Monitor Problem

Hi

I am writing this post under very bad conditions.

My monitor from yesterday is behaving very badly. It flickers a lot and after that the whole display is reduced to half of the screen adn it constantly flickers. The problem remains the same on booting up so i dont think that there is a problem with os. I had replaced the power cord but it didnt helped. Sometimes it works fine altogether. What could be the reason. Please help i am very annoyed by this.

please help as soon as possible.

Forgive me for any errors in post as i am unable to see what i am writing.

Hi,

How old is it, and what make/model/type?

Can you boot into safe mode? if you can, do you still have the problem?

If you still have the problem in safe mode, can you try connecting the monitor to a different computer?

What resolution and refresh rate are you set at, that can sometimes be the problem.

Otherwise in order of preference:

1. Dying VDU
2. Dying video card
3. Dying RAM

:)

Mystery Man

When things break, guys like to look and tinker, however, please do not be tempted to open up a Monitor to see whats wrong. There is enough voltage stored in there that can kill you and nothing most people can adjust or tune.

!~cheers~!

This is some excellent advice so I shall repeat it:

When things break, guys like to look and tinker, however, please do not be tempted to open up a Monitor to see whats wrong. There is enough voltage stored in there that can kill you and nothing most people can adjust or tune.

There can be voltages that would kill you a month after the thing was switched off :zap:

If a monitor fails you either take it to a TV repair shop, or get a new one.

I didn't mention it but you might try removing and reseating your video card and RAM. Clean the contacts with alcohol or a proprietary cleaner and blow the dust bunnies out of the slots ;)

Hi

It is a HP55 monitor that came with the pc i bought in 2001. its 15''.
Its been workin fine since then and also works fine sometimes after the problem came yesterday.

The resolution is 1024x768 and tell me how can i set the refresh rate ??

i havent tried the safe mode but the problem exists when the computer boots up on the boot screen so i dont think the os has any part in it. i removed the graphics card from my agp and connected the monitor to the graphics memory on the motherboard and the problem persisted.

i know about the voltage and wont dare to do anything with it.

It is very strange that the problem arised yesterday morning. the monitor worked fine in short spells of random interval. It worked absolutely fine last night and today morning and is giving problems since noon. As i am writing this post it is working fine. On the distortion of the video no sound is produced. It works fine and goes bad at will irrespective of what am currently doing on the computer. The screen is confined to the upper half of the monitor and the rest is blacked. There is contineous distortion in the screen when this happens.

Mystery Man,

You got 4 years out of the monitor and pc, that's prettty darn good! They do just wear out over time. All the startups - shutdowns are extremely hard on electronics. After awhile the solder is quite literally knocked loose from the pins, boards, connectors, etc.

Need to know what OS you are using so we can help you with changing to a lower setting.

cheers

well i have win98, win xp and red hat linux 9.0 all in multiboot.
do tell me how to lower the settings.
thanx

Hi MM,

Right, I have a pair of Compaq V55 15" monitors which will be identical to yours apart from the name on the front. Compaq and HP were very close even before they merged operations

The reason that I suggested "safe mode" is that it is an old troubleshooting trick. What it does is load default drivers and set the video to 480x640 16 colours. I am trying to find out if it is the monitor, or something else.

I agree that this is NOT your OS, it is either hardware or the drivers.

As you seem to be describing a random event, I think that we can rule out heat. That would tend to be noticeably time related?

One test you can try is to disconnect your monitor from the PC and turn it on. You will either get a "no signal" message or a diagnostic screen. Just leave it for a while and see what happens.

Also, to answer your question, go into <start> <settings> <control panel> <display> and set the resolution to 800x600. In "advanced" you should be able to select the "monitor" option and change the refresh rate.

The other thing to do is to get the latest drivers for your monitor AND sound card/chipset. Conflicts between audio and video are notorious.

Cheers

EDIT: I would test it with one OS environment only................I suggest Win98

Huh??

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I agree that this is NOT your OS, it is either hardware or the drivers.

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LOL...didn't mean to suggest an OS issue, just which one to use for his tests. Nihil is top dead center with hardware & drivers. Anyway tuck these in your notebook for later.

KDE's
click on K-Menu > Control Center > Peripherals > Display > Size & Oreientation Tab > click on the drop down arrow on the Refresh rate: make an appropriate selection.

SuSE (KDE's above and)
YaST2 Modules > Hardware > Graphics Card and Monitor > Admin mode > Password > Card and Monitor Properties : make an appropriate selection.

cheers

Sorry Relyt

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I agree that this is NOT your OS, it is either hardware or the drivers.

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That bit referred to a PM..................I just copy and pasted my response :D

As above mentioned, 4 years is good. Also, my screen flickers a lot, it's usually caused by the frequency of my cell phone though, when they call me and the antenna is facing the monitor, the screen moves a lot

the flickering on my monitor is different. Its there all the time.
Well i ran the monitor by just giving it power and no signal and the problem persisted.
i think it needs some parts replacement.

OK, that proves it.

Your monitor is defective :(

I am afraid that I do not know enough about them to know if it is economically repairable.

Over here the answer would be not, as 15" monitors are very cheap second hand. No-one really wants them..................I find them handy because they fit on my workbench with plenty of ventilation room.

Flickering is usually the refresh rate. You may notice flickering in safe mode, as that is only 60Hz. It tends to vanish from 72Hz upwards.
:)

If the monitor flickers (like it's being squashed vertically) and ends with a horisontal bar or line then it is likely a collapse of the vertical oscillator/amplifier or a defect in the deflection yoke.

This is often seen as an intermittent fault as it commonly due to a dry joint somewhere (the monitor warming up can either start or stop the fault).

As other people have already said, your monitor is f***ed. :mad:
This can be fixed by replacement of parts but this is only worthwhile if it is still under warranty, otherwise it tends to cost too much (parts and labour).

You would be best off just getting a new monitor (or an old one from somebody else, lots of people tend to throw away monitors when they upgrade/get a new computer).

There are 2 main points to remember when working with monitors/TVs:
1 - The voltage is VERY high and can kill you even if the device has been switched off for a long time.
2 - The voltage is VERY high and can kill you even if the device has been switched off for a long time.

I know that this is really only one point but I thought it was important enough to mention twice :D . Playing with this stuff is DANGEROUS - this cannot be stressed enough.


Hope this helps.


omin

Well i gave it to the repair shop and got it fixed for Rs.200.

Good man!

Did the repair slip say "resoldered dry joint"?

:D

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Did the repair slip say "resoldered dry joint"?

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Why pay to get a Dry joint fixed, just slap some Deep Heat on the the spot and there problem solved.. :D