Mode Not Supported problem

My LCD monitor just lost the signal from the PC (Message signal lost). I can boot it up in safe mode but normal booting just gives a black screen. It has been working fine for years with no problems.

As it worked in safe mode I thought OK cables are ok took card out reseated it but still the same problem.

I bought a new video card and now the problems start. With the card installed the moment I turn on the PC the monitor displays the message Mode Not Suuported H31.4 V 44.5.

I can see nothing apart form this I have researched this error and the answer is go into safe mode and adjust the rate but I can not. I just get the above error message and a black screen cant see a thing. If I change the card back to the old one I can get into safe mode again.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated

Quote:

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I bought a new video card and now the problems start....go into safe mode and adjust the rate but I can not.

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What do you mean? Did you set the video resolution to the native resolution of the monitor? Did you install the video card drivers properly?

You didn't state any hardware specs, so that's about all I can say.

I will try again.

1. Remove old video card.

2. Put in new video card in vacant slot.

3. Turn on Monitor and start PC.

4. Screen stays blank and the message Mode Not Supported is displayed by the monitor

5. Thats it it just stays like that I can not get it into safe mode and I cannot get to the video resolution because the screen stays blank.Effectivly the PC is stuck with that message. The mesage comes up immediately before any of the screens that let you pick safe mode. So I can not set anything on the PC.

6. Replaced the old card ran the PC in safe mode which is the only mode it will work in put in the drivers disc but on the drivers page got no options to install the drivers so I am guessin that it checks the drivers and if they are whats needed it does not offer the relevant buttons to update the drivers. The drivers disc did the same thing when run normally on my lap top.

I have never in my life had this problem changing video cards before, usually you just put them in adjust the screen resolution and update the driver which I would do if I could get anything on the screen.

The video card is a MSI N8400GS D512H . The monitor and the PC are from Medion sorry I dont know the serial nos.

Quote:

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1. Remove old video card.
2. Put in new video card in vacant slot.
3. Turn on Monitor and start PC.
4. Screen stays blank and the message Mode Not Supported is displayed by the monitor

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Then it's not a Windows problem. You should at least get a bios screen. Are you using VGA or DVI? Are you sure the PSU can handle the new card? Did you check for bad caps on the motherboard?
http://www.badcaps.net/

When I use the old video card I can always get the BIOS screens and can boot into Safe mode.

I can not boot normally with the old video card. I got a signal lost message when I was using the PC one day and cannot get it back only safe mode with the old card.

With the new card I bought I get the message described earlier I can not even get the BIOS screen. But if I swap back to the old card I can always boot into Safe Mode.

I am using VGA.

I think the power supply should be able to handle the card.

I am using VGA.

The fact that I could get safe mode with the old card made me think (possibly misguidedly) that it was the video card that was at fault?

Is it the video card or maybe something more serious with the mother board any thoughts anyone?

I'll look at the caps when I get home.

Thanks for your replies

For me, there isn't enough details to diagnose the issue.

Could you give us the following specs, please?

1. Motherboard
2. Old Graphics Card
3. New Graphics Card
4. Power Supply (and if you can, power details off of it)

That would make it alot easier to visualize what is going on. I realize you provided information about one of your graphics card, but did not specify if this was the old one or the new one.

For the moment, however, you could check the trivial things. Is there dust in the slot you've been trying to use for the graphics cards? Did the new one seat properly (could cause nothing to come up on the screen at all)? Are there plugs on the card(s) for connections to the power supply? Especially the new card. If there is, make sure you plugged them in.

Hi Thanls for your reply

I blew the slot out with compressed air the card was firmly home and there were no powersupply connections to it.

Motherboard as far as I can see is MSI N1996 (hope thats it it is whats printed on it)

Old video card NVIDIA GEFORCE 8400GS

new Video Card MSI N8400GS D512H

Power supply Fortron services FSP 300 60 GTM max output 300W 3.3v 14A, 5Vsb 2.0A, 5V 18A 12V 0.8A 12V 18A (3.3 +5 105W max, 3.3 +5 +12 280W max)

I guess the first thing is is it the old video card. I just lost the signal one day but can always boot up in safe mode. I assumed it was a dud video card how do i tell if it is the card or something else? I did not have a spare video card to swap so I got the one described above but am having trouble with it so maybe its not the card maybe the mother board or something else? any suggestions gratefully received thanks

Unless your absolutely sure, it's very possible you purchased the wrong type of card, example: PCI vs PCI-e . Take a good look at the connection tabs, they should match exactly. Usually motherboards have the type of slots marked next to the slot, ex. PCI, AGP, PCI-Express, etc.

"H31.4 V 44.5" is referring to the Horizontal/Vertical frequency of the signal. You could have a bad cable or monitor. Trying another monitor or cable would confirm that. The most common issue is the resolution or refresh rate changed to a setting the monitor does not support. Changing those settings in Safe Mode usually fixes the problem. If you need help with that, we need OS and monitor type/size.

Common default settings :
resolution 800 x 600 , 1024 x 768
refresh 60hz

It is a PCI express card certainly the right one thats for sure slots match exactly. The cable and the monitor are fine with my old cranky pc so no problems there. The issue is with the new card I do not see the bios splash screen so cannot get the PC to boot in safe mode all I see is the monitor message that the resolution will be set to 31.4 & 44.5 and then the screen stays blank!! (holding down F8 doesnt do much either) can't get into anything to change the screen resolution or anything. If I could get the damm thing into safe mode it wouldnt be a problem to adjust the settings as you describe I can do that easily.

OS is Windows Vista 32 bit

Monitor is a Medion MD 30217 PG 19"

But as I said ion my last post I lost the video signal from the old card but can boot up the PC in safe mode using the same card so how do I know if its the card or something else? Any suggestions how I can tell what it is?

Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. Use your old card in safe mode and check the resolution and refresh rate.

You can access Display Properties from Control Panel or right click anywhere on the desktop.
1. Select the Settings Tab.
2. In the Screen Resolution box slide the pointer to 800 x 600 or 1024 x 768
3. Select "16 bit" Color
4. Select "Advanced" button, then select Monitor Tab
5. Check the box to "Hide modes that this monitor cannot display"
6. Click the drop-down box and select 60hz
7. Click Apply, say yes to make the change and OK to finish.

Those are standard settings any VGA and monitor can use. Let us know if this fixes the issue of booting into Normal Mode.

Hi
Not much luck I am afraid.
With Old Graphics card
Right click on Desk top shows only the following options View Sort by Refresh View Personalise no display properties looked in personalise and found Display Settings option (all I could find) Set resolution to 1024 x 768 and 16 bit color display.
Found an advanced button clicked it it brings up a box headed (Default monitor) and properties
Clicked monitor tab and it says use hardware default settings for screen refresh rate
Hide not supported modes tick box is greyed out.

Boot up and still just the black screen in normal mode but boot up in safe mode again and the settings have been retained. Screen has a blue and white stripe effect with these settings. I do not think the video card drivers load when booting into safe mode.

Went to control panel no display properties icon went to device manager display adaptor click and see Nvidia8400 card right click select properties and see the following tabs General Driver Details Resources no where to carry out the sugestions you made in this option.

What can we try now am having no luck so far :(

I see you are in Corpus Chisti wave hi to SPID from me I spent a fun week there driving about last year.

R-click the desktop a blank location and select properties.
Display Properties should show up.

SPID says Hi. :t

Looks like your running Vista or Windows 7. I'm assuming this is a LCD? what size?

Lets see if the Nvidia drivers are corrupted. Follow the instructions here to uninstall the Nvidia drivers. Use the old card in safe mode. When restarting , allow Windows to start in normal mode. If you get a black screen, try again with the new card in both normal mode . If the new card works, allow Windows to install the card. Post back your findings.

Hi

Some progress and not! I took the new card back to the shop for a refund as they only have a 2 week refund window.

But

With the old card installed start up in safe mode and remove Nvidia drivers and restart. Lo and behold the PC stars in normal mode NOT SAFE MODE. I can set the screen resolution to 32 bit colour and 1024 x 768 and it looks OK. The drivers get loaded and I am asked to restart which I do and then all I get is a black screen. Reboot in safe mode remove drivers again and can repeat the above cycle a blank screen once the Nvidia drivers are loaded and have restarted.

Went to device manager and clicked update driver via internet search and got the message driver was the most up to date.

Of course when I try and use the pc for anything that requires a video card I get an error message so not out of the woods yet but maybe some progress.

A quick update went to the Nvidia site and downloaded the graphics driver from there installed it but stillthe same install driver restart and a blank screen. Remove driver and can start up ok

Try updating your motherboard drivers. Check the psu under load with a DVM. All the power rails should be within 5%.

I'm sorry but I'm having real problems here. The motherboard is an MSI one I ran aida32 and found out its serial is Motherboard ID 63-0100-000001-00101111-062807-ATHLON64$1ADNCB28. I have tried real hard with the MSI site but can find nothing remotely like that or even Motherboard ID 63-0100-000001-00101111-062807. I have tried MSI Live up date but cannot get it to work I keep getting an error message. So I do not know how I can reload the drivers.

As far as checking the voltages with a DVM while the system is under load. I have a DVM (cheap one) and I know how to measure a voltage with it e.g. 240 live vs neutral but how do I check the psu under load?

MSI mobo's have the model silk screened on the board, usually next to the graphics slot. Should be something like MS-7388 ver. 3.0

How to test your psu with a multimeter

That looks like a special motherboard made for a computer maker.
What is the make and model of your computer.

My MSI motherboards are marked between the pci slots.

Hi thansk for your replys

I found the motherboard number it is MS7327 v 1.1. can I find the drivers on the net. The MSI download link is rubbish. When I search google for the drivers all I ever seem to get are links to utilities costing 29.95 that promise to scan my pc and update the drivers for me which I really do not want. Where can I down load the drivers any tips?

The link to test your PSU gives an internet aborted error message when I have tried to open it on 3 different PCs.

Well that is a K9AGM2 motherboard.

Check these drivers out.
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/K9AGM2...l#/?div=Driver

There are other items listed you might be interested in.

Hi thanks for the reply. When I go to the link and try and down load the driver if I mouse over the driver down load link Vista 32 I see the hand but when I click nothing happens no download box :(. I still cannot open the how to test your psu link either. God Im starting to wonder if I was bad in another life nothing seems to work for me lol :)

In fact none of the links for driver down loads work you can mouse over them but no download

Try using Firefox, or another browser.

OK PSU checks out and is rock solid on exected values, drivers updated but still same issue
1. Can boot in safe mode
2. If I remove drivers for Nvdia in safe mode and reboot I can boot in normal mode and use default vga drivers.
I3. If I install NVidia drivers again and reboot we end up back at 1 again with a blank screen.

So the question is

Is it the video card? But it will work in safe mode

Is it something on the motherboard?

Is it something else?

The falt suddenly appeared one minute everything was fine the next got the monitor message no video input. then found out I could boot in safe mode as described above.

All suggestions gratefully receied Thanks :)

Back up a few versions on the Nvidia drivers. May need to back quite a few as sometimes when the update them, all kinds of things go haywire.
Once you find it, burn it to a cd for future use. A just in case idea that I have had to do when the newer drivers messed things up.

MS7327 v 1.1 , K9AGM2

So, your motherboard has onboard ATI video ?