The Official Computer Tech Support Thread

Trollheart · 08-16-2021, 02:21 PM

Okay well I've managed to get the old Iiyama I had originally up and running, and so far (fingers, tentacles, suckers and pseudopods crossed) no flicker, so that would back up your analysis. The only minor problem is that the Iiyama is smaller (17") so it's a little hard to get used to, but it will do until I can buy that Dell. At least I'm not losing my screen every few seconds.

Thanks for the help, as usual!
Cheers agus slainte!
TH

Edit: Spoke too ****ing soon! Now the old monitor is doing it too! I wonder could it be the connector getting worn out? Any ideas? God damn it.

Further edit: Mind you, this one is of course even older than the Benq, so maybe it's just a case of both of them getting ready to give up the ghost? I mean, this must be fifteen, even twenty years old now.

The Batlord · 08-16-2021, 03:04 PM

Iiyama balls lol

Plankton · 08-17-2021, 07:06 AM

Get the new one and if it's still doing it, return it.

Trollheart · 09-03-2021, 09:04 PM

Update on my monitor woes: it turns out, or seems to have done, that it wasn't the monitor but the cable.

A while back I considered this but had no other cable to test the monitor with, so I ordered a DVI cable. When it arrived it turned out I had ordered the wrong one. Did not know there were different ones, but there are. I had got a single-link when I needed a dual. D'oh!

I went about ordering the right one, but meanwhile my search for a not-too-ridiculously-priced 24-inch monitor was running aground, so when I finally found one that suited me (refurbished HP, 105.00 Euro) I went for it. If the cable arrived and it changed things, well, great, but if it arrived and didn't, and I hadn't ordered the monitor, went back to get it and it was no longer available, not so great. So I ordered the monitor.

Unsurprisingly, the cable arrived first (this morning) and I plugged it in. Lo and behold! My screen did not jump. It did not, in fairness, do anything. It was entirely black. After some fiddling about with settings achieved through the connection with my TV (which is serving as a second monitor) I was able to get it working, and so far there hasn't been a flicker.

So the new monitor is yet to arrive, and when it does I guess I'll put it in storage until this one actually dies. At the moment, this one is going great, and I do like it, so there's no real need to replace it, but at least when I do need a new one I have one.

So in some ways I made the wrong decision and could have saved myself money, but in the long run it's not money wasted, as this monitor surely will not last forever. But one way or another, it seems my days of trying to get work done in between the blips and flashes are over. Hallelujah!

debaserr · 09-04-2021, 10:12 AM

Better yet, return it and get a Displayport cable, which should have higher capabilities than DVI (assuming your video card supports it).

Trollheart · 09-04-2021, 01:35 PM

I'm not certain it does (I think there are only two connections in both the monitor and the card - D-Sub and DVI) but I'm happy enough to have a monitor that stays on all the time. I'm not a gamer so that kind of thing doesn't matter much to me. As long as I can see the screen and it doesn't keep flashing on and off, I'm happy. Thanks though.

Trollheart · 11-07-2021, 09:10 PM

My PC has slowed to such a speed now that I don't just go make a cup of tea while it moves to the next page, I sail to China. Well, to the Chinese anyway. That's obviously a lie: I've never eaten Chinese food in my life. But it's slow, damn slow.

The laptop has not worked out. I feared it might not. Probably going to try sell it. There's nothing wrong with it, but I've been a desktop jockey for so long now (all my adult life) that I just cannot get to grips with a smaller keyboard and trackball etc. My keyboard is large and that's just how I likes it.

Anyway, long rambling intro to ask a question: I am now in the market for a new desktop, most likely gonna be a refurb. What I want to know is this: the ones I've been looking at - Dell Optiplexes mostly - have no HDMI slots, only VGA and DP (Display Port). My current PC is hooked up to my telly via HDMI (as well as my monitor via DVI) so if I get a Display Port to HDMI adaptor, will this likely work on my TV? I've read conflicting opinions about it, so just wonder if anyone has done this, and if so, if you can recommend one that works.

Ta muchly.
TH

Freebase Dali · 11-11-2021, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

if I get a Display Port to HDMI adaptor, will this likely work on my TV? I've read conflicting opinions about it, so just wonder if anyone has done this, and if so, if you can recommend one that works.

Yes, it will work. I've done it with my Nvidia card that has more DisplayPort than HDMI outputs, where I have more HDMI/DVI-only monitors than DisplayPort. I've bought cables from Amazon that were specifically "DisplayPort to HDMI". The adapters should work the same way, just make sure it's the source -> destination that you're needing and not the other way around.

Here's one I bought that's still in use now.

The output device being a TV or a computer monitor will not matter if the interface itself is implementing the HDMI protocol, which there is no reason why it wouldn't be.

Edit: Note that you'll be limited by the HDMI protocol, so you're not going to get "better than HDMI" with regard to resolution, but since you're already using HDMI on the TV I imagine that won't be an issue.

Trollheart · 11-11-2021, 07:22 PM

Thanks Freebase. No I'm not bothered about mega quality. It's HD so as long as I can see it I'm happy. This is my new rig, bought today. Just waiting for delivery.

Freebase Dali · 11-11-2021, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Thanks Freebase. No I'm not bothered about mega quality. It's HD so as long as I can see it I'm happy. This is my new rig, bought today. Just waiting for delivery.

