Eddie (edminster) wrote,
Eddie
edminster
  • Mood: silly

When realisation smacks you in the face with a sledgehammer.

The downstairs computer (with which I update this journal), has two screens. This is because it was intended to be used as a photo-editing workstation. The main monitor is a massive Dell flat panel deal, with a smaller KOGi monitor to the right intended to move non-essential toolboxes and such to. A couple of weeks ago, there was a fairly large thunderstorm, which gave us a nicely-sized powersurge. This means that the primary monitor no longer worked. It received power, yes, but it would not display anything. Anything, that is, except for a "Check Signal Cable" error message. In looking at the cable and noting that it was, in fact, still connected to the monitor, I attempted to puzzle out what was causing it to deny me any images. I sat, and I thought.

Item: There was a power surge.

Question: What would be affected in said power surge, and in what order?

Answer: Power supply, motherboard, graphics card, DVI cable, monitor.

Because the computer itself would power on successfully, and because I could still use the secondary monitor, I ruled out the first three in my list of five. Noting that the monitor was still able to display an error message, I ruled the final portion of the list out. This left the DVI cable as the culprit. Luckily, I work at a place where such a cable is an easy find. So, tonight I decided to replace the cable and be glad to have big pictures back. The only problem was, after replacing the cable, there was still no picture. So I began to panic. Is it the wrong cable? Did I plug it in to the wrong spot? No, it's the DVI cable, and it has to be in the right spot. I mean the monitor only has one DVI slot. It's not like I could put it into the s-video, composite, or even VGA slot!

waitaminute

Multiple inputs means I probably have to select which one I'm using...

Note to self: I am a dumbass.

And so, one input selection later, we're back in business.
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