what is the general life expectancy of a Compaq 540 monitor? My brother-in-law’s computer is losing its red colors - - they come and go. I suggested to him that the monitor was probably get ready to die and that they would be far ahead to buy a new one. Is this correct advice to give them? Thank you for your assistance.Read on for my answer. Well, Robin, most CRT monitors that I have owned or used have had a three to five year lifetime. If your brother-in-law’s monitor (I assume you meant monitor) is losing the red colors, there can be a couple of causes. The first thing to check is the video cable. When you say that the colors "come and go," that leads me to believe that there could be a problem with the connection. If there are any bent pins (there may be missing pins, but no more than two or three), they can be straightened, but great care should be taken; monitors have capacitors that may still hold a high voltage charge long after being disconnected from power. If the color problems do not disappear when the video connector is properly seated, then the next thing to do would be to try using a lower resolution for the display. Higher resolutions require more resources for both the computer and the monitor. If a lower display resolution does not remedy the problem, then you should try the monitor with another computer and try the computer with another monitor. This will help eliminate the video card, the video driver, and/or the monitor as possible causes of the problem. If you do not have an extra monitor or computer to use, you should bring the monitor to be checked by a computer service company. In my experience, when monitors display the symptoms you mentioned in your question, if the symptoms do not disappear when the video cable is reseated, the problem is usually with the monitor. With the falling prices of both LCD and CRT monitors, now is as good a time as any to purchase a replacement monitor. I have seen 17″ CRT monitors for less than $150, and 15″ LCD monitors for less than $250. When purchasing a replacement monitor, I always suggest going with name brand monitors such as Sony, Samsung, and HP. Since you will be spending all of your time in front of the computer staring at your monitor, you don’t want to skimp on this crucial part of your computing experience. Likewise, even though you can save by purchasing online, you should still make the effort to visit a computer store to view the various models. Most stores will have a display of demo monitors that share the same image, allowing you to compare the different characteristics between several monitors, letting you know exactly what you would be purchasing. I like to jot down three or four different model numbers for monitors I like and do some comparison shopping at home. I also make sure that the extra cost of shipping a monitor doesn’t offset the savings of purchasing online. I hope that helps you and your brother-in-law with his monitor troubles. Of course, if you or anyone else has any questions, feel free to ask me anything.
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4 Responses to “Compaq 540 monitor”
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Mark, thanks so much. I have an extra flat panel monitor that I’ll take over there to try it. The monitor and computer have not been moved since they were set up about 8 months ago, but I’ll first check the connections. I really appreciate your assistance. Thanks a bunch.
Could I ask you one more question, please. If I were to give my bro-in-law my flat panel (it is for an hp which I use rarely, because I use my laptop so heavily, but it was just rebuilt with a new hard drive this past spring), can I connect my hp hard drive to my lap top and see what is in it?????
Thanks again for your help. Your wedding picture looks so young, you seem full of knowledge. The Lord has surely given you lots of savvy about computers.
Respectfully, Robin Howard
Yabilee@kconline.com
Robin, to connect the HP’s hard drive to your laptop, you will need one of several things. The easiest method would be if you could use file sharing to connect your two computers together over a network. If you want more details about setting up file sharing, I can give those to you, but I don’t have any quick links to share with you right now. You can probably get a quick tutorial by searching Google.
Another way to connect your hard drive to your laptop requires the use of a converter. You will need to know what kind of interface your hard drive uses. Most desktop hard drives use IDE or parallel ATA, which is a 40-pin connection (again, a Google search can get you a visual to quickly identify your hard drive’s interface). The other popular interfaces are SCSI and serial ATA. These are less common, so I won’t explain the details unless you really need to know them.
There are IDE to USB converters readily available at many online retailers. Cyber Guys has an adapter here. You may also be interested in having an enclosure that converts an internal hard drive to an external USB or firewire drive. Cyber Guys has several listed here.
Thank you for the compliments, and as always, feel free to ask me anything.
Hi I need the start up cd for the compaq 540 monitor.
Could you please help me?
thank you
Mark
Mark, if you go to hp.com and click on the Driver Downloads link, you can search for drivers for the Compaq monitor there (HP and Compaq merged a few years ago). Unless you need something very specific, you shouldn’t need any drivers for the monitor. Most monitors are plug and play, meaning they can use a generic monitor driver to operate with a computer. It is much like plugging in a TV to your cable or satellite receiver - the receiver doesn’t need to know what kind of TV you have for it to send the signal to the TV.