Orville Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 4 hours ago, PhilMassey said: Neither an external drive or alternate user account will work. Computer resources such as USB for example, would still be shared. Even a virtual machine would still need to use the same ports at some point. It's pretty much got to be two machines or uninstall and reinstall to swap back and forth. Not actually that hard. That makes sense. Didn't think about the USB Dongles in the equation. I have a 2nd computer, just need to see why it's not giving me a display when I connect everything up. It worked when I stopped using it a while back, and the monitor is good as it was on another computer working fine. I get power to the mouse, keyboard and all the ports, but some odd and strange reason the monitor won't display what's booting when turned on and just displays a blank/blacked out screen. Monitor power is on and the monitor cable is good, I tested it and it's fine. So kind of puzzled as to why it won't display anything on the monitor. I installed S4 on it before I stopped using it because I didn't have a 2nd monitor for it. It was my back up system for all my LOR stuff. If I could get it to function, I'd swap all my current S4 stuff over to it and then install S5 on the current system I'm using. Then I'd have both up and running. Just got to figure out the monitor issue. And nope, nothing has been changed on the other system, it should work completely, but monitor just won't display anything. Hoping the onboard video hasn't gone bad, otherwise I may have to find an OLDER video card somewhere {if possible} for it to use it, as that is the only thing I'm thinking that could be causing the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMassey Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 Plug in another monitor to rule out the monitor. Does it have a second graphics port or HDMI you could try. Since you can't access the machine your only choice is to buy a really cheap graphics card and try it. Even then you may need to get into the BIOS to turn it on which is tricky when you cant see the screen. It might not be worth putting any more funds into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlogan Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 The graphics card is worth a shot. I bought a cheap refurbed computer that ran S4 no problem, but I couldn't even install S5 until I installed a cheap graphics card that could be upgraded to the proper version of OpenGL. So, install a new card or try to update the existing one (in my case I could not update the onboard graphics so had to install a new card). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMassey Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 But he can't see the screen to do anything, even see the bios. Maybe it would auto sense a new card, but I doubt it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlogan Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 OK, I missed that. I think yo got it right...try a different monitor and or port first, then a graphics card. I don't think there is any sense in a new computer until you know if it's the monitor or the graphics card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMassey Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 Even with a new card, he can't install it without entering the BIOS and disabling the onboard. Can't download drivers, either although Windows would probably get him going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibblejr Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 I think it may be cheaper to get a refurbished/ renewed laptop in Amazon. My wife’s friend just got a nice HP that will handle what we do for a little over $100 with free shipping. JR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlogan Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 Yeah, I guess it would be a problem. In my case the computer fired up to Windows, so once Windows opened, it did the whole plug and play thing to configure the new card. It really sucks when a computer goes down. They always seem to go down at the worst possible time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted June 9, 2020 Author Share Posted June 9, 2020 4 hours ago, PhilMassey said: Plug in another monitor to rule out the monitor. Does it have a second graphics port or HDMI you could try. Since you can't access the machine your only choice is to buy a really cheap graphics card and try it. Even then you may need to get into the BIOS to turn it on which is tricky when you cant see the screen. It might not be worth putting any more funds into. Tried different monitors, odd thing is, it does show me the BIOS screen extremely briefly, then disappears and then nothing. I've got to remember the correct keys to access the Bios and see if I can get into it, but when I get a system I always set the Bios to AUTO for the video, that way a new card should automatically be configured, but I may need to tweak it a bit or possibly need to make a change from Auto to external video. Most computers its like F2, but this one requires two separate keys and I don't see the screen on long enough to see what they are, it's like a blip on radar, there it is, then gone as fast as it appeared. This is why I'm suspecting it's probably the onboard video that's the problem. I have an ANCIENT graphics card in the machine I currently use, it is very old, but fortunately I found a driver that worked and allowed me to use the OpenGL that the PE required. Because the first time I tried accessing the PE, I kept getting it wouldn't continue without the OpenGL, and then it'd just unload itself when I clicked OK. Finally found a driver that would work from ATI, but it's not the correct driver for the card as it's no longer supported by Radeon who made it. But I found an ATI driver that would and did. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to use the PE {tried a few times, but never could get my props to set up correctly} and gave up on it, tried S5 and it works, it wouldn't have if I couldn't have updated the graphics card, So I'm going to see if I can locate an old graphics card for the older machine, as I'm sure it can't use any of the newer ones and go from there. Sometimes I'm lucky enough that a friend in my area has left over computer parts and can get one from them for $5 or free. Well that's it for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobW Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 On 6/9/2020 at 3:06 PM, Orville said: Tried different monitors, odd thing is, it does show me the BIOS screen extremely briefly, then disappears and then nothing. I've got to remember the correct keys to access the Bios and see if I can get into it, but when I get a system I always set the Bios to AUTO for the video, that way a new card should automatically be configured, but I may need to tweak it a bit or possibly need to make a change from Auto to external video. If you mention what kind of computer it is, maybe someone here can tell you what key(s) to press to get into the BIOS. Bob W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
default Posted June 11, 2020 Share Posted June 11, 2020 On 6/9/2020 at 12:06 PM, Orville said: Most computers its like F2, but this one requires two separate keys and I don't see the screen on long enough to see what they are, it's like a blip on radar, there it is, then gone as fast as it appeared. I have usually found it to be F3 or F11 and even then keep tapping the F3, until it comes up or boots past the bios. (it boots past the F3 taps, then it's another F key) Can you record the screen with a phone, then playback in slow mo so you can see it? Just a thought. Alan... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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