My CRT monitor only shows a small white floating thing, nothing else.

Hello! Help!

I recently purchased a new custom built PC tower running 2 outdated operating systems (Windows 98 SE and Windows XP, to be specific). Included with that computer was a CRT (yes, I do mean CRT) monitor.

Everything was working fine, there were no symptoms that the CRT would stop functioning.

Then, about 2 hours ago, the display suddenly went black - with the exception of a small white object moving vertically from the bottom third of the display near the horizontal centre, down to the bottom. All troubleshooting attempts have failed. I turned off computer and monitor for half an hour, then turned both back on with no success. I couldn't tell what point I had shut it down right after, so I may have interrupted the computer tower's memory test - nothing was coming up on the screen so I have no clue. I checked all connections - power supply and display input/output are all good. I'm usually able to figure computer issues out on my own, but this is beyond me. I even asked my mother, because she is probably more familiar with CRT monitors. I hadn't seen one since I was 6 or 7. I'm now 16. And I never had issues with the CRT from when I was younger, but when Mom tossed the old Packard Bell tower (corrupted HDD due to failed attempt at reverting from Windows XP back to Windows ME... I still don't know why she wanted to go back to the mess that was Windows ME) she also tossed the CRT that came with it. If she had saved it all these years, I'd have a backup monitor. Anyway, when I asked Mom, she suggested turning the whole system off - tower and monitor - and leaving it for half an hour. That didn't work.

I'm honestly asking for help trying to get the CRT working again. I really don't want to get an LCD, because I found some DOS games (which I run from Win98SE) on floppy disks at my aunt's and for my first time playing a DOS game, I thought "wow, that's awesome!" So I want to keep playing that Wheel of Fortune DOS game from 1988, and I think I read somewhere that LCDs don't display some older games optimally because LCD is newer display technology. I also have old CD-ROM games that I want to play and again, optimal display resolution is a concern. I figured I would give my reasons so that I could avoid the responses like "um... why would you NOT want to upgrade to LCD". It also helps that I'm really getting into the really vintage computing. I'm only using the XP partition for programs that don't support Win98SE. For instance, the H&R Block Income Tax Software. I kinda need to file my income tax and I downloaded the software to that computer.

Money is tight, so if the CRT can't be restored to functionality, will Windows 98SE display on a widescreen TV (with VGA input)? And will Windows XP be able to display on that TV as well? I know it's not CRT so I might have issues playing some of the DOS games. It's just until I can find a cheap CRT monitor on Kijiji.ca that I can buy. This is all assuming that my current CRT is beyond saving. Hopefully I can save it.

If more specific details about the Dell CRT monitor are needed, I will provide what info I have. All you gotta do is ask. (I only have the info printed on the back of the monitor; there were no manuals or guides included when I received the computer and monitor)

Thanks,

Royce Rivard

This post was sent from my iPhone because my Windows 10 laptop is slower than the Windows 98SE desktop!