I think VLC Destroyed my monitor.

[GeneralXTL]

Well a few weeks ago i had to re download VLC just after reformating my hardrive. Before i did that i had been watching Commentaires from Stargate:Atlantis on it. About an episode a night. But after i re downloaded VLC i watched 1 episode and everything was fine. I turned my computer off after it was over. But the next morining i turn on my PC and the monitor does not work. The green powerlight just blinks on and off at a slow interval. I use an adaptor and switch from the digital imput to the Analog RGB imput. Everything seemed to work alight after that. I assumed that it was just the monitor. A week later i watch another episode on a different disk and it plays just fine. I turn my system off and when i turn it back on the next morning. The monitor does not respond. The powerlight again just blinks at a slow interval. I tried switching back to the digital but no luck. I am now convinced that VLC had somthing to do with it. I wonder if this is a known problem and if there is a way to fix it.

My Rig Specs.

Monitor: Hanns-G 19"
Graphics Card: (2x) 8800GTS 512mb
Mobo: Nvidea SLI 780i
OS: Windows Vista 32 bit home.
ram: 4 Gigs Nvidea SLI ready

[heffeque]

The other day VLC killed my neighbor's cat I turned VLC on, and just when it crashed with an mkv file in Mac OS X... BAM! The cat was run over by a truck

[GeneralXTL]

Well i would not asume that it was VLC except it happend twice. Both times the last program used was VLC media player.

[heffeque]

Try using a real operating system like... Windows XP SP3... Mac OS X... most Linux distributions... It's probably nVidia crappy Vista drivers making all that mess. Or maybe you got "the prize!" in one of your video cards.

[GeneralXTL]

Dont think its my OS or vidcards. I built this system a few months ago and only found problems with the 64bit version of vista. I have run the most graphics intensive games out there on this pc and the cards seem to handle them just fine. As i have been saying i only used VLC twice since the reformat and on both ocasions my monitor was damaged in some way. I have also gone over the cards carefully when i got them and the only problem was the sticker that coverd them does not stick very well. The only real thing that i forgot to add was each time i finished with VLC the last two times i did not shut the program down. I just told windows to shutdown the system. I figured like most programs vista would shut it down before shutting down the whole rig. Now about all the problems that people complain about vista i find to be very untrue. Although i did have driver problems with the 64bit version the 32 works just fine. I have had no problems and only discoverd that it worked better than my old system that ran XP. Anyways, has anyone else ever reported having this kind of problem with VCL before? I enjoyed using the free program but it might be more cost effective to buy PowerDVD than to buy another monitor after using VLC. I have already requested to return my current monitor and have it replaced as it is still under the three year warrenty by a few months.

[Arite]

VLC is unlikely to be the cause of the issue. It is is more likely that your monitor was, for example, failing (have not known an LCD monitor to fail like that though) and that it was just coincidental that VLC was used on those two occassions.

Arite.

[botarate]

As others have replied, it doesn't seem to be a VLC problem, sounds more like a hardware/drivers issue:

- The blinking LED usually means your monitor is in power-saving mode.
- It could also mean it's out of sync (ie. your video board is set to a refresh rate/video mode that's out of your monitor's capabilites).
- Newer monitors usually warn you when they detect they're receiving a video mode that's out of their capabilities.

Please try to answer the following:

- Are you able to see the boot up sequence? I mean, all the messages displayed by your MOBO until it starts loading Windows.
During boot up your PC uses "safe" video modes (that's why they look so crappy on newer monitors, due to their low-resolutions). If you're able to see the boot up sequence, and the blinking starts just after Windows starts loading, then you have a video driver/OS problem.

- I own three NVIDIA boards on three different PCs, can't complain about their performance, but their drivers are, let's say... "delicate". Everything in your OS must be ok in order for them to work well: I've had trouble with the drivers "remembering" custom resolutions, TV-OUT settings, etc (and etc really represents a list of issues...)

I would risk saying your have one of these problems. Try "playing" with your NVIDIA monitor settings, change them and reboot (don't use VLC), and see what happens. A driver full re-installation would be advised.
If you're not able to see the boot up sequence, then open your cabinet and verify the card is securely fitted in the socket: take it out and put it again in place (obviously, power must be off, preferably unplugging the AC socket).

I've had problems with low-quality CPU cabinets: PCI boards working fine when their brackets not screwed to the cabinet and failing then screwed. The reason for it is a tiny hardware difference : my cabinet's slots for the brackets not fitting their intended position owed to a sub-millimeter difference. I solved that problem loosing the MOBO's screws, fitting the brackets ones and then securing MOBO's once again.

Hope it helps. I think VLC is far away from causing your problems.