What to do When Your Monitor Is Not Working

Monitors seem to be one of the most hassle-free and easy to set up computer peripherals. After all, you only have a power cable and a signal cable - hook these up to your power plug and your PC and you should be good to go. However, even simple hardware setups can run into unexpected problems and issues that may seem strange.

This article can give you a few tips and ideas about potential fixes for your monitor problems.

  1. Check all cables and plugs

The very first thing you want to check with a monitor that would not work properly is checking cable connections. Make sure both the power cable running from your monitor to your power strip as well as the signal cable running from your monitor to your PC case are properly plugged in and work as intended.

Both of those cables have sturdy, thick insulation and wire breakage inside the cable is extremely difficult. However, the plugs that you insert in the display and power ports can put a lot of strain on the cables, depending your your monitor placement and desk setup. This can lead to signal interruptions, plugs coming loose and your monitor not working.

Make sure your signal cable is properly connected as well. VGA signal cables can be plugged without their securing screws in place. Check the screws to see if they are fixed. For other types of signal cables, look at the cable surface for heavy bending that may cause issues.

  1. Try to rule out issued with the display or the GPU

If the cables and connections are not the source of your problems, try hooking up another to your PC. Any monitor will work fine, it can be as old and as plain as you want, as long as you have the needed signal cable for it. An old monitor will not have DisplayPort or DVI ports and you will likely need a VGA signal cable.

If the problem persists with the different monitor you connected and you don't see any picture on the screen, chances are that either your video card is dead or the signal output ports on the GPU are loose or broken.

Check your GPU's signal output port for damage or heavy wear and tear. If you don't see any issues, the video board itself may be dead and you will need to replace it or get a discrete GPU if your onboard one is dead.

If you are already using a dedicated, separate GPU, try switching to your motherboard graphics processor and see if the monitor works. If your monitor works fine this way, you will need to buy a new dedicated GPU board.

January 21, 2021
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