"Out of frequency" message on Packard Bell i-design PC

milltown

Neighbour asked me to have a look at his PC. He says it just stopped working and smoke came out of it (rarely a good sign). It's got integrated graphics and when I plugged it into my monitor, a 17" CRT (his is a TFT) I get the message "out of frequency" and it lists the acceptable range for horizontal and vertical frequency and shows the actual, which is below on both counts.
The POST gives no odd beeps and the message seems to be from the monitor, not the PC. The PC seems to continue to boot up as if nothing is wrong.
I'm guessing the mobo is FUBAR, anybody any other suggestions before I give him the bad news. There is an AGP slot but its one of those little half width ones so I can't test it with a spare card.

whosurpaddy

Originally posted by milltown
Neighbour asked me to have a look at his PC. He says it just stopped working and smoke came out of it (rarely a good sign). It's got integrated graphics and when I plugged it into my monitor, a 17" CRT (his is a TFT) I get the message "out of frequency" and it lists the acceptable range for horizontal and vertical frequency and shows the actual, which is below on both counts.
The POST gives no odd beeps and the message seems to be from the monitor, not the PC. The PC seems to continue to boot up as if nothing is wrong.
I'm guessing the mobo is FUBAR, anybody any other suggestions before I give him the bad news. There is an AGP slot but its one of those little half width ones so I can't test it with a spare card.

out of frequency generally means the resolution/ refresh rate is too high. however this would be strange for a res/refresh rate to work on a 15" and be too high for a 17". if u can get into safe mode lower res & refresh

astrofool

thats a cnr port not an agp port (no such thing as half width agp cards, just half height).

Does the bios even show up ?

KdjaCL

Whosurpaddy is correct.
Refresh rate is to high can be chaned in safe mode.

Trun on PC after POST whack F8 (you may not be able to see it ) then scroll down 3 times and hit enter.
PC will reboot in safe mode (should do )

Then lower refresh and it should be ok.

//yes i have done this before.

kdjac

milltown

As far as I can tell, Windows isn't even getting the chance to control the refresh rate. As soon as the machine is turned on the monitor goes from it's own self test message to the out of frequency message before the POST even gives it's single beep. Will try the F8 this evening but I'm not hopeful.

The motherboard has AGP (brown) and two PCI slots free in the narrow (CNR) stylee. I wonder if a graphics card could be got to replace the on board muck and save the csost of a new mobo?

EDIT: I just had a google for CNR cards and it seems you misunderstood. They are full length slots on the mobo but the case being narrow does not allow for full size faceplates. The blanks covering the slots are little fellas.
A CNR slot is about half the length of a PCI slot on the mobo (I now realise).

Saruman

there is no way thats refresh rate! I have yet to see a flat screen running on high refresh rates.. they dont need em like a CRT and thats what was on the sys before... There was smoke was there not? BAD sighn.. something possibly burnt out like.. oh i dont know.. graphics chip? Take a look and see if anything has burning..

See if you can get a PCI graphics card and try that. Can you actually get into safe mode? The burning might be coincidence.. burning dust or something... the problem might be the muppets set the screen to a way too high res... thats why your monitor is not working. Oh.. eh this is very important...

WHEN does the out of frequency come up? After it loads the bios and loads windows and just about to go to desktop? Or from the moment you press the on button? I think you can see where i am going with this.. simple logic. one is good the other is bad.

[edit] i see milltown got back before i posted mine... the answer? its arsed.. if it happens during post its fecked... get graphics card to replace if you can.. if not get another board [/edit]

elexes

where did the smoke come from ?

the mon or the computer ?

u said that it cant post ? take the chance and say it can actually post its just cause the mon is gon that u cant see anything . take it over to your house have a go on yours

i had a prob b4 with a puff of smoke from a monitor and it went like that.

Webmonkey

No thats not refresh rate. It happens when you have the jumpers set wrong for SDRAM or DDR. I work in a computer strore and thats what you have to do if thats any help. Don't know bout packard bells tho


/Edit - Perhaps it is burned out memory