Monitor is flickering

[jjj93421]

Hi.

My monitor flickers sometimes. One time, I started it up and the windows xp logo was a greenish color. It will just all of a sudden start flickering and I don't know why. I tried changing the refresh rate. I had it on 75 hz then moved it back down to 60 hz but it still does it. I tried the degaussing thing. Please help. Another tech forum had absolutely no solution for me.

 

[BadBigBen]

First of all, check your connection between Monitor and GFX card is it tight? wiggle it a bit and look at the monitor does the color change?

secondly - you may be struck with a DIODE, COLD SOLDER Point problem, etc., within the Monitor itself... here I can only suggest to take it to a Repairshop (Hazardous to your health due to HIGH VOLTAGE) or to replace the Monitor with a new one...

Question - what have you undertaken to alleviate the problem? have you changed Monitors, cable or such YET? try replacing the Monitor with one that is know to work properly and report back what your findings are?

Ben

 

[rotaman]

also check out the pins on the monitor cable - those tend to get bent sometimes, especially if you're a brute like me... those bent pins can be the cause of flickering, color changes, etc.

 

[jjj93421]

Thank you all for your responses. I very much appreciate them. I must say that I forgot to tell you the brand. Here is what happened. I had the first monitor (a '96 model) very close to my TV and it started acting wierd so I moved the TV away from the monitor. The monitor died, though, and I had to replace it with the one I have now. The TV is on the opposite side of the room now but I still get flickering on the monitor every now and then. It is a Compaq 7550 monitor and the pc is an Emachines AMD Athlon 2400+. My Tv is probably 10 ft away from my monitor. Is that far enough? The monitor is only 5 months old.

I checked the pins and they look good and I screwed the connection in tightly to the back of the pc. The first monitor just went almost completely black but I believe it did do some flickering before it died, too. But, that was when the monitor and TV were less than 12 inches apart.

 

[BadBigBen]

Hi there, I got two Monitors on my Desktop and a TV within 4 ft. of them... No Flickering, no Magnetic Distortions at all...

if you got warranty on the thing, take it back for a replacement...

btw. the brand isn't important here with this problem...

question: how old is the GFX card in use? may be that it is the cause of the flickering (update drivers if possible)... what OS do you use? what is your Refresh Rate of the Driver in use? (on W2k and XP) try avoiding the use of the 60hz signal with CRT monitors, up it to 75hz or to the Monitors highest level-check the manual at what resolution the highest refresh rate is good, ie. 800x600 at 100hz or 1024x768 at 85hz, etc.)

Ben

PS - you may even have 'dirty Power' causing the prob... where in the WORLD do you live?

 

[jjj93421]

I think you may be right about the gfx card being the problem. I have a really crappy gfx card. The company went out of business and there is no updates for the card. I have a S3 Prosavage gfx card. It's integrated. Maybe my gfx card and the monitor aren't compatible ?? Could that be? I should have just bought the monitor that was supposed to come with it. I was trying to save 50 bucks. I don't know how to look up the refresh rate of the gfx card but will investigate it. Thanks.

 

[BadBigBen]

Hi there, yeah about the gfx being 'shitty'... no it does not matter all crt monitors are compatible, as they are standardized...

to find out what freq your card is running, and to check if the correct drivers are installed, right click on the desktop, then go to properties, and your display manager should pop right up... under the last tab (on top) there is your gfx menue... hit the lowest right button (i believe expanded or extended, sorry I am using a non english version of XP (win98 is similiar here))... a new window should pop up and there you can browse and set your display parameters like freq etc... this only works correctly if you have the monitor inf file correctly installed, ergo no 'standard monitor'...

Ben

 

[jjj93421]

I appreciate your response. I did find the menu that you refered to but didn't find anything about a frequency that my gfx card is running at. I didn't know gfx cards had frequency or refresh rates. I found the refresh rate for my monitor. Also, I did go to microsoft's website and it had an update for my gfx card so I installed it. Since then, I haven't noticed the flickering so maybe it fixed it. I installed 2 other drivers, too.

What menu is it in once you hit that bottom button?

I have overlay, Info plus, gamma plus, S3Display, General, Adapter, Monitor, Troubleshoot, Color Management.

Those are the tabs that I have.

It says it is a Plug and Play Monitor.
The driver date on my card says 3/2/2004 which means I've updated it because I bought the pc last year.

Hell, maybe Halo will work now. Maybe Postal 2, too.

 

[rotaman]

Maybe you should try installing another graphics card to see which difference there is. Make sure it is securely in place (reseat it is necessary), and make sure the bios and drivers are up to date. Try to use a stable mainstream card. I think the issue is not coming from your monitor at all - try installing it on another computer, as they are all compatible. Your issue is definitely a hardware issue, and I'm thinking graphics card.


good luck

 

[rotaman]

Just thought of something.. Most monitors come with their appropriate drivers, which aren't really necessary, but recommmended. If you didn't get these, try looking up the model you have on the net, get the manufacturer's site and download the drivers - maybe that could help too.

Just a thought


Cheerio!

 

[jjj93421]

Rice Krispies.


Thanks guys. I posted a similar question on another tech forum and got no replies at all !!!

The thought of buying a new graphics card doesn't appeal to me since after that, I've basically bought a brand new pc. The only thing I haven't replaced is the case, motherboard, cd drive.

I might get one of those Radeon All-in-Wonder cards. The ones where you can watch TV on your monitor.

BTW, it is still happening even after I updated the driver for my graphics card.

 

[jjj93421]

Ok. I found the cd that came with the monitor and installed the driver. I'm not sure what effect it is going to have. Thanks again for the help.

 

[BadBigBen]

... the freq your card is running on is the same tab as for the Monitor's freq... when changing the freq for the monitor you are actually telling the gfx card to change freq of the display...

I am most likely to believe that what you are experiencing isn't software (driver) related but more likely Hardware... broken cable, loose connection, etc... have you tested this with another Monitor?

ok, by installing the correct INF file for your monitor, you are in fact telling the OS and gfx driver what resolution, frequency your monitor is able to handle, thus making sure that they operate correctly... a standard monitor driver (within Windows) is there that the OS can display on ALL monitors with standard refresh rates and standard resolutions...

Ben

PS - do you have a friend or buddy that would allow you to test with another gfx card to see if that would change anything positively?

 

[ASUSUSER]

If you fail the above.

you may have a valid warranty on the monitor.

check with the manufacturer for an on-site warranty.

usually 3-5 yrs

Stuart