New LCD monitor -- seeking advice for a flickering problem

Factual Questions
1

(Mods, I really waffled over whether to put this here or in IMHO; if it’s better suited for over there, by all means please move it.)

I recently bought a Viewsonic VX-900 19" LCD monitor to replace my dying refurbished 21" CRT, and I’m having an intermittent flickering problem. I’ve gotten the flicker down to where it’s barely noticeable and I can use the monitor without annoyance, but for what I paid for it I might as well try for a completely clear image.

At first it was all over, in both text and graphics; the flicker was in thin horizontal lines all across the screen. I called ViewSonic TS and they had me plug in to a different outlet: no effect. Connected the monitor to my laptop: Ah, no flicker, clear as a bell. So the monitor is fine and there’s some sort of problem with the video feed. They suggested some further things to try:

  • Uninstall/reinstall the video drivers: Did that and it helped a little; the flicker in text is mostly gone (fainter and not as frequent/obvious), but it’s still noticeable in certain graphic areas such as scroll bars, “checkerboarded” screened areas, and (oddly) the blue graphic area in the dialer window for Eudora. I checked around the mfg. site (Micron PC) and there are no updated drivers.

  • Change the video cable: Did this on a whim, as the same cable produced no flicker with the laptop, and strangely it did help a little more. But something else happened: I usually have a centered picture as my wallpaper, with one of the patterns filling the background. Suddenly the flicker became painfully obvious in the pattern (it was fine before), and I had to switch to a standard tiled Windows wallpaper to have a desktop I could look at without having a seizure.

Oh, and I checked the pins in both cables – none broken or bent.

Interference: Other devices near the monitor are a telephone, answering machine, external tape drive, and speakers (all within a foot). The computer itself is under the wooden monitor shelf. It would be pretty impractical for me to move any of these, but I’m willing to try it if someone really thinks it would help. They did not cause problems with previous monitors (all CRTs).

Other ideas? Might I need to upgrade my video card? It’s your basic Intel 82815, came with the computer 2 years ago, nothing fancy I’m sure. I don’t do any gaming or intense-graphics stuff, so if it does need replacing, I don’t think I’d need much. A friend told me she heard that some older cards can’t keep up with the newer monitors. True?

Here are my specs:

Computer: Micron ClientPro CH desktop (purchased April 2002), 1.1 Ghz Celeron, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB HD, Win2K Pro

Thanks for any advice you can offer. Please let me know if I’ve left out any important info.

2

What is the refresh rate on your video card set to? Go to Display Properties, Settings Tab, Advanced, Monitor Tab. Change Refresh Frequency to 60 Hz, that should work.

3

Dang, I knew I forgot to mention something. Yes, I have the resolution and refresh rate set to default (1280 x 1024) and the recommended 60 Hz, respectively. Playing around with these made no difference.

4

It sounds like you’re using a standard 15-pin VGA cable - i.e., an analog connection, to your new LCD panel. If that’s true, then your video card has to convert digital data to analog data, then your LCD monitor is converting it back to digital. All of this needless converting back and forth can result in artifacts like you describe.

You’ll get the clearest picture on an LCD when it’s connected to your PC with a digital (DVI) cable. This is a feature that has to be supported by both your monitor and your video card to work, though. I’d guess that your monitor probably supports this, and your video card probably does not, but you could probably get an adequate DVI-capable video card pretty cheap (under $100).

Here is some more info on DVI, but I can’t vouch for the products from that particular company.

5

Yup, I’m using an analog connection, and the monitor does have a digital port and cable. Someone else led me to believe that a digital card would cost beaucoup bucks, but $100 doesn’t sound too bad.

Anyone have suggestions about brands/models I should check out (or avoid)?

Thanks much for your responses so far.

6

All new cards will have a DVI out.

Assuming you’re not into gaming, I’d reccommend one of the low end Geforce FX cards. ~$100 in price IIRC.

7

Going to DVI may fix your problem. I am not a big fan of onboard Intel graphics.You won’t have to pay 100.00 for a decent card. Here is a pretty good ATI based card for 70.00 from Newegg. Newegg is a great company and offer great support. I sent a faulty card back to them 4 months after purchase and they prompty sent me a new one.

8

Cool, this is all very helpful. No, I’m not a gamer at all. I have a local tech who does all my hardware stuff (this is a [mostly] business machine, and I’d rather pay him to do it right the first time than fiddle with it myself when I could be doing billable work), but I won’t have cash to pay him until the end of the month. In the meantime I’ll check out all of these options. Thanks a lot!

9

Here is a DVI-capable card for $35, shipping included. Utterly obsolete for gaming, but fine for 2D. You’ll have to buy the actual DVI cable separately - video cards generally don’t include them.