[IAPC]

Problem is an eMachine W3410 with integrated ATI video.
Red is totally missing from display ... displays green and blue only.

It is not a monitor problem; monitor has been swapped out.

Problem is not correctable using the ATI Control panel's color adjustment screen: the sliders for blue and green adjustment work, but there is absolutely no response to the sliders for red adjustment. Read is DEAD.

It is not a Windows driver problem, because the problem is evident at the bootup screen, long before Windows loads.

It is not video card problem, as I've swapped in a GeForce 6200 video card. Problem remains unchanged.

Ideas? Thanks!

 

[JohnWill]

Well, I'm having some difficulty with the explanation, if you've swapped the video card and the monitor, there's not much left that would cause that symptom. It sounds like a missing pin in the cable, but the new monitor should have a new cable, right?

 

[johnpost]

a bad cable that connects the pc to monitor can do it.

do both monitors not have a fixed cable?

if you used the same bad cable to connect to both monitors
then it would do it.

 

[IAPC]

Oh yes, I should have mentioned that ... I used two different cables. (You can see why I'm scratching my head).

 

[JohnWill]

Well, now you have me scratching mine!

 

[valis]

Problem is an eMachines W3410 with integrated ATI video.

It is not video card problem, as I've swapped in a GeForce 6200 video card. Problem remains unchanged.

when you installed the GeForce, did you disable the onboard ATI?

 

[IAPC]

Hmmm ... good question. I think I did, but it's possible I forgot to do that. I'll check it out in the morning and report back. Thanks!

 

[TRS-80 vet]

when you installed the GeForce, did you disable the onboard ATI?

I was thinking this as I scrolled through the responses.

But, if the problem was previously manifest through the other dedicated card, then, presuming it was faulty, and the pc display went through the onboard card after the swap, and not the new card, then how would the onboard card show the same problem???

I'm guessin' that the missing/bent pin is on the video terminal, rather than the cable...

 

[IAPC]

I just went into BIOS setup and re-checked this. On this MSI RS480M board there is no BIOS setting to disable the on board controller, only an 'Init Display First' setting, which I had set to PCIEx for the GeForce. That should have done the job, right?

 

[IAPC]

I'm guessin' that the missing/bent pin is on the video terminal, rather than the cable...

Please explain what you have in mind. We're dealing with two different video cards (ATI integrated and GeForce PCI Express slot), hence two separate VGA ports, and two different monitors using two different cables. Wouldn't that eliminate a bent pin being involved anywhere in the chain? Did I miss something?

 

[IAPC]

Just by the process of deduction, logic would seem to say that, since the video card and everything that comes after it have been swapped out, the problem must originate before the video card. Wouldn't that be so? Is that even possible?

 

[TRS-80 vet]

Please explain what you have in mind. We're dealing with two different video cards (ATI integrated and GeForce PCI Express slot), hence two separate VGA ports, and two different monitors using two different cables. Wouldn't that eliminate a bent pin being involved anywhere in the chain? Did I miss something?

I'm thinkin' a pin is damaged at the jack where the monitor cord plugs in to back of the pc.

 

[IAPC]

I'm thinkin' a pin is damaged at the jack where the monitor cord plugs in to back of the pc.

That would be a good guess if it weren't for the fact that two different video ports are involved. The ATI is integrated, so its jack is built into the motherboard. The GeForce is an add-on PCE Express card with its own jack built into the card. So I believe we've pretty much eliminated a damaged pin as being the possible cause.

 

[JohnWill]

Well, red must be missing from the BIOS!

I have no idea, this one is clearly one that I'd have to see in person.

 

[valis]

so to date we've:

tested the monitors
tested the cables from teh monitor to the video card
tested the cards
verified that bent pins can't be the issue

Not to be a wisenheimer, but the only thing left is the interpretation. Time to get rose colored glasses.

Seriously, I'm stumped.

 

[JohnWill]

Exactly, I can't even imagine how it can happen if all of those items work.

 

[johnpost]

color blindness to red would cause the problem

 

[IAPC]

Last two things I could think of are (1) faulty power supply, and (2) corrupted BIOS. I don't really know if either of these could cause the problem, but ... well, what else is left? (I'm at my wits end and stretching for ideas on this ... those rose colored glasses are beginning to sound practical, Valis)

PS voltages are +3.34 +12.22 -12.77 +5.02 ... not perfect, but not out of line.

On updating the BIOS, I hit a roadblock. Current BIOS is Phoenix-Award W7145AE7 v1.09.
MSI's website has AMI 7145 v1.5 as the latest BIOS for the RS480M motherboard. It won't work.

I tried installing it, and got the following:
Chipset vendor: Unknown chipset
Chipset not supported
... so it refused to install.

The eMachines website does not appear to have any BIOS files at all ... or if it does, I couldn't find them.

So ...
1) Does anyone know where I can find a BIOS file that will work with this machine? (And, for that matter, any explanation as to why the BIOS file on MSI's website says 'unknown chipset'?)

2) Any other ideas to explore?

3) Where do I get those rose colored glasses?

 

[JohnWill]

I can't even begin to conceive how the BIOS version could cause this. I'm having trouble with the P/S causing it as well.

There is something basic we're missing, I just don't know what it is.

 

[IAPC]

I can't even begin to conceive how the BIOS version could cause this.

I wasn't thinking so much in terms of the BIOS version as I was the possibility that the BIOS had become corrupted. But, even then, I really have NO idea how or if that could affect the red. Which, BTW, I'm starting to see at this point ... (not on the monitor, unfortunately)

I'm having trouble with the P/S causing it as well.

Agreed. But, again, I'm desperately reaching for anything I can come up with. In any event, the voltages seem OK, so I've crossed the P/S off the list of suspects.

If I've really checked everything as carefully as I think I have, the problem has to occur before the video card. What is there that can affect the video signal before it reaches the video card? Is this coming down to some faulty component in the motherboard?

There is something basic we're missing, I just don't know what it is.

And just in case I haven't really checked everything as carefully as I think I have, I am going to go back and re-do everything I reported doing at the outset.

Will report back.