Maybe you can tell me what is wrong with my monitor:
Every now and then (every few hours realy) it gets a horisontal line across it that is “squished”–as in (picture this with me now) about 1/2" of screen (verticaly) is squished into a space 1/4" tall (kind of like a reverse magnifying glass). this line moves up and down, irritating the living hell out of me, until the whole screen squishes into what looks like an old TV turning off (very bright horizontal line, 1/4" tall, across the center of the screen).
I smack the screen realy hard (hard enough to hurt the heel of my hand), and it pops back into shape, it might start over, it might be fine for a while, I never realy know.
My question is, what the hell is wrong? loose connection? bad CRT? help!
Wow, sounds like a classic case of monitor gone bad eggo. First I’d try to tighten the cable connection and maybe even clean it with rubbing alcohol, if the monitor is old. But really, sounds like a bad monitor. Hope it’s not new.
oh, I know it’s a screwed up monitor, but I want to fix it. i would just like to know how big of a job i’m in for. (if the CRT is screwed, I’ll probably just say the hell with it.
Monitors are dangerous to attempt to fix unless you have a very good understanding of ther innards. Your problem is not correctable via adjustments you can make safely. Trash it or take it to a professional. Unless the monitor is quite expensive it would probably be best to replace it as a fix would likely cost over $ 100.00.
Try changing the resolution. Sometimes, my monitor does the same thing when I set it on a certain resolution.
astro: i know all about the dangers, but thanks for your concern. I know to discharge all the caps, as well as the CRT before starting to work on it.
Louie:nope, this is most definately a hardware problem, otherwise, my smacking would have no effect. and this monitor doesn’t have any hardware resolution settings (yeah, it’s a few years old)
If there is anyone out there who can recognize this as being a bad CRT or not, I would much appreciate it.
I’ve spent the last two months troubleshooting a similar problem. There are several possibilities:
-
The video drivers could be screwy. Try testing the latest drivers for your video card. Dan “The Tweakmonkey” has more info than you could possibly ask for at http://www.tweak3d.net .
-
If you have been goofing around with the settings, it could be a classic hertz-setting problem. Sometimes your monitor will tell you the vertical and horizontal settings when you use the adjustment keys on your monitor. Sometimes messing with the adjustment keys just screws things up more. Common settings are 60 Hz, 75 Hz, and 85 Hz, vertical. If yours are different, you might want to look into that.
-
Some video cards, notably 3dfx cards prior to the latest versions, do not offer “true” 32-bit color mode. Instead, they fake it somehow. You may want to consider backing off the color mode to 16-bit if you have a Voodoo 3 or less from 3dfx. I, for one, cannot tell the difference.
-
You may have an old video card that is desperately trying to do as it’s told, and going into occasional catalepsy.
-
You may be running the resolution within the capacity of the card, but beyond the capacity of your old-ass monitor. These things ain’t like TVs. Five years is about the best you can ask of a lot of them, especially “affordable” ones.
-
Your monitor may really be screwed up. This is an opportunity, rather than a hindrance. Snag a 17" or bigger for cheap, and watch how you get sucked into the electronic world.
If you’re considering opening up a monitor, just remember that some may still store person-killing levels of power long after shut-down and unplugging. Some old guy told me that. I don’t know if it’s true. Caution, grounding, and grounding, and grounding are probably good recommendations if you are going to grounding try that.
My WAG is that it is not the CRT but rather the circuitry. My first attempt would be to open it (with all necesary precautions) and do a visual inspection: check and clean connections, solder etc. You might get lucky.
Per your description of the problem there is almost zero chance the problem has anything to do with the CRT or the video card or card drivers. The problem is related to the monitor control circuitry. There is a failing internal board component and this is causing your problem.
Question: answered.
Ignorance: aleviated.
Customer: satisfied.
thank you.
Do what I do. Unplug it from wall, computer, anything else. Wait one minute. Plug into wall. Watch screen & turn up brightness if you need to see it. Wait a half hour. Look at it, does it look right? If so, its something else. This is NOT plugged into the computer during this test!