Yes, I did check the monitor and connections on other machines.  No
problem there.

Errr...your other recommendations sound great, only I can't get the
system running, remember?  Can't run Windows or Scandisk in order to do
the "fixes" you suggest.  But I will check out changing the video card
myself.

Thanks!


Paul Villano
US Army Chaplain Center and School (USACHCS)
[log in to unmask]
"For God and Country!"
PERSONAL QUOTE:  The greatest victories are won on the battlefield of
the heart.

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Wright [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 1999 9:16 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] My Tale of Woe - Gateway Video (Motherboard?)
Problems


First, this does not sound like a motherboard issue.

Have you taken and attached the monitor to another computer to
verify if it is working properly?   Also, have you checked to verify
that all the pins in the monitor's connection cable are straight?  If
a pin was bent over while reattaching the cable it can cause some
issues like this.

You should be able to use any off-the-shelf video card in
a Gateway system, as long as it has the proper bus connection,
(you will need to verify if the card is ISA or PCI).   You can pickup
an inexpensive Trident or Cirrus Logic card for under $15 to test
the system...  a basic 1mg card.

I would also verify that the system has loaded the proper driver for
your video card in the Device manager, located in the Sytem Icon
in your Control Panel.  (Start / Settings / Control Panel / System)
Win95 does not do change the drivers in the system very often...
although Win98 is notorious for it.

Finally, and I always hate to make this recommendation as it almost
always is not a factor, but be sure to check the system for a Virus...
I know...  usually Tech Support at Computer companies use this
ruse when they have no other answer...  but, in very rare cases
it can be a virus...  *wink*

Typically, STB cards are real stable and I have seen very few problems
with them.

   Bob Wright
The NOSPIN Group



At 09:53 AM 1/26/99 , you wrote:
>
>Here's the problem.  A few weeks back my 2-year-old Gateway 486 DX (2
>gig hard drive, running WIn95) PC began strange behavior.  Black
stripes
>appeared from the top to the bottom of the screen and windows would
make
>copies of themselves, superimposed.  If you tried to move an icon, it
>would make a cutout of itself instead of actually moving, leaving a
>black hole where the icon was, and making ghost images of itself.  All
>of this obliterated the screen so that it was impossible to read
>(between black bars, yet!)
>
>When I tried shutting down and rebooting, the monitor would flash gray
>and white, with gray and white stripes.  If I left it off for a while,
>it would come back to the first scenario and start all over, and so on.
>
>I called Tech Support at Gateway.  They said the video card must be
>loose and that I should try reseating it.  I did, and got the gray
>screen again except it momentarily switched to light blue as if trying
>to show the Windows screen.  Then it went back to gray and white
>stripes.  You could see the hard drive chunking away, and it tries to
>boot, but you can't see anything.
>
>They said to try a different slot.  I tried that and got nothing but a
>black screen.  The machine still tries to boot but you can't see
>anything.  The monitor (which has a chip of its own) gives a message
>that there's no input.  I've reseated the card several (hundred!!)
>times.  No change.  They sent a new video card (which looked
damaged!!).
>No change.  Now they're thinking it's a motherboard, but since they
>charge you for replacement parts and then give you a repate, I would
>rather think about how to fix it myself than try to get any more parts
>from them for a while.
>
>Any ideas?  (I can't remember the specs on the video card...STB...)
Any
>chance of replacing it with an off-the-shelf card?   Do you really
think
>I've got to change the entire blankety-blank motherboard now?!  SIGH.

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