A friend has got a problem with her PC monitor well thats what we think.
It start when she was downloading a game off the internet onto a hand held computer think its called a v-tec. It is pluged into the back of the pc via a small conection wire, as the download was commencing the keyboard stoped responding so she shut the computer down by the power off switch on it. Then she turned the computer back on it only shows a grey screen now.

The pc is 5 years old and has been upgraded fro a windows 95 I think.
It is now windows 98 and around 355mhz, she dosent know anymore about it software wise.

Please can u help ive cheackd all the conections but they seem to be ok I am now at a dead end what do I do now.

Oh and when the v-ye is pluged in to the pc and the pc is turned off it starts the system with out pressing the power on button.

I am not sure I understand this situation at all. You are saying she had a small computer plugged into her computer and was downloading from the internet through one or both of these computers? Please clarify if you can.....

That said, if the computer died while downloading, I would immediately suspect that she has gotten infected with a real nasty virus. When you say it shows a grey screen now, does it come up with a grey screen right away or does it seem to boot and then ends up at a grey screen after it starts going into Windoze? Have you tried another monitor? What have you tried?

Please say more about details of the system, the situation, and what you have done so we have a better idea of where to start.

Yes she had a small childs hand held computer pluged into the large computer and was downloading from the internet.

The grey screen comes up right away when the computer is turned on and stays grey all the time. No we havent tryed a nother monitor because she dosent have another monitor to try. Ive unpluged the monitor wires and repluged them backin incase they had come looseand the same with the wires in the back of the processor unit.

All i can say about th system is as ive said before because she got it off her mother which is not in the land of the living. She dosent know much about computers and all I can make out is it is 5 year old a windows 95 system that has been unpgraded to windows 98 its around 355mhz processor.

I think the monitor is a dell or a name simular to that, but looks very old could this be the cause of it because the system seems to loads up fine but no picture just grey screen.

Thats all I can say

Well it is possible that something got shorted out with the connection of the child's computer with the bigger one. That could have killed the monitor or even worse. You might want to borrow the monitor and try it on your system to see if it works still. If it does, it would narrow the list of suspects.

Given the way you describe the computer and the user's lack of knowledge about computers, I would also open it up and clean it out real well with canned air and then make sure all the connectors are tight before closing it up again. I would then try a boot again to see if it works. Sometimes it just gets bogged down in dust and connectors get loose. It may even be worthwhile to reseat the video and other cards before closing it to make sure they haven't worked loose over time as well.

You need to watch and take very careful note of what happens, from the moment you press the power switch.
Do it in a very dimly lit room.
It should go something like this:

1. The instant you press the switch various lights will flash on peripheral items like the keyboard, CD-Drives etc.
2. You will hear a single beep if the Power-On Self-Test [POST] completes.
3. If POST completes then the next thing you see is the monitor displays white text on a black background.

A. Does startup go this far and beyond or not?

B. Does the monitor have a separate power cord from the wall or does the monitor power supply cable come from the back of the desktop unit or tower?

C. Which switch sends power through to the monitor?

This question I dont know what u mean?

C. Which switch sends power through to the monitor?

Do u mean where is the connection for it in the back of the tower or do u mean which switch in the wall power socket?

Well, I have an older desktop unit and the power goes from the wall socket to the desktop unit [DTU], then from the desktop unit to the monitor [I love this arrangement].
When I press the power switch on the front of the DTU, it sends power to the PC AND to the monitor.
The monitor switch is always on, so when I switch on the PC at the switch on the front of the DTU, both the PC and the monitor power up simultaneously.

I COULD plug the monitor into a separate supply at the wall or the power strip and use the monitor’s own on/off switch to power it on independently, but choose the other method.

What arrangement does you’re friend have?
Do they both power up simultaneously or do you switch on the monitor independently, before or after you switch on the tower.

I will let know all the answers when I go again tommorow maybe or the day after.

Creator:

Try the monitor on a different computer to see if its working.