New Computer Time - wait, maybe not

[bobquasit]

It arrived, and it looks really cool. But my monitor apparently won't work with it. The monitor isn't broken, mind you. I plugged it back in to my old machine, and it was fine. In fact, I'm using the old machine to write this right now.

But when I plug the monitor into the new machine and turned it on, nothing happened. Tried turning the monitor off and on, too. Nothing.

I'm not disappointed, because on some level I didn't expect it to work right away anyway. I wonder if the problem is that the monitor is simply too old? That seems very unlikely, but it IS over ten years old, I think. It's a Princeton Graphics 19-incher, an EO90.

I was planning on buying a new flatscreen anyway, so I'll probably get one tomorrow and see if that works instead. Does anyone know anything about LG as a brand? They have a 22-inch monitor that's $30 more than the Hannspree, but it seems to have much higher customer ratings - and the tech specs look considerably better too, to the extent that I understand them.

Funny, I'm just not that excited about the new system. But I'm not even disappointed at the anticlimax. Maybe I'm getting old.

Comments

[oldwolf.livejournal.com]

LG makes good product and is steadily becoming a "trusted" brand. Unlinke hans-who???

It could be that your old monitor is single pass instead of multipass. Does it have those handful of colored connectors in back, or just the one blue plug?

Hehe, wait'll ya boot the bugger. It'll be like dating a blond 19yr old.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

It just has a single plug - but it's not blue.

Hmm. I found a datasheet for it. This thing really IS ten years old! Actually eleven. It's mildly amazing that it's still working.

The sheet says that the input connector is a "Detachable 15-pin mini D-sub cable".

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, here's the datasheet.

http://www.princetongraphics.com/site/download/datasheet/EO90.pdf

[oldwolf.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, ok. See that part there where it says "Macintosh compatible" ??? Not all monitors that are PC and mac compatible are fully Pc compatible. I ran into this issue early on in my Apple IIgs days.

[oldwolf.livejournal.com]

Hmm... yeah, that's a standard video cable.

My 21" CTX(Chuntex) was a refurb and lasted 12yrs.

It could be that the signal is "out of scan". Try setting your display to 800x600 or lower to 640x480, then try the monitor.

[oldwolf.livejournal.com]

Umm.. if ya wanna pick my brain some more. 209-470-4688. Have fun!

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

It turned out that I was plugging into the motherboard video connection, which had been disabled. But the nVidia card didn't have a regular VGA (or whatever) socket, only some new kind (DVDi?) that isn't compatible. Well, unless I used an adapter. One was provided with the computer. But by the time I found that out, I'd already bought a 22-inch LG flatscreen monitor...

[oldwolf.livejournal.com]

Oh, ok. Yeah, I use my DVI port just because I can.

I have a Samsung 906BW.

There are several different types of DVI cable. I managed to hunt down a good "digital to digital only" DVI cable(for $5, guy didn't know what he was selling) at a hole-in-the-wall `puter store. And honestly, I see no difference in quality at all. Goog "DVI ports" and you can find a list of them.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

I checked, and my monitor does have a DVI-out socket - it just didn't come with a DVI cable for some reason. Would there be a noticeable improvement if I switched to DVI?

[oldwolf.livejournal.com]

It's not an out, it's an in, they're all that way. The cable has 2 female connectors, unlike the regular VGA cables.

Minutely, but there is a difference in quality. Digital is a bit better, but you have less in the way of resolutions options.

[donnad.livejournal.com]

We have an LG HDTV and we love it. We have only had it for a couple months, but no problems thus far.

[tzunder.livejournal.com]

Age can equal calm wisdom.

LG are a very good Korean manufacturer owned by Philips, a very good European mnfgr.

Just go flatscreen.

Mind you friends of mine still use my 15 year old monitors..