My Monitor has VGA plug, can I just hook it up to a computer?

[xmrkite]

Hello, my arcade monitor already has a vga plug. It will physically fit into the plug on the back of my soon to be new mame computer.

I was just not sure if somehow my computer would damage the monitor. Should I just plug it in and not worry about any damage? Will it work fine?

Any thoughts?
-Thanks

[fredster]

Any idea what kind of monitor it is?  Is there some brand name/ model number on it to help us out?

I have a Kortek  KT 2914F that has a computer that drives it, and it works fine off my laptop.  It has a 15 pin plug on it.

I doubt if it will hurt it.  I plugged my Vista Laptop into the monitor and it automatically found the right resolution. Which was 800X600 or whatever. 

[MonMotha]

Most (but not all) arcade monitors with an HD15 "VGA" plug are VGA capable and designed to accept PC signal levels (0.7Vpp).  It may only accept up to 640x480, though.  800x600, which is the default on XP, support is less common (and anything higher is quite rare except on some relatively new "high resolution" models).

At worst, most of these models are fancy digital things that'll just shut down with an "out of range" message on screen if you go outside what they're capable of, so you're unlikely to break anything.

What model is the monitor?  It's probably on a sticker somewhere.  A picture of the main "chassis" board would also help ID it.

[xmrkite]

I will check tonight for the exact model and respond back here.

[xmrkite]

OK, no visible models are written on it. Strange. My other cab clearly says ms8-26su on it, and I can google it and find info on it. Should I just try hooking up a computer to it?

[fredster]

Yeah.  Just set the resolution low to make sure it syncs.  My laptop will autosync.  If it doesn't work, then quickly disconnect. 

Sometimes the P/N is on the neckboard (in the back).

[xmrkite]

Ok, so I had a chance to plug it in and while the computer boots up the screen image is sort of doubled. The screen is split in the middle and the image is put on the left and on the right. The same image, squeezed into each section of the monitor.

Once windows boots up, it goes 800x600 and the screen gets all screwy. Lines and all sort of messed up colors moving. You can't see what anything is. Then when the maximus arcade program starts up, it goes back to double screen. Maximus is set for 640x480.

The jpac says sync ok, and I have the jumpers on both 15khz and 31khz. What could my issue be?

-Thanks

[MTPPC]

Your j-pac is cutting your 31 khz signal dow to 15khz. That is when you get the double screen. Try pulling the 15khz jumper of the j-pac and see if you can see the 640x480 image on the monitor. If you can't, your monitor is a 15khz arcade monitor and you will need to run soft15khz software with a compatible video card or buy an arcadevga from ultimarc.

[xmrkite]

I tried to have it so there was a jumper only on the 31khz pins and nowhere else, but it was the same thing.

So This monitor has a vga plug but only can produce a 15khz image? If I buy the arcadevga, should everything be fixed?

[MTPPC]

Yes. arcadevga or compatible video card with soft15khz should hook right up.