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November 26th, 2007 13:00

How To Turn Off "Self Test Feature Check" ?

I have my Dell monitor connected via DVI to the computer. My power settings are set to "Turn off monitor" after 10 minutes, and the screen used to go completely black. Now however, after 10 minutes the screen blacks out for only a few seconds, and then up pops the DVI "Self Test Feature Check." Its so bright at night and I can't figure out how to shut the monitor off like it used to, or why it even stopped doing it in the first place. Any help? p.s. I did a driver rollback and its doing the same thing.

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9.3K Posts

November 26th, 2007 18:00

Just do a shutdown Windows, or press the power button on the monitor to power off the monitor.

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5 Posts

November 26th, 2007 21:00

I don't want to shutdown windows, or have to turn the monitor on and off each time. I have the power settings set to turn the monitor off after 10 minutes. It has done this for the past 2 years no problem - after 10 minutes the screen would go black and it wouldn't turn on until I move the mouse. Now however it brings the DVI STFC screen up. I don't know what changed, but I want it to self time off just like it used to without me shutting it off.

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276 Posts

November 27th, 2007 17:00

michaelgazin,
 
I don't have a solution for you, but I want to say that I have had a VERY similar phenomenon happen to me.    In my case, what caused the problem on my computer was that I switched my video card, switching from a BFG Geforce FX5500 PCI card to a VisionTek X1300 PCI card  (and of course I also switched my video card drivers from the nvidia ones to the ati ones).
 
Prior to changing the video card, with the BFG card, when I used to do a "Windows Shutdown", the system would also automatically turn off my monitor too.  Or like you, after my monitor was idle after 10 minutes or so, the monitor would also turn itself off (go black).
 
But now, after switching to the VisionTek card, when I do a Windows Shutdown, the system does NOT turn off the monitor anymore.  And similarly after the 10 minutes of idle time, the monitor does NOT turn itself off anymore - in both cases, the monitor will now just display that very bright Dell "Self Test" display on the monitor!   It is annoying, and now I am forced to walk over to my monitor and manually power it off by hand, where before I didn't need to do that!
 
I have visited the VisionTek customer forums, and have read about other people that have experienced a similar phenomenon when switching to that video card.  It seems to be some kind of quirk with that video card (or perhaps the ati drivers?), a mildly annoying one, which as of yet, I have not seen a solution posted.
 
Other than the above phenomena, the new video card works fine.
 
I am not sure what system you have, and if you recently changed your video card or not, which might have caused this similar problem?  
 
In my case, my monitor is connected to a VGA output, not a DVI one, and I have a 15" Dell flat panel monitor.
 
I do sympathize with your problem!   :smileywink:
 
Good luck,
Kevin

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6 Posts

March 17th, 2009 01:00

I have the same problem...but i cant turn my LCD (1907fpc) monitor off cause the switch is broken...if any one has a solution please feel free to contact me.:emotion-15:

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276 Posts

March 17th, 2009 07:00

Sorry ron, I haven't found any other solutions to the monitor Self Check displaying after the computer power is off,  so I just manually turn off my monitor.

A lot of times I just leave my computer turned on, and I have my screen saver set to display a completely black screen, so that is another possibility, although obviously it is desirable to turn the computer and monitor off occasionally...  Maybe you could plug the monitor into a power bar, and turn the power bar switch off after the computer has been powered down, it you want to avoid having to pull out the monitor power cable...  although that is a pain too.  

Good luck...

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6 Posts

March 18th, 2009 06:00

that is so SAD!

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5 Posts

December 2nd, 2011 04:00

had this problem on a Dell 2405 LCD monitor.  it was turning off fine whenever the computer went to sleep.  then , albeit after plugging/unplugging the video connector into other machines, it would just display the 'self test' message whenever the computer was sleeping.  turns out I had bent one of the pins on the video cable.  after i fixed the pin, all was well again.  check your pins/connectors, worked for me!

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1 Message

January 8th, 2012 12:00

Yes I have the same problem, the Dell monitor not only always have the "self check" on all the time, but also the power switch doesn't work.

The design is so foolish and the quality is also very bed with the power switch not working.

I will not buy any Dell product any more!!!!

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February 24th, 2012 10:00

I'd been living with this problem for nearly a year, when my wife got fed up and asked me to fix it.  After poking around a bit, I tried simply changing the cable from the laptop to the monitor (suggested elsewhere: I never would have thought of this myself).  That definitely fixed the problem.  Using the old cable causes the Self Test block to appear; swapping the new cable in makes it sleep peacefully.

Please note that the old cable is a pretty functional VGA cable.  There are no bent pins on either end and the video is fine.  It appears that all cables are not created equal..

Cheers.

  Blake Meike

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September 4th, 2012 07:00

My screen started doing  the same DVI test. I have been having this screen for over 5 years and never experienced this. Checked all the settings on the screen, computer setting whatever related to the monitor or power settings even I knew I did not change anything lately and I did not find anything suspicious,  Then Googled 'DVI self test' and was amazed to see the same questions posted all over the net. I saw a few posts about the dvi cables either damaged or loose.

 I recalled  a few days ago I disconnected the dvi cable from the computer a few days ago. When I plugged it back I did not use the long screws to secure it, since I knew I had to disconnect it again in a few days. I'm not sure this was a problem or because I moved the computer nest day and the cable got slightly loose. But the screen was working normal, I did not have any issues with the picture or anything else. So I reconnected the cable and secured it with the screws. Problem solved!!! The confusing thing was the screen was working fine.

I hope this will help you guys who will run into the same issue.

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November 9th, 2012 07:00

My son's computer monitor started doing this.  He is away at college so no one has messed with any cables or settings. The computer itself is turned off.  The monitor comes on by itself with the Dell Self Test box displayed.  I've manually turned the monitor off twice and both times it later TURNED ITSELF BACK ON.  Needless to say, this is kind of creepy!  I've now turned it off AND unplugged it.  If it turns back on this time I'm throwing it out!

November 14th, 2014 05:00

I just started having this same exact problem.  I have a Dell 1908FP-BLK monitor.  It used to go into power save mode, and my other monitor turns off fine, however the Dell monitor displays the digital input self test feature check message.  I've tried switching the input from Auto to Digital to Analog, but no matter what mode it is in, the self test message with the three colored bars pops up, which is bright at night and annoying.  I recently did upgrade my video drivers.  I am using a Radeon HD 5870 and recently upgraded to Catalyst Control Center CCC 14.9 with display driver version 14.301.1001.  I have also had other driver issues with this version and get another error occasionally saying that host application has stopped working.  I guess I will have to go back to an old version of the display drivers to see if that fixes the issue

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47K Posts

November 14th, 2014 10:00

You cannot turn this off.  It means there is no video signal.

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October 8th, 2015 00:00

many of the problem was the cable from the monitor. was not the right signal to the graphics card 

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