Having trouble with a dim screen, “no signal” message, or a projector that won’t display properly? This video walks you through common display and projector issues you’ll need to recognize for the CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1201) exam.
This clip is part of the course: Hardware and Network Troubleshooting for CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1201) on Pluralsight! Check out the full course over here
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Video Summary
- Start with the basics: When troubleshooting monitors, always check the cables, power, and ensure the correct input is selected. Simple issues like these often cause problems.
- Projector problems differ: Unlike monitors, projectors often face issues related to image quality. Adjusting focus, sharpness, and keystone correction can help improve the image.
- Overheating issues: Projectors can shut down due to overheating. Ensure the fans are working well and clean any dust that might have accumulated.
- Bulb lifespan: Projector bulbs have a limited lifespan (2,000 to 3,000 hours). As they near the end, the image dims or the bulb may burn out. Replace the bulb when you see a warning light.
- Adjusting settings: To fix blurriness and incorrect dimensions, use the focus ring and settings like four-point correction, vertical correction, and zoom. It may take some trial and error to get it right.
For more information, read the transcript blog below, or watch the video above!
Transcript
As an IT professional, one common piece of hardware you will have to troubleshoot is displays and projectors. Because let’s be honest, even if your PC works perfectly, if nobody can see anything on the screen, it’s kind of useless. Let’s start by learning how to troubleshoot monitors. The first type of issue that can happen is no image at all. Remember to always check the basics, like whether it is connected and powered on. You might laugh, but it happens more than you think. Make sure you check both the power and the video input cables and that the right input is selected. Everything from cleaning staff accidentally touching the cables or maybe a power outage at night might make those simple, basic things happen, which makes your monitor not work in the morning. You can always try this monitor on another PC or laptop. This way, you can try and isolate the problem. If this problem is with the Windows PC and not the monitor, you can try to boot the PC in VGA mode, since this will load the full video functionality but in a basic resolution and with limited drivers, so you can see if the problem is software-related.
Now, you might have an image, but you might have poor image quality problems, from screen flashing to the image being distorted or even weird black spots on your monitor. Let’s take a look at all those scenarios. First things first, your monitor might start flickering or flashing, or one color might be missing. The first thing to check is your video cables, as that’s usually the most common problem. I always like to have spare cables that I know are working, so I can rule that out right away. Another good test is to replace the monitor with a good, known working one to isolate the problem. Is the problem with the PC or the monitor? Sometimes you can boot the PC, and everything just looks weird. The resolution might be wrong, or you might have a fuzzy or distorted image. This is usually an operating system configuration. Start by making sure you have a good resolution, preferably the native one or a multiple of the native one. For example, if the monitor is 1920×1080, a 1280×720 would still look good because they are both in the 16:9 ratio. Also, check the screen refresh rate and make sure that it matches the monitor refresh rate, and you might need to look in the monitor menu or in the specifications to find it.
Something you might see on a monitor is burn-in, and you will see this if the same image is displayed for too long on a monitor. It can happen to all types of monitors, but it’s more common in plasma TVs as well as the brand new OLED TVs and monitors. If this happens to you, you can try to fix it with a manufacturer tool. I know that a lot of OLED TVs and monitors have a pixel cleaning mode or a pixel refresh mode, or you can try to keep a white screen on for a long amount of time, but it’s possible that it can be a permanent burn-in. Your monitor might also suffer from dead pixels. Those are pixels that are not performing as expected, and this can either show up as a dark dot or a bright dot on the screen. This is really a manufacturing defect, and there is nothing you can do about it. Your warranty usually has a threshold of how many dead pixels are needed for a warranty claim. So, for example, if you have over 10, then you can send it for warranty, but if there’s only one or two, well, you cannot do anything. This will sound funny, but try to clean the monitor with a screen cleaning solution. You wouldn’t believe how many times people think it’s a dead pixel or something is wrong, but it’s just dirt.
Now, if your users are complaining about the dim image, the first thing you should adjust is the monitor settings, such as the brightness and the contrast. You should also check your operating system settings. Maybe auto dimming or ice saver was turned on, or maybe it’s the battery saver feature that dims the screen on a laptop. It can also be something more serious, like a backlight failure. This is when the backlight inside your monitor goes bad, and what happens as a result is that the image becomes extremely dim, like you can barely see anything on the screen anymore. Some screens can be repaired, but honestly, it’s not always worth it.
