20" display was only showing part of what it was supposed to. Moving the mouse to the edges of the screen caused it to pan around - so I could in fact see the whole image, just not all on the screen. Very strange. I rebooted my PC ... and BAM! same as before, 20" showing up blank. I tried the following:

-Ensure all wires were properly tightened.
-Cleaned dust out of the PC and ensured all contacts were okay
-Unplugged the PC and let it sit powerless for a few minutes

When I started it up again, no change! At this point I'm thinking, again, that I need a new graphics card. A couple hours later, for no apparent reason, it came back to life.

Then, this morning, the same thing happened! I woke the computer up from stand-by and the monitor was zoomed in on PART of the image and I had to pan around. Again, when I restarted it, the 20" was dead. Consequently, I realized that if I unplug the 17" screen, the 20" screen works! If I leave both plugged in, only the 17" works.

Just to note, it's not a software issue. The blank monitor is blank from the moment I turn the system on.

So, I went out and bought a new 8800GT (got it for $99! Amazing value for that price... but anyway). Now here is where it gets REALLY bad. The new graphics card had NO EFFECT on the problem! ZOMG! I've tried googling and browsing forums ... but I can't find anything resembling an answer. I really, really hope I don't need a new motherboard. I don't feel like (a) spending $150 for no reason and (b) taking my entire PC apart and rebuilding it on another board Also, my board is under warranty, so the other option is to send it in for repair, but then I'll be without it for a long, long time ... and WARHAMMER IS COMING OUT IN 3 WEEKS!

hm damn dude sounds like a suck situation... can you give us more information on your specs/operating system/ way u have two monitors hooked up.. i really dont think i can be of much help, might wanna post this in the monitor section of the forum. my 1st guess would be that maybe ur 20inch is overheating? run your 20inch monitor with a color intensive video game or something an feel the back.. does it get hot?

My system:

ASUS P5KC Motherboard
Intel Core2Duo E6750 @ 2.66 GHz
4 gigs RAM
n7950gt 512mb (at the moment, n8800GT 512mb)
Windows XP

My 20" monitor works just fine if it is the only screen plugged in. I am running on it right now, in fact.

Hello,

I have almost the same problem. My configuration is:
asus p5kc motherboard
pentium e6750
4x1G corsair twin2x RAM 4-4-4-12
I had a Gainward 8800GTS 320Mb. I use the second dvi exit for a hdmi tv. The problem started with no recognition of the video card from time to time (one long beep followed by 3 short beeps at startup). Afterwards the video card broke and it was sending video signal on the second dvi but the picture was all pink. I bought a new video card, a Gigabyte GTX 260 OC and when I installed it it is loosing signal from time to time again on the second DVI exit. The video board is now in service but I am wondering if maybe the motherboard can be the reason for damage of the video board. If when I will receive the new video board from service the problem will still be there then I will send the motherboard into service, but I hate the waiting period.

My monitor is Samsung 960BF and my TV is a Samsung WS-32Z409P.