Windows 10 Help with new monitor

Deckky

Honorable Member
The monitor I've been using is an old Benq Q24W5 with an ATI Radeon HD 3600 Series graphics card set to 1920x1200. I've been given a more up to date Benq SW2700PT monitor but I can’t get it to work. It's ok when the PC boots up but as soon as Windows 10 starts to load it turns off saying there's no signal detected. It works ok in safe mode until I reboot into normal mode again. When I installed the latest driver for the new monitor in safe mode from the Benq site (it said successfully installed and shows correctly in Device Manager), it still says there's no signal detected when I reboot into Windows (and also when I boot up in low resolution mode). It says the suggested resolution for the new monitor is 2560x1440 and the spec for the graphics card says the resolution goes up to 2560x1600. It still boots up into Windows ok when connected to the old monitor.
Can anybody advise on what the incompatibility issue is please? Do I need to update the graphics card as well? Thanks.
 
... It works ok in safe mode until I reboot into normal mode again...
Can anybody advise on what the incompatibility issue is please? Do I need to update the graphics card as well? Thanks.
Since it works in Safe Mode but not in normal mode it means there is something that happens in normal mode that causes the trouble.
Please check if the monitor driver stays the same both in Safe Mode and normal mode. I know it sounds weird but maybe the driver provided by the manufacturer gets replaced with a Windows kernel driver in normal mode. Please do the same with the graphics card driver. You can find the driver details in Device Manager.
Basically we need to find out what changes in normal mode in regards to monitor driver and graphics card driver.
 
I'd uninstall the AMD display drivers in safe mode, using DDU and then reboot. Once in normal windows reinstall the display drivers.
 
Many thanks for the responses guys. Obviously I can’t check the driver in normal mode with the new monitor connected but in safe mode the Display adapter shows as ATI Radeon HD 3600 Series and the monitor shows as Generic PnP Monitor. With the old monitor connected in normal mode they both say the same thing. I looked for a driver for the old monitor in the past but the latest is dated 2007 for Windows XP, there's nothing showing for Windows 10. I didn’t risk installing that one as it works perfectly ok with the generic driver. As I mentioned above, I installed the latest driver ok for the new monitor in safe mode but it didn’t make any difference.

I'm reluctant to uninstall the AMD display driver as it works perfectly ok with the old monitor and the 3600 driver is not listed on the AMD website anymore. The nearest one I could find is for the 3610 or the 3650 cards for Windows 8.


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check c:\ is there an amd folder, if so back that up as it contains the drivers. Move it elsewhere, then do as I suggested and then use them to reinstall said drivers.
 
There’s an AMD folder under Program Files but there’s nothing in it that look like driver files, just 3 files aml.kbd, amdocl_as.exe and amdocl_ld.exe. There’s an AMD folder under ProgramData but it’s completely empty.


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I found the display driver files in the Windows 32 directory. I uninstalled the driver and the screen went into low resolution, I rebooted and the driver seemed to reinstall itself but it didn’t fix the problem.

Benq say it's the graphics card that's the problem because before loading windows the internal GPU is still being used for booting up and the moment the card GPU takes over the signal drops. Does that sound right? I tried the monitor on a completely different computer with Windows 7 using the same DVI port on the monitor and the same problem happens. I suspected it might be the graphics card but I don’t know what to think now. I have the distinct feeling that with a new graphics card installed the same thing will happen.


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Many thanks for the responses. The fact that the same problem occurs using DVI on the 2nd PC with a different cable but works ok using an HDMI connection on the same GPU, and both DVI ports on the GPUs work ok with my old monitor, I think it pretty much proves the problem to a faulty DVI port on the new monitor. The fault was probably there from early on but wasn’t noticed because until now, the monitor was only ever used with HDMI. Of course the 3 year warranty expired just a few weeks ago and I'm waiting to hear back from BenQ whether they are still willing to cover it. If not, I will need to upgrade the GPU to one with DP ports that will support 2560x1440 (I want to use the HDMI connection for the Mac Mini as it always has been). I'll probably get the GPU from eBay, I started looking just in case and thought an AMD FirePro V4900 1GB might be a likely candidate...?
 
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As a update, BenQ have agreed to replace the monitor even though it is out of warranty and they're going to arrange for collection and delivery at the same time. I think that’s great!


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