changed monitors, now can't boot to desktop

[hooly]

ok, n00b alert: i've been using Mint for a couple years, done some basic command line stuff. basically i can follow detailed instructions. on my own i only know enough to get myself into trouble.

so here's my story:
- a totally non-literate computer friend wanted something cheap, so i bought a little mini-pc box from Shuttle (VGA only) for him, and installed Mint Xfce 16. i tested it for days and everything was peachy.
- i bundled up the Shuttle -- blanketed in bubble wrap! -- and mailed it to him.
- he got everything in good order, bought a monitor (HP Pavilion 20BW, tested and working before it left the shop), and he wired everything up.
- when he starts up the Shuttle he gets the Mint leaf on the screen, it get's brighter and brighter like it should, fades as if it's ready to go to the desktop, then everything goes black.
- i believe he gets a text login prompt but that disappears after a few seconds. it's as if he's lost the VGA signal.
- disk drive light flickers from time to time but he's dead in the water as far as the screen goes.

i've gone through all the set-up and resetting stuff with the monitor, verified that he has the right cabling and all, made sure it was set to VGA, same screen resolution as i had been using, blaa blaa blaa.

so now i'm stuck. if i knew what to do he could enter text commands (if i told him exactly what to type) but i just don't have that knowledge. i don't know where to begin.

needless to say i'd appreciate any guidance the community could offer. thx.

[hooly]

on the off chance that the hardware details matter here they are:

Shuttle XS35V2

CPU: Intel ATOM 525 Dual Core (2x 1.8GHz)
Chipset: Intel NM10 Express Chipset
Graphics: Integrated Intel GMA3150 Graphics
Memory: 1x DDR3 1333 SO-DIMM (2GB Transcend JM1333KSN-2G)
Storage: 2.5” SATA HDD (Travelstar Z5K500 500GB)

D-Sub VGA
5x USB 2.0 (1x front, 4x rear)
Microphone input
Headphones output (Line-out)
Gigabit-LAN
Power supply: External 40W fanless power supply
Without operating system (compatible with Linux)

i installed Mint 16 Xfce while connected to an Asus VE247 monitor. as mentioned he's using an HP Pavilion 20BW.

[AlanWalker]

ok, n00b alert: i've been using Mint for a couple years, done some basic command line stuff. basically i can follow detailed instructions. on my own i only know enough to get myself into trouble.

so here's my story:
- a totally non-literate computer friend wanted something cheap, so i bought a little mini-pc box from Shuttle (VGA only) for him, and installed Mint Xfce 16. i tested it for days and everything was peachy.
- i bundled up the Shuttle -- blanketed in bubble wrap! -- and mailed it to him.
- he got everything in good order, bought a monitor (HP Pavilion 20BW, tested and working before it left the shop), and he wired everything up.
- when he starts up the Shuttle he gets the Mint leaf on the screen, it get's brighter and brighter like it should, fades as if it's ready to go to the desktop, then everything goes black.
- i believe he gets a text login prompt but that disappears after a few seconds. it's as if he's lost the VGA signal.
- disk drive light flickers from time to time but he's dead in the water as far as the screen goes.

i've gone through all the set-up and resetting stuff with the monitor, verified that he has the right cabling and all, made sure it was set to VGA, same screen resolution as i had been using, blaa blaa blaa.

so now i'm stuck. if i knew what to do he could enter text commands (if i told him exactly what to type) but i just don't have that knowledge. i don't know where to begin.

needless to say i'd appreciate any guidance the community could offer. thx.

Trouble shooting over the phone isn't fun. Sorry you and your friend are having problems.

Under the circumstances the first thing that I'd do is be sure where the problem is; if the monitor, as it is *now*, works on another system...

Ok, so your friend doesn't have another computer to use to check, but does he know someone who does who'd let him check the monitor on their box? How about the place where it was bought (you said it was 'check and found working' there); I'd look for another system.

Perhaps its the vga cable (don't laugh; two days ago, for the second time in 30 years, I had to toss out a standard pc power cable because it was bad! It *looked* ok!).

Maybe this will help: http://us.shuttle.com/Scgsupport/Support2.htm

Is there any way of checking/comparing signal voltages between your monitor and his?

That the Shuttle has never worked on this monitor, that is said to have been tested and found working, when you *know* the shuttle itself worked for you suggests a missmatch between the hardware - as unlikely as that sounds.

Keep us informed about your progress.

Regards,

[hooly]

good suggestions, thank you. i'll investigate to see what can be done re testing the monitor on another system. i'll also follow the Shuttle support avenue, who knows.

thanks again.

[hooly]

thank you for your post. from my own experiences distro-hopping with Linux i suspected there might be an advantage to booting from a Live CD/USB in terms of initial hardware compatibilities but of course i had no hard evidence to support that. very interesting to hear that it probably wasn't just my over-active suspicions of hardware voodoo.

i realize now that one error i made when i shipped this thing to my friend was that i did not include the Live USB stick i had used to install his Mint in the first place. if i had i could just ask him to pop that in and boot and we'd know more than we do now. as it is i'll have to find some work-around for him, but it's an excellent suggestion nevertheless.

[hooly]

i'm happy to report a good ending to this. due to the distance between us getting my guy to boot off a Live USB/CD wasn't something we could do without delay so he took the monitor back to the point of purchase to see if there was a problem with it.

the store plugged the monitor into a Win8 system and there were no issues.

then he tried the mini-pc on a number of other HP monitors, no joy.
tried Acer monitors, no joy.
then he tried it on an Asus, joy! everything came up as expected and he had a fully functional desktop. he tried it on three other Asus monitors, no problems.

as readers will recall an Asus was what i used when i originally installed Mint16 on the mini-pc and it seems that's the mini-pc wanted it to stay: any monitor was good as long as it was Asus.

all this makes me wonder if there isn't something in the install process that preps the system to work with the monitor that is actually attached, a driver load or somesuch.

anyway, the story ends happily: he is up and running on an Asus monitor and i am much relieved!

thanks all for reading and your input. Mint, and its community, rules!