vidiot48170

Q: Dual monitors both lose video signal?

Im running dual monitors on my mac editor & within 1-10 minutes of booting up the system, the monitors will lose the video signal. I tried waking up the monitors, but no luck & Changed the DVI connectors. The only way to get the monitors back on is to turn off / back on the computer. But that dosent solve my problem. within 1-10 minutes the same problem will occur. Advice, help
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PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Oct 12, 2015 3:10 PM

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Q: Dual monitors both lose video signal?

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  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Oct 12, 2015 5:16 PM in response to vidiot48170
    Level 10 (123,496 points)
    Oct 12, 2015 5:16 PM in response to vidiot48170

    Hello,

     

    Have you blown the dust out lately?

     

    Get Temperature Monitor to see if it's heat related...

     

    http://www.bresink.com/osx/TemperatureMonitor.html

     

    Sure sounds heat related.

  • by Jeff,

    Jeff Jeff Oct 12, 2015 11:54 PM in response to vidiot48170
    Level 6 (11,559 points)
    Oct 12, 2015 11:54 PM in response to vidiot48170

    If your graphics card has a cooling fan, it may be clogged with dust, severely reducing its effectiveness.  Blow it out with compressed air.  It's also possible that the fan is barely functional or not functional at all.  They're small and do wear out, usually because the minimal lubricant on the bearing dries out over time, making it much more difficult for the small fan to rotate.  Blow air at the fan's blades until it spins. If it stops abruptly, the moment that you stop blowing air at it, the fan's bearing needs to be re-lubricated (if possible) or the fan should be replaced.  Sometimes, refreshing the lubricant can restore it to a functional state, but not always.  A well-lubricated fan should take about 3 - 5 seconds to spin down, after you've stopped blowing air at it.  If the graphics card has a heatsink, then you should check for a component failure on the PCB.  Look at the capacitors to see if any of the tops are bulging, even the slightest.  The top of a capacitor should be perfectly flat, or very slightly concave.  If a component has failed, you should replace the card.

  • by vidiot48170,

    vidiot48170 vidiot48170 Oct 13, 2015 8:47 AM in response to Jeff
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 13, 2015 8:47 AM in response to Jeff

    Thanks for the suggestion but this didnt help, still having the same problem. Im thinking the graphic cards going bad

  • by old comm guy,

    old comm guy old comm guy Nov 6, 2015 8:51 PM in response to vidiot48170
    Level 4 (2,244 points)
    Nov 6, 2015 8:51 PM in response to vidiot48170

    vidiot48170 wrote:

     

    Thanks for the suggestion but this didnt help, still having the same problem. Im thinking the graphic cards going bad

     

    It is not a total given, but that is where the smart money would bet.  Follow BS's advice and install Temperature Monitor and if there is a GPU temperature reported, put that on the menu bar so you can continuously monitor it.  I notice that it takes about a half-hour's time for my GPU to get to a stable temp after system wake.  This I get from Temperature Monitor on a G5 with an NVIDIA card driving two monitors.  See the screen grab from a TM history window, where the blue trace is the GPU temp.

     

    GPU Temps.png

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Nov 7, 2015 10:10 AM in response to old comm guy
    Level 10 (123,496 points)
    Nov 7, 2015 10:10 AM in response to old comm guy

    Delightful to see you again ocg!

  • by TheMacMaster20,

    TheMacMaster20 TheMacMaster20 Dec 16, 2015 3:18 PM in response to vidiot48170
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Dec 16, 2015 3:18 PM in response to vidiot48170

    Try Control+shift+eject (⌘-alt-) (changes display from internel to external, vice versa)