I recently got a new XP computer at work. I noticed the display was tilted, so I adjusted it with the monitor controls. After that, the display starting moving slightly, like in a wave motion. I couldn’t find a way to fix it, and it’s nauseating. I have the same monitor hooked to two pc’s with a splitter, and when I switch to the other pc the display is fine. If I switch out the monitor cables, the XP display still undulates.
Anyone ever have this happen and know how to fix it?
You might try adjusting the refresh rate on the XP video card.
I right clicked on the desktop, chose properties, went to the display tab…advanced settings if I remember correctly, and adjusted the refresh rate. It didn’t fix the problem…in fact it just made the display start jiggling.
Is that the same as what you’re advising? If not, how do I do it?
You adjusted it down, right?
-lv
I believe it was as low as it could go…60 maybe. Keep in mind, the display isn’t shaking as, in my experience, is what happens with a bad refresh rate. It’s undulating…like a wave.
60? When I put my monitor on 60 Hz, it hurts my eyes. Set it for Optimal. You don’t want to set it too high, or it could damage your monitor. Or at least set it back where it was.
As far as the symptoms you descrobe go, it sounds like a physical problem with the monitor. The waving you describe (if I’m thinking of the right thing) is caused by a beat frequency in the horizontal deflection circuitry cause by AC ripple leaking in. Bad caps are usually the culprits here. I can’t think of a normal adjustment that might cause this, unless it’s a very low-end unit. I’ve seen cheaper monitors do similar things due to excess brightness and/or contrast.
I dont’ think so, Q.E.D. Not if he has it on a splitter, and it displays fine from 1 PC and has the wave from the other.
That sounds more like a problem with the display board in the one PC, maybe?
Are the 2 PC’s the same? Same video card? If so, you might try looking at the display settings in the PC that does NOT have the wavy monitor, and setting the other PC to the exact same values and see if that fixes it.
Also, just on the wild chance – does the monitor cable from the one PC happen to run real close to an AC Power cord or something like that? 60Hz power waves can do something like this.
It’s not a hardware problem since he says that it works fine on the other PC.
Have you installed the correct display adapters ? It’s extremely likely you’re using a Windows XP generic driver rather than a specific driver for your display adapter.
Do one thing… boot into safe mode… Say Yes to the prompt that comes up once you boot… see if the monitor is ok. If it’s ok, it’s clearly a driver problem.
Hmmmmm…good point. I hadn’t paid enough attention to that. Inay on my ostpay.
Also specific monitor driver. Install the specific drivers for both your monitor and the display adapter. Then set the monitor to 800x600 at 16 bit. Then set the refresh rate to default to test. Then set the display rate to optimum to use. Then set the display to 1024x768 at 24/32 bit if you prefer it that way.
That sounds VERY MUCH like interference from an outside source on the monitor cable. Perhaps there’s some electronic device that’s able to interfere with the signal when it’s going along the cable to one computer, but not the other?
When you say it goes wavy or jiggles? Are the motions fast or slow?
Way to go t-bonham@scc.net and Alereon!
It was my stupid fan! Wonder why all of a sudden this started to be a problem?
Oh! I should have mentioned that specifically – it happened to me once too. But as I had just brought in my fan and fixed it on my cubicle when I noticed the change, I figured it out real quick. Moving the cord further away fixed that. I still got a single wave every time I turned the fan on or off, but I could live with that.
Glad you got this fixed!