Default Monitor??

I've been having some trouble lately with my monitor:

And in Device Manager, my actual monitor brand which is a Packard Bell LC700 monitor, is shown as 'Default Monitor' instead. I tried downloading and installing the monitor's driver from here: http://support.packardbell.com/asia/item/index.php?i=6918260200&pi=platform_monitor_lc700

Nothing changes no matter how many times I download and install over and over again. I went to device manager and uninstalled default monitor, then I scanned for hardware changes, and it still gives me back the same old default monitor.

Besides that, my monitor has been exhibiting strange behaviour, blackouts, strange screen resolutions even though I've never changed it at all, the language for the monitor's built-in menu goes from english to dutch.
As for the blackouts, they can blackout, power still on, sometimes the monitor blacks out and powers off suddenly.

Any one got any ideas? If this monitor does not work properly, I will consider getting a LCD monitor from a computer shop.

 

This is somewhat strange to me. I've had a "Default Monitor" report before but your case is clearly something much more serious. Because, even if your monitor is reported as "Default Monitor", The details of the monitor should be reported regardless of whether you have installed a monitor driver or not.

In most cases, when you have NOT installed your monitor drivers, then Windows would report it as "Default Monitor". When you install drivers, Windows will report your monitor by the correct name. But in the screenshot you show, Windows does not report a monitor name at all!

You can see the screenshot below, I have installed drivers and hence you can see the name "ViewSonic VA1912w SERIES" under the Monitor Type Column. If I had not installed the drivers, instead of "ViewSonic VA1912w SERIES", it would say "Default Monitor". Since your screenshot doesn't show any name at all, I would say that there us something wrong with your monitor. Check if it is connected properly with your onboard graphics chip. Remove the monitor connections and re-attach them, and then see what happens.

If driver juggling and reattaching wires did not help, there's basically only two things that it boils down to, either the videocard or the monitor. More likely the problem is with the monitor, probably the EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) got corrupted, in which case, either get it repaired or get a new monitor.

If getting a new monitor doesn't solve the problem, the next step is the videocard....

EDIT 1: Regarding frequent blackouts, I remember having such frequent blackouts on my old CRT in 2001. When such blackouts happened, I would just turn it off and on again and it would work again. The blackouts just kept getting more and more frequent until the monitor one day died. This was apparently due to the overloading of some unit, I forget what. It is repairable, but you'd do better to just get a new monitor anyway.

Also, what game is that screenshot from which serves as your desktop wallpaper? And who is that woman, she reminds me of Bastila Shan?

 

BTW, I can see in your taskbar that you are using McAfee VirusScan 7. This version is now quite old and obsolete, and its best that you upgrade to a newer version or something else now.

 

The reason why it was not showing anything in the screenshot is because I uninstalled Default Monitor inside Device Manager.

It is now reporting it as default monitor even though the driver for the monitor is installed. The problem appears to be that Windows is unable to detect the driver properly and is reporting it as default monitor instead. And this driver is the original release that most of Packard Bell's monitors ship with. No newer version of this driver has been released so far.

I tried uninstalling default monitor inside device manager to see if it would stop my monitor's cranky behavior. I also used it's recall function to recall back its original factory settings. While the monitor seems to be ok right now, I can't say the same for it's driver...

 

My mom got it from a game website or forum, I don't like it at all. I got some Vista wallpapers in the Screenshots folder, those are way much nicer.

 

Still snowing in Singapore?

Gerard

 

This is just my experience, but I have seen after installing various drivers that apart from colour differences and compatibility for CAD applications, monitor drivers hardly make any difference at all to the usability of the monitor. Which is why I cannot think that this problem could possibly be related to drivers. I suspect its something with the EDID, and the blackouts make me quite suspicious. See what happens in the next few days.

Having used McAfee VirusScan 7.0 for more than a year in the past, I swear that McAfee Enterprise 8.5 uses the very same taskbar icon! Also, from the screenshot you showed, there is a VERY strange resemblance to VirusScan 7...

Of course, McAfee VirusScan 7 actually rocked, and so does 8.5 Enterprise, its only the home editions that are bad

BTW, your mom's a gamer?

 

I downloaded this program called Powerstrip from here:
http://entechtaiwan.net/util/ps.shtm

It allows you to find out more information about your computer's hardware, and allows you to tweak several aspects of your graphics adapter.

It is also able to read the EDID of your monitor, here's one example when I do it this way:
So I guess you are right, the edid of my monitor is corrupted.

Yep. My mom's a gamer. Any games are allowed, as long as they don't contain any malware or affect my computer performance.

The Unwanted Programs Policy of Viruscan enterprise is really helpful.

 

It never snows here.