"Chris" wrote in
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Hi there,

Silly question time - can a faulty graphics card damage the HV side of a
CRT monitor? I would have said no, but having read the monitor repair
FAQ wanted to double check.

The video card is an old ATI Rage II in my second pc. A while back the
monitor died, with arcing (sparks visible through the case) from what I
guess is the flyback transformer.

I've just borrowed another (old but good condition) monitor (LG 520Si
'plug and play'), used it off and on for a few hours, and it has just
started arcing accompanied by momentary picture collapse.

I'm going to take it into a repair shop monday, but before I risk
connecting a monitor to the pc again, is there anyway that these
problems could be caused by the video card? As far as I am aware the
card output has been in the range of the monitor (800x600, 60 - 75 Hz).
Even if the card output was out of the monitor's range, could it cause
this kind of problem?

Many thanks,

Chris.

Silly answer time, Chris. Once I had a 17" monitor, and I accidentally left
it running on some unsupported resolution/scanning frequency combination.
The raster was black with a slight whistling noise. Then there was a burning
smell and I later found the HOT was blown. Coincidence? Maybe, but I've
always had this suspicion that the unsupported settings on the video card
did the damage (there are warnings in some card manuals that some settings
may damage the monitor).

Henry
Australia

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