Dell Precision 5810 E5-1650 | 32GB | 500GB HDD + 256GB SSD | Windows 10 Pro | DVD | Nvidia Quadro M2000 (4GB)

Not bad. If you have the option, put the OS and your application installs on the SSD. Hopefully it's that way already and the HDD is solely the data storage drive. Lots of RAM, not sure what generation Xeon that is but Xeon is usually made for servers (i.e. different type of workload), I trust they knew what they were doing there.

Regarding quality, if your TV is running at 60hz, the most you'll get out of HDMI is 1080p for the older HDMI protocols, potentially higher depending on version. But whatever you're running now, it won't degrade with the DP->HDMI conversion just by the cable alone, you're still limited at the HDMI interface of your current TV. So ultimately the cable / adapter is just a compatibility operation that won't affect your expectation.

08-16-2021, 02:21 PM	#2181 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Okay well I've managed to get the old Iiyama I had originally up and running, and so far (fingers, tentacles, suckers and pseudopods crossed) no flicker, so that would back up your analysis. The only minor problem is that the Iiyama is smaller (17") so it's a little hard to get used to, but it will do until I can buy that Dell. At least I'm not losing my screen every few seconds. Thanks for the help, as usual! Cheers agus slainte! TH Edit: Spoke too ***ing soon! Now the old monitor is doing it too! I wonder could it be the connector getting worn out? Any ideas? God damn it. Further edit: Mind you, this one is of course even older than the Benq, so maybe it's just a case of both of them getting ready to give up the ghost? I mean, this must be fifteen, even twenty years old now. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018* Last edited by Trollheart; 08-16-2021 at 02:27 PM.

08-17-2021, 07:06 AM	#2183 (permalink)
Plankton Just Keep Swimming... Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: See signature... Posts: 7,765	Get the new one and if it's still doing it, return it. __________________ See location...

09-03-2021, 09:04 PM	#2184 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Update on my monitor woes: it turns out, or seems to have done, that it wasn't the monitor but the cable. A while back I considered this but had no other cable to test the monitor with, so I ordered a DVI cable. When it arrived it turned out I had ordered the wrong one. Did not know there were different ones, but there are. I had got a single-link when I needed a dual. D'oh! I went about ordering the right one, but meanwhile my search for a not-too-ridiculously-priced 24-inch monitor was running aground, so when I finally found one that suited me (refurbished HP, 105.00 Euro) I went for it. If the cable arrived and it changed things, well, great, but if it arrived and didn't, and I hadn't ordered the monitor, went back to get it and it was no longer available, not so great. So I ordered the monitor. Unsurprisingly, the cable arrived first (this morning) and I plugged it in. Lo and behold! My screen did not jump. It did not, in fairness, do anything. It was entirely black. After some fiddling about with settings achieved through the connection with my TV (which is serving as a second monitor) I was able to get it working, and so far there hasn't been a flicker. So the new monitor is yet to arrive, and when it does I guess I'll put it in storage until this one actually dies. At the moment, this one is going great, and I do like it, so there's no real need to replace it, but at least when I do need a new one I have one. So in some ways I made the wrong decision and could have saved myself money, but in the long run it's not money wasted, as this monitor surely will not last forever. But one way or another, it seems my days of trying to get work done in between the blips and flashes are over. Hallelujah! __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

09-04-2021, 10:12 AM	#2185 (permalink)
debaserr eat the masters Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 5,470	Better yet, return it and get a Displayport cable, which should have higher capabilities than DVI (assuming your video card supports it). __________________ Last.FM

09-04-2021, 01:35 PM	#2186 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	I'm not certain it does (I think there are only two connections in both the monitor and the card - D-Sub and DVI) but I'm happy enough to have a monitor that stays on all the time. I'm not a gamer so that kind of thing doesn't matter much to me. As long as I can see the screen and it doesn't keep flashing on and off, I'm happy. Thanks though. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

11-07-2021, 09:10 PM	#2187 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	My PC has slowed to such a speed now that I don't just go make a cup of tea while it moves to the next page, I sail to China. Well, to the Chinese anyway. That's obviously a lie: I've never eaten Chinese food in my life. But it's slow, damn slow. The laptop has not worked out. I feared it might not. Probably going to try sell it. There's nothing wrong with it, but I've been a desktop jockey for so long now (all my adult life) that I just cannot get to grips with a smaller keyboard and trackball etc. My keyboard is large and that's just how I likes it. Anyway, long rambling intro to ask a question: I am now in the market for a new desktop, most likely gonna be a refurb. What I want to know is this: the ones I've been looking at - Dell Optiplexes mostly - have no HDMI slots, only VGA and DP (Display Port). My current PC is hooked up to my telly via HDMI (as well as my monitor via DVI) so if I get a Display Port to HDMI adaptor, will this likely work on my TV? I've read conflicting opinions about it, so just wonder if anyone has done this, and if so, if you can recommend one that works. Ta muchly. TH __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

11-11-2021, 07:22 PM	#2189 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Thanks Freebase. No I'm not bothered about mega quality. It's HD so as long as I can see it I'm happy. This is my new rig, bought today. Just waiting for delivery. Dell Precision 5810 E5-1650 \| 32GB \| 500GB HDD + 256GB SSD \| Windows 10 Pro \| DVD \| Nvidia Quadro M2000 (4GB) __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018