No, it’s not the monitor…
A few days ago I spent some time talking with tech support (one of my favorite activities). I have a *mumble* computer with two matching digital flat panel displays from the same company. At times when I boot the system one monitor (the “primary” one) would fail to start up, while the secondary monitor would. Or at least it would appear to, as if I opened an application and closed it the screen would not refresh properly.
The tech support engineer went through the typical questions, and I provided the typical answers. I used to work in tech support for a software company (a very long time ago) so it’s always tempting to offer more information than they ask for, just because I know the questions are coming. But what I have found out is if I don’t let them go through their standard routine it ends up taking even longer.
After booting with the system diagnostic cd we ultimately found out that the memory in my video card was going bad (boo) and a replacement would be sent out right away (yay). The phone call was on Friday, and the card arrived today. That’s not bad service.
I hope the replacement fixes the issue.