LCD Monitor on Old Comp?

14 years ago

Well I'm tired of dual booting to my linux so decided to get a cheap old comp from on-line. Tiger Direct among others seem to have a lot and the price seems right. Also I guess it's about time to go to a 23" LCD wide screen monitor so my question is how can I tell if one of these used comps or any comp for that matter will support the LCD monitor? Or is this a needless worry?

Incidently I decided to search on-line cause local outfits have a very short supply - maybe 2-3 - not much choice. A limited mkt probly.

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Comments (13)

ravencajun Zone 8b TX
14 years ago
the only thing you need to check is if they both have the same plug type most monitors now come with several but some of the older computers only come with analog but as long as the monitor can do both you are fine.
Different Types of Computer Monitor Connections

Types of Monitor Cables

I have bought some of mine at buy.com for very good prices, I like Acer monitors have had very good luck with them.
1saleaday.com quite often has some awesome deals on monitors so you might start checking it daily especially their flash sale area.

I have linux computers and windows computers I have them all set up on an Airlink KVM switch box so I use the same monitor mouse and keyboard with all. There is also a free program you can use that will allow the same thing it is called Synergy.
Synergy l
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
14 years ago
I see there is an Acer 23" at amazon(thru Tiger Direct) for $129.99
Acer G235H Abd 23-Inch Screen LCD Monitor

there is also this deal for a Dell 24" be sure to read the follow up posts for the details
24" Dell U2412M Ultrasharp IPS 1920x1200 LED Monitor $300 + Free shipping

and this asus for $159 and free shipping
ASUS VH236H 23 Inch Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black

you might also want to check this site daily for deals
Today's Hottest Monitors Deals
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ok i now THINK i have some real answers to this. i brought in the 22" wide monitor and exchanged it for a 19" wide samsung. my res s/b 1440 x 900 BUT guess what? again i can not find it!!! i tried to get it off the samsung site and even called them. they told me i needed to get the correct video card drivers. ok so i called the shop.... again... and told them what's happening. i have the correct video drivers there's no doubt about that. see, when they built this pc instead of it being a 32 bit vista os it's 64 bit and that in conjunction with the amd processor makes this a very very fast pc. this is good. BUT the 64 bit is the problem! apparently vista is typically 32 bit. this is why the 22" wide view sonic also had driver issues - i need drivers for vista 64 bit not 32 bit. they told me they'd find the correct driver and burn a cd for me. they were very nice and had no issue exchanging the monitor. i like the service and would recommend them to anyone so there's no problems. mike, the owner, told me i might be better off with a square rather than a wide monitor but at this point i really don't want to tell him i want a 19" square vs the 19" wide they just gave me 2 hours ago. also... i think i made a mistake getting vista, i thought i made a wise choice but now i wonder. i heard that ms was dropping support for xp in 6/2009 so i figured why buy a pc with an os that will not be supported in 13 months. so i opted for vista even tho i used xp pro in work for years and know it fairly well. honestly, if i could turn the clock back 2 weeks, i'd go with xp not vista, probably would have only needed 1 gb ram not 2 gb and xp was a less expensive os. but i am not going to ask him to take vista off and put xp on unless there's a major problem that arises with vista. it's a pain for him and he may not do that for free (!!), i'll lose all my docs and pictures and address book i've set up on this pc. i just don't want to go theu that and he'll think i am a kook, which i really don't think i am but i am learning as i go and now think xp would have been the better choice. but this pc is nice and dsl is really fast (768 kbps) and i am a happy camper. this monitor even at 1600 x 900 vs the 1440 x 900 looks better, 22" was too big. hopefully they'll get the right driver and this will be 1440 x 900. thanks to all who helped me! tom
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You may have a driver mismatch to the monitor. Try this: Boot up in the safe mode. That mode loads only the essential software to operate the computer and loads a low resolution, generic monitor driver. Does your monitor oepeate in this mode? If so, you may be on the path to a cure. Change the monitor driver to one that suits your monitor, then reboot. After you get it working again, check to see how the sleep modes are set. Before you change the driver, record the one that is current. You may wish to return to return to it. ************************** A tip for future reference: Before changing monitors, set the driver to the low resolution VGA mode, 640 x 480 pixels. Change monitors and then change to a driver one that matches the replacement monitor. ************************** I see another possible problem and that is your old monitor may not be plug-and-play. The later versions of Windows do plug-n-play while booting. It attempts to interrogate your monitor and if it gets a return of garbage, it may act on it if it isn't smart enough to know this is not a plug-n-play device. I ruined a monitor once when I first installed Windows 95. I had a video card that had the capablity to output a wide range of driving voltages to the monitor's sweep circuits. However, it was not a plug-n-play device. Windows set the card to the wrong voltages and overdrove the sweep circuits. The monitor lasted about 5 minutes. Lets us know how it turns out. If the monitor does not operate in the "safe mode", there is something more wrong - could be the monitor, or could be the video hardware /circuits.
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mikie_gw
14 years ago
get led monitor .. save power galore, might last forever too
mxyplx
Original Author
14 years ago
Thankyou RC I'll get right on it. The kitchen faucet spout just split - maybe I'll wrap black tape around it for a couple days.

