I am perplexed

[tymzend]

As most of you know, a couple of weeks ago I was having video issues with my dual display not working.

Well, ultimately, I ended up just reloading everything from scratch, and set it back up. After that, I also got Anti-Virus software, just in case.

The dual display was working as it should have last Tuesday night (Jan 18th, I think). Computer ran flawlessly. Prior to the show I had also done my disc copy backup, using the Drive Image software provided with the PC from MTU.

Then, my new music updates came in, so I loaded all of those up into Hoster. Finished that Monday night of this week.

I even practiced a couple of songs here at home, but didn't have the dual display hooked up since the show on the 18th.

Last night, we get all set up, turn everything on, and the damned dual display isn't working again. Now, what in the heck could have possibly changed from the time I shut off the PC last Tuesday, to when we started our gig this Tuesday.

So, today, I decide I'm going to do a system restore to Monday, January 24th (that's when I finished loading up my new music). So, I restore to that point, and the dual display doesn't work.

So then I try a restore to Sunday (the 23rd), which is when I set the computer back up and started loading my new music for this week's show. Tried the dual display, didn't work.

Then, I do a system restore to LAST Tuesday (which was the day I finished resetting everything back up, prior to our show that night). DUAL DISPLAY NOW WORKS.

So, the burning question is, what happened to the PC from the minute I shut it off after our show on the 18th, to when I set it up Sunday to start loading my new music?

IT WAS OFF FOR 5 DAYS, and somehow, the dual display decides, on it's own, to quit working again?

Well, this time, I got everything going again, and created a restore point that is named "Dual Display Works Here", which is something to fall back on.

But what is the damned problem here? Am I just cursed? I've run over 100 shows using this computer, so I'm reasonably certain that I know how it works, but when things break for no "apparant" reason? This might actually drive me back to using CD's again, which would suck, but I cannot sacrifice the show due to unreliability of the key component of the show.

I am at my wits end with this problem. This PC just seems to be so fragile and touchy. AND I DIDN'T EVEN TOUCH IT. The display decided to quit working while it was powered down?

Am I better off buying another PC, then trying to chase this problem around for as long as I own it? Are some PC's just a problem forever? Did I maybe get a "bad" one?

I'm sorry, but I am very frustrated at this.

And yes, I realize it is NOT MTU's fault, so don't jump up and start defending MTU. I'll defend them for you. They are fantastic, and they make the best karaoke software on earth. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HOSTER. It's either a hardware issue, or a Windows issue in the registry, I think.

Do you think I just have a problem with my PC that maybe CAN'T be traced and fixed?

[bobcox- with the Lord]

could it mabe be a bug in your video card. bad conection, loose wire in computer. i had a problem last may when i was testing hoster before i bought it. every time i turned on computer i had to reset display to extended desktop. then i took it to a friend who is very good with computers and it never happend again. still don't know what he did. hope you get it strait. Bob

Good Luck

[DJYale]

A couple of questions, what video card? And are you using an RF box for the dual display? (meaning are you running straight from the vid card to the second display or s-video in to an rf box then to the display from there)

[tymzend]

ATI Radeon 9200 Video Card

I run straight to the singers display, but run through an RF box to any additional TV's at the club.

Could be maybe just a flaky video card, I guess. Not sure about bad wires or anything.

[DJYale]

reason I asked about the RF box was the fact that I have 2 of them, same model, identical.

One doesn't care what order you hook things up. (i.e. turn the computer on, plur it in to the box and you're set)

Other won't work with dual display unless everything is hooked up and ready before the computer is turned on.

[Beavis]

I GUESS YOU CAN THANK RADIO SHACK FOR THAT !!

[DJYale]

And that's exactly what they are too ...

[MTUSUPPORT]

Make sure that you have the latest drivers from ATI. You can download them from: http://www.ati.com/home/online/CatalystXPdriver.html

I am at a loss as to what would cause this to happen. It has to be some setting in the system that is being changed, somehow.

[tymzend]

I do have the latest drivers, I believe. The driver version is dated 11/30/04, I think.

I downloaded those a couple of weeks ago when I reloaded everything.

I honestly don't believe that I have a bad card.

I do think that it might be something that is playing with the system registry, which is something that Bryan eluded to when I brought up this problem last time.

But, how to track it down, I have no idea.

[Beavis]

have you ever tried http://www.answersthatwork.com/ ??

this site will tell you everything thats running that you dont know about on your computer. when i say running, i mean when you hit ctrl=alt=delete and look at processes. if you type in exactly what you see, it will tell you what it is thats running.

just a thought

[tymzend]

I'll take a look at that.

Thanks Beavis.