1703fp ultrasharp digital input problem

It's the monitor. Call Dell and they'll send you a replacement. There are numerous threads in here talking about this.

It sounds to me that you most likely had a card failure. Nividia cards have a problem with DVI connections. I upgraded to Radeon 9800 Pro and had no problem with my new LCD. There are numerous articles on the web about DVI Problems with Nividia video cards. They have a problem for sure. Nividia had a higher rate of failure then any other card mfgr.

Interesting because they always made good cards before. I think what happened is they tried to rush out their modification for digital on their cards. Fortunately ATI spent a lot to time and work into theirs before they offered their cards.

 

We poor consumers always bear the brunt of all of these things.

Good luck

Jerry

Hi jerry

thanks for the reply. I think it probably is the card. dell support suggested I download a new driver for the video card but it didnt make any difference. I am still waiting for a reply to my email to dell support asking how they are going to sort it out.

cheers

david

I had this problem and Dell sent me a replacement monitor, which worked on DVI. I suggest you call Dell technical support.

Keep in mind after reading all the messages, at least 26 pages on the forum on LCD and card problems . Many of the Monitors worked fine for a few weeks and then failed in DVI. They played in analog and also played on other computers. I think that there is mounting evidence that the failure is in the card DVI. Most if not all of the lcd's  that failed had Nividia cards. There have been failures in the hardware of the LCD's, but this is normal with any product mass produced. According to the articles I read the failure is caused by low quality transistors and components in the cards.

If you think about it, why do they fail in such great numbers? And why do many of them fail in DVI and work in analog. I think there is enough evidence to make a conclusion that the major fault lies with the card. Testing on web sites turned out statistics that Nividia cards failed at a higher rate.

I wouldn't stake my life on it, but, I would be willing to go with this decision because of the frequency of the mounting evidence that the cards are one of the major problems.

Hope this can be of some help. I've learned from many years of making decisions in my field of chemical engineering, that good deductive reasoning and analysis of problems leads to most correct decisions . Not always right, but with little info to go from the manufacturers which puts you on your own most of the time. A calculated decision is better than no decision. Enough for the philosophy.

my best regards to all,

Jerry

ps. Dell uses Nividia cards in most of their system as standard. I haven't heard of so many failures with LCD's anywhere else. And also keep in mind that PC world rated the Dell 1701FP and 1901FP as best rated LCD Monitors in the Feb or Mar isssue. That is after extensive testing in lab.

I have heard in the past that Samsung makes Dell LCD monitors. Is that true? Samsung has monitors very similiar in size, specs and look somewhat similiar. If not I wonder who is the manufacturer. I think I'm going to search the internet for opinions.

Jerry

Download & install the latest FX 5200 driver from Dell's site:

http://support.dell.com/filelib/format.aspx?releaseid=r69611

Install it & see if that restores your DVI.  If not call tech support.  I have heard that they now have a reset utility for the DVI.

hi everyone

thanks for all the info, not to mention the philosophy.

jerry- if the nvidia card is faulty due to poor quality components are dell obliged to send me a new card or do I get them to collect the system and fix it?

If it is a software problem I  suppose they're working on a patch for it.

dageezer - I have already downloaded file R69611.exe but it didn't make any difference to the digital output

cheers

david

 

That's something that you have to decide on.

For example, if you want to try another Nividia card it could be ok, However as I said the tech info is that it has a propensity to fail due to component failure. Is that going to happen? Possibly yes and no. If it fails again you can at that time get a replacement. Maybe at that time Nividia came up with component fix which solves the problem. Eventually I believe they will come up with a fix. Will they announce it to the public? The answer is definitely no.Then at that time you can upgrade or stick with it. I upgraded my Radeon card because it's just a better card all around. The downside is if you buy it on the open markey you can pay $300 -400. I got Dell to upgrade my card even though they shipped it with the Nividia card for only the upgrade price of $130.00. It wasn't easy , it took me about a month to straighten it out.

Why don't you contact Nividia Direct and tell them about the dilemma. They might do something. Dell might have a contract with them based on price and maybe that's not the card they sell on the open market under their label. They may have had to meet a price and cheapened their card. I would not have replaced my card if I had to pay Dell $400.00 to buy the card. That's too steep. If I haven't read about testing of cards and component failure I would think that a software fix would do the trick. But now, I believe if you want to leave this horror behind you, you should consider replacing the card. Talk to tech service , tell them about the adverse publicity on the community and most of all the test reports and Nividia failures and maybe you can get them to replace it and pay only an upgrade price.

Good luck

Jerry

 

Can someone help me with that too? I have an ATI radeon 9800 XT. Right from the word go digital input didn't work. I mean I have been enjoying my computer lots but i really need Digital input. It is just so much better.

Make sure you use only the digital cable(white) not both together. If this is what you did and it plays in analog, then I would do the following:

Make sure your digital connectors are in properly and tight. Check the pins in the mail connections to make sure they are not bent.

If everything looks right, the next thing I would do is make sure you video card is in tight and connected properly with power and it is inserted right.

If it is then the fault could be in the video DVI connection on the card or the monitor. Call Dell and get another video card and or another monitor. If you had another computer or friends you could narrow it down by puting your monitor on another computer with Digital capabilities. If it works elsewhere than the fault lies with the card. If it doesn't then it's the monitor. I would think Dell would send you another monitor and video card. Where did you get the ATI 9800Xt card ? On the 8300 series they only supply the 9800 Pro. Maybe on the XF or XPS that's the card that they use.

Of course it could be the DVI cable as well . Try all these possibilities.  If you bought the card elsewhere return it or call tech service for the card.

The fact that it never played in DVI is a indication of the above.

Dell also has a software patch to help this problem. I understand it doesn't alway work. I heard about 50%. Unfortunately you have to try all these possibilities.

Good luck ,

jerry

Jerry,

You bet!

About 5 years ago my old Dell Dimension XPS T500 came with a SAMSUNG driver disk for the monitor (a 17" CRT model)!!!

That's evidence enough.

Rafael.

Message Edited by Rafaibiza on 02-18-2004 12:33 AM

It seems i had forgotten to press the button to switch from analog to digital, and this is a UK dell computer which supplies the ATI radeon 9800XT for  the an extra price.

Glad you solved your problem. I wasn't aware that they use a different Radeon card in the UK.

It was a little tricky for me to pick the right display in the software until I got the hang of the way from that bouncing display. It was a little unclear for me.

It's a little more proof that ATI Radeon doesn't have the digital problem that the Nividia cards do.

Jerry

LCD panels are manufactured under Dells name as are other computer names by samsung, Nec, Phillips and Sony.  They are the only ones the make the LCDs any other name is just that.