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On my computer my video card (an NVidia GeForce FX 5700) has two DVI outputs and an S-Video output. I have always used a DVI male to VGA female adapter to connect it to my monitor.

Around a year ago I lost the DVI->VGA adapter, but it didn't particularly matter at the time because I was in another city studying (using my laptop as my primary computer). But now I'm trying to set up my computer.

I couldn't find the DVI->VGA adapter, so I used an S-Video cable to connect to my TV, which gave a bad image quality (it stretched the image to PAL 720x576) and making text (even small text on 800x600) difficult to read.

So I bought a DVI->VGA adapter off Ebay, and when I plugged it in and connected my monitor the screen is just blank (not even the BIOS shows). The monitor shows that it is connected, but it's just blank.

I tried resetting the BIOS (incase somehow it defaulting to the S-Video output) yet that doesn't work either. My other thought is maybe I have a dud adapter.

Any suggestions?

Have you tried using a different adapter, a different VGA monitor or some monitor with DVI input? Or the other way round, plugging your monitor into some other VGA source, or both adapter and monitor into some DVI source? Just to check these to guys...

I had the same problem many moons ago with an ATi Radeon 9200SE and an old CRT monitor. I always suspected the dongle, though I never confirmed it.

MessiahAndrw wrote:So I bought a DVI->VGA adapter off Ebay

Fail!

In all seriousness, a broken adapter would be the first thing I'd suspect.

B.t.w., this also sounds weird:

Around a year ago I lost the DVI->VGA adapter

How do you lose an adapter that's supposedly firmly attached to both video card and monitor???


JAL

jal wrote:How do you lose an adapter that's supposedly firmly attached to both video card and monitor???

Well, I was going to ship my computer to Brisbane from Adelaide, and it changed hands quite a few times but never made the journey So now, I'm back in Adelaide and I tracked down my computer, and somewhere along the way my old adapter disappeared.

MessiahAndrw wrote:somewhere along the way my old adapter disappeared.

No doubt as it was useful to one of those many hands :). Still, I'd buy a new one in a store, then you're sure it works.


JAL

I tried to open the DVI->VGA adapter, and after endless cutting I discovered I was holding a clump of rubber with two connections floating in it, nothing connecting them.

It seems I was ripped off

MessiahAndrw wrote:It seems I was ripped off :(

Too bad :(. Don't forget to inform e-bay, or the a$%^wipe may rip off others...


JAL