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Question

Does my monitor or its driver have a virus?

by Dec 31, 2016 9:35AM PST

Hello, i have 2 monitors and my Samsung monitor will fad out, flicker in addition to losing mouse control, but when i move the link page to my Acer monitor, the screen and mouse operate fine. I purchased and downloaded the latest McAfee virus software, but McAfee didn't find any viruses. So is it possible that my Samsung driver has a virus or its connection to the graphic card? and if so what would you recommend please? thanks very much!

Discussion is locked

15 Posts
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Answer
Sorry but at the shop
by Former Forum moderator Dec 31, 2016 9:42AM PST
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Answer
Monitor
by Dec 31, 2016 2:46PM PST

Test this with one monitor only connected.

See if you can isolate the problem to a monitor/cable/gpu.

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Graphics card ?
by bobk544 Jan 1, 2017 7:37AM PST

Yes when i disconnect the Samsung monitor and only have the Acer monitor connected, everything is fine, but when i reconnect the Samsung the screen flickers, jump around and can't be used at all. And i also tried the rkill the other day and no problems were found, so i guess i'm wondering, when people talk about a graphics card be affected, do they mean that the a physical component has been infected and if so, does that mean that one has to physically replace the graphics card? or can a "graphics card" be downloaded and reinstalled like a driver software? thanks again for you time!

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But did you
by itsdigger Jan 1, 2017 7:45AM PST

try the Samsung by itself ? Confused

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Using the Samsung only now, seems to be better than this mor
by bobk544 Jan 1, 2017 9:31AM PST

Ok right now i'm using the Samsung monitor only and using a VGA cable instead of the other more modern type cable, and i still get blips now and then, but nothing like i was getting this morning on the modern cable, so i'm going to continue using the Samsung for the rest of the day and see how it goes, thanks again very much for your help on this!

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So there's still a problem
by itsdigger Jan 1, 2017 10:57AM PST

You said "Yes when i disconnect the Samsung monitor and only have the Acer monitor connected, everything is fine "

So try using the same connector you used with the Acer (maybe) ?

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Acer using both cables directly connected
by bobk544 Jan 2, 2017 8:51AM PST

Ok i've used the Acer with both cables and directly connected to the computer and the Acer functions normally, so does that imply that both graphic cards are probably ok? in other words, there are 2 types of cable connections on the back of the PC, VBA and that modern type of wider connector, and i've tried both cables connected to the Acer and IE and Chrome are both showing normally on the Acer. So i guess that might mean that there's something phsycially wrong with the Samsung monitor? thanks again all!

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Not yet
by itsdigger Jan 2, 2017 2:05PM PST

I asked you to connect the cable that you originally used with the Acer to the Samsung to see if that straightened up the Samsung .

If you just keep connecting up the Acer we learn nothing .

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P.S
by itsdigger Jan 2, 2017 2:27PM PST

R. Proffitt asked for info also .

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Ok i connected both cables to the Samsung and both flicker o
by bobk544 Jan 2, 2017 2:49PM PST

Ok yes, so now i connected both cables to the Samsung one at a time, VGA and newer and with each connection, the screen has problems, even the login screen has problems with the newer cable, were the login screen would partially appear for about 1 second and go black for the majority of the time and with the VGA cable, the login screen would appear, but split and flicker in a double view. And a while ago, i downloaded what "i think" was the right driver for the Samsung and "i think" i reinstalled it correctly, but that didn't seem to help, however, i'm wondering if i installed the right driver, so i'm going to document that and get that PC information being asked for in the other post, thanks again guys, really do appreciate your time and help on this!

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Answer
I like the tips and ideas so far.
by Former Forum moderator Jan 1, 2017 11:15AM PST
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Speccy snapshot
by bobk544 Jan 2, 2017 3:07PM PST
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The only thing I see is
by itsdigger Jan 3, 2017 10:57AM PST

is McAfee .
I don't know if that would affect the monitor though .

Time for Bob's sharp eyes

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Answer
My read of the Speccy.
by Former Forum moderator Jan 3, 2017 11:36AM PST

1. The GPU is a 620. This is a fairly low end GPU that will do for most but have no illusion it will be without glitches. It doesn't have the oomph to get a frame ready in time under all conditions so I expect troubles. Especially with dual displays.

2. The ST2000DM001 is your classic Seagate that we see once in a while have odd issues. This model was in the news and if yours works, fine but for glitch free PCs I would not use this one. I won't duplicate the web here but to write it's suspect as it has been known to pause the OS and you see display glitches.

3. Mafee. Not used by our office or at home. Has had too many issues over the years and can delay processing due to many reasons. Your choice to keep.

4. DELL XPS8500?
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/xps-8500/drivers notes Windows 10 may not upgrade so you deal with BIOS and drivers and hope it's all good.

5. BIOS looks like it was never updated.
Speccy notes A0, Dell listed A12.
My choice? Update.

6. Since Dell didn't issue W10 drivers, I'd try Nvidia for the video driver.

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Answer
How to remove virus
by Jan 3, 2017 11:39AM PST

Restart your PC in Safe Mode. To boot into Safe Mode, restart your computer and press the F8 key repeatedly—don’t just hold it down continuously—until you see the Advanced Boot Options menu. Use the arrow keys to choose Safe Mode with Networking and press Enter.

Once you’re in Safe Mode, use an antivirus program and an antimalware program to run some scans. You’ll want to install a new antivirus program even if you already have one on your PC, because the old antivirus program clearly missed something. You can do this by loading the program on a flash drive and installing it from there so you don’t need to reconnect your PC to the Internet.

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