After thrashing around a bit I got the 23" Acer from Tiger Direst via Amazon. Maybe coulda saved $5-10 another way but it's over, got the load off. Now for the used computer (Faucet first). Well maybe after lunch :-)

I notice the majority are Dell and HP. My gut says avoid Dell and go with HP. Any opinion on that? The eMachines seem to get snapped right up for some reason.
===================================
Glare- too late the deed is done- Oh well I've got beginning (incipient) cataracts - should compensate. :-)
owbist
14 years ago
You might check around your area and see how local government or school boards dispose of their used stuff.

Last week here we had Dell Optiplex 620 machines with 80 gig hard drives and 1 gig of RAM going at auction for a whole $35 and they came loaded with XP Pro and included a mouse and keyboard.

Right now there are some police computers, HP Desktop - HP dc7700sff with a starting bid of $10 but there is 8 days to go on those so we'll see where they end up.

This is in southern Ontario.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
14 years ago
I personally like HP not a big fan of Dell, but that's just me.
mike_kaiser_gw
14 years ago
Actually you might have to worry about the video cards (or more likely onboard video) support for resolutions of the larger, often widescreen monitors.

Flat panels have a native resolution and unless the video card supports that resolution, nothing is going to look "right".
mikie_gw
14 years ago
Some monitors have the digital input.. digital graphic cards, even super cheap 15 dollar ones work super good.
mxyplx
Original Author
14 years ago
Well the monitor and the comp are both on the way. Nothing left to do but hope. I'll let you know.

Owbist - I looked but couldn't find anything like that here.
mxyplx
Original Author
14 years ago
It works!!!!!!! I haven't been this relieved since the hogs ate my brother.

Just connected the Acer 23" to the DC7600. Screen resolution is 1152 X 864. Whole screen is filled. Got the old 1999 Belkin power pad or switcher or whatever it's called on top of the DC7600 and the acer on top of that. Like looking up at the screen at the old drive in movies. My eyes are 28 inches from the screen. I can even see it fairly clearly without my # 150 Dr. Dean Edell specials. Probly a bad angle but I can jack my chair up. Teeters around too much.

Right now its on W/xp Pro. Clicking the screen > properties > settings I moved the screen resolution button so it indicates the 1920 X 1080. So I leter rip and it apparently works just fine there too. Am using the VGA cable. There is a cd comes with the monitor and that has a file Setup.exe which I haven't used yet and at this point probly won't.

Anyway as of right now looks like it will work out but there is work to be done, settings to mess with etc. linux to install.
owbist
14 years ago
Ah, good news tom start my day. Well done.
nearandwest
14 years ago
"It works!!!!!!! I haven't been this relieved since the hogs ate my brother."

LOL!!!
grandms
14 years ago
Yeah, that grabbed me, too! LOL!

LCD Monitor on Old Comp?

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