Finally, most monitors today also include speakers, and sometimes the PC automatically switches to the monitor as an output source, which if you want to use your headphones, it can be annoying. If your users never want audio from the monitor, you can disable it as an audio device in the device manager. But if you want to use the monitor speakers, make sure you check out the volume levels on the monitor and also make sure you use a cable that can pass audio, and it’s configured on the right input on the monitor. So, a cable like HDMI, DisplayPort, or Thunderbolt.
One of the things that can happen is you try to open up your PC in the morning, the PC turns on, but the screen is black and nothing appears on the screen. Remember to check the basics. Usually, the basics will solve the problem. Check the cables, make sure everything is plugged in, and in my case, I did have a problem with the power outlet. Somehow, my monitor was not plugged in, but as soon as I plugged it in, I didn’t see Windows, I didn’t see my operating system. Instead, I had an error on my monitor that said no DisplayPort cable plugged in. Do something, or the display will go into power safe mode in 5 minutes. Okay, so our monitor is on, but I’m still not getting a signal. But this is probably because, well, I’m using HDMI for my monitor, I’m not using DisplayPort. So, what you need to do, and this will change for every monitor really, every monitor is unique, go into the monitor settings and then make sure to choose the right input. If we look at the options I have in my monitor right now, I have a DisplayPort, a Mini DisplayPort, and two HDMIs. Let me pick the HDMI here, but unfortunately, it didn’t do much. I still have the same error, and it happens to me all the time. It’s probably the other HDMI that I need, and let’s give it a second. There we go, we see the Windows login screen. So, when you troubleshoot monitors, remember to start with the basics. Check the cables, check the power, and make sure that the right input is selected.
While both displays and projectors help us display information, the types of problems we run into with projectors are very different. Today, you’ll find projectors in many conference rooms, classrooms, or even for personal use at home. Projectors use a lamp or an LED light source to create a very bright beam of light. That lamp produces a lot of heat, and remember, heat brings problems with electrical components in general. Most of your projector problems will be around fixing the image quality, and to do that, you can adjust the focus, adjust the sharpness, or do a keystone correction, which is able to adjust your image digitally instead of you having to move the projector around. Sometimes, well, you might need to move the projector around if keystone correction isn’t able to do it. You might have to move the projector to a better spot. If ever the projector just randomly shuts down after a period where it worked fine, it’s most likely caused by overheating. Make sure that the fans of the projector work well and clean any dust that might have accumulated in the projector.
Lastly, the bulb or projector lamp can go bad. It’s again not an if but a when, as most lamps are designed to work from anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 hours. As you get closer to that number, the image will get dimmer, or it will not turn on. Sometimes you might hear a popping sound and notice a burnt electronic smell when it burns out. If that happens, first of all, wait for everything to cool down before you touch anything, and then go replace it. And again, it’ll be very hot, so give it some time. Today, many projectors have a warning light when the bulb approaches the end of its life, and then when you see that warning light go on, go replace it as soon as possible. It’s a lot easier to replace when it’s still working, but a bit less than when it popped.
We’ve just been called to troubleshoot a projector, and if you take a look at the video you see right now on the screen, we have quite a of problems. First of all, it’s very blurry, and second of all, the dimensions don’t seem right. It doesn’t seem like it’s a rectangle on the wall like it should be. So, let’s work on the blurriness issues first. Each projector will have a focus ring on top of it or somewhere around the bulb. Play around with it, be careful what you touch, not to burn yourself, but play around with it until the image is good. After that, we can go into the projector settings, and then we will have quite a few settings we can play with to adjust image quality. For example, first, I have my four-point correction, where for each corner, I can go around with the projector remote and move the corner. So again, I can adjust each one of them to what I think is right. And I’ll be honest here, it takes a bit of playing around. You’re not going to get it right on the first try. You need to play around with them a bit, and after that, you will get it. Another setting that you have is the vertical correction, where again, you can play around with the settings to adjust it so it looks good on the surface that you want to project. The last option we have is the zoom, where I can zoom in or out depending on what size image I want to have and how far the projector is from the wall. Every projector will be a bit different, but those are the main settings that you will have to adjust when troubleshooting projectors.
