Troubleshooting Video

Depicts the components associated with the video display. It may be

most practical to think of the video information as starting out on the
system board. In reality, the keyboard, one of the disk drives, or some
other I/O device, may be the actual originating
point for the information. In any case, information intended for the
video display monitor moves from the system board, to the video
adapter card, by way of the system boards expansion slots. The
adapter card also obtains power for its operation from these expansion
slots. Finally, the information is applied to the monitor through
the video signal cable.
Video-related components.
Basically, three levels of troubleshooting apply to video problems: the
DOS level, the Windows level and the hardware level. At the DOS level,
you have two considerations: configuration problems and hardware
problems. In the case of hardware problems, the components
associated with video problems include the video adapter card, and the
monitor. To a lesser degree, the system board, and optional adapter
cards, such as
sound and scanner cards, can cause video problems.
Other common symptoms associated with display problems include
the following:
No display.
Wrong characters displayed onscreen.
Diagonal lines onscreen (no horizontal control).
Display scrolls (no vertical control).
An error code of 1 long and 6 short beeps is produced by the
system.

 A Display Switch Setting Not ProperFailure to

Verify Display Type error displays.
A CMOS Display MismatchFailure to Verify Display
Type error displays.
An error code of 1 long and 2 short beeps indicates a display
adapter problem.
The following sections cover the digital portion of the video system.
Troubleshooting the actual monitor is discussed immediately following
the

video

adapter

troubleshooting

sections.

Only

experienced

technicians should participate in troubleshooting internal monitor

problems because of the very high voltages present there.
Basic Video Checks
While booting up the system to the DOS prompt, observe the BIOS
video type information displayed on the monitor. The values stored in
this CMOS memory must accurately reflect the type of monitor
installed in the system; otherwise, an error occurs. You can access
these values for change by pressing the Ctrl and Del keys (or some
other key combination) simultaneously, during the boot-up procedure.
Reboot the system and run a diagnostic software program, if possible.
Try to use a diagnostic program that conducts a bank of tests on the
video components. Run the programs Video Tests function and
perform the equivalent of the All Tests function.
Video failures.
Note all the errors indicated by the tests. If a single type of error is
indicated, you might be able to take some corrective actions. If more
complex system board problems are indicated, however, exit the
diagnostic program and use the troubleshooting information in the

Hardware Checks section of this chapter to locate and repair the

video problem.