Terry Seyforth

I have a 21" monitor and it is playing up. The screen can be fine for an hour sometimes longer and then it will start to flicker, go dark and then get lighter, then the left and right of the screen will go in about 1" and go concave and also make a high pitch noise, If I leave this it sometimes returns to normal and sometimes just flickers(or pulsates). It seems to play up more than not. Do you think its time for a new monitor or could something be effecting the screen. Any ideas appreciated. Thanks

Der Rabe

Sounds to me like the Tube or crystals are going bad I would say time for a new monitor

Terry Seyforth

It wouldnt be the graphics card playing up. could it?
I like the idea more that the monitor is playing up though, as the monitor is quite old. Its so annoying because when the screen is settled the picture is quite good, when playing farcry the colour is very clear.
I think though I had better invest in a monitor, there is nothing worse than when you are in the middle of a game and the screen goes baserk.
Thanks for your time..

Der Rabe

Given the age of the monitor your best bet is to go to like a salvation army story and spend like 20-30 and buy a replacement or borrow one to see if ti has the same problem with someone elses monitor but past experiece tells me it is a bad monitor

batty_professor

Sounds like the problem is within the monitor itself. Typically such intermittent problems can re related to deteriorated solder connections on the mainboard. If caught early, sometimes these can be easily and inexpensively repaired. if left in this condition the problem will only get worse until such point where component damage occurs, and the repair gets prohibitively expensive.

Terry Seyforth

Well it seems conclusive,the monitor !! , I am getting a 19" crt now, I do usually dabble with electrics, but The thought of investigating inside this one concerns me,If I remember rightly doesnt the monitor withhold a charge even after it has been turned off. Yes I know just dump it, it is very old.
Thanks anyway for the help......

Kieseyhow

Hi there,

One of three: You know, I think you 'may' have a faulty horizontal circuit oscillator... it may be failing. Get the monitor to a good TV repair shop, before the circuit fails completely as it will be considerably more trouble to locate the bad components. A good 20Mhz oscilloscope should, in the right hands, locate the trouble.

Second possible diagnosis of three: Your digital alignment circuit for the monitor is failing(buttons on the front). Likely a failing ballast supply resistor or transistor for the digital chips.. not likely to be one of the IC's. you may have dirt or dust on the mainboard that is conducting static from the HV circuits into the digital alignment circuits also as they are located near the lower edge of the bottom of the centre of the picture tube... eventually this WILL fail that region of the board. Look for dark regions around the chips and transistors near the front-centre section of the main monitor circuit board... not easy to repair... try for a refund, or get a new monitor.

Third possibility.... the powersupply for the monitor is getting weak. transient voltage dips like you see, are due to the very high current draw of the horizontal sweep circuits... *why old TV's get a narrow, or dim picture with age*... this is relatively simple for a TV tech to fix... take the unit in.

If this was a video card problem.... it is likely driver based, and linked to some sort of weird gamma dynamic adjustment or adjustable sweep rate that DirectX 9 games might use. If you have strange non WHOL certified drivers get newest versions or certified ones, to rule this out... I think it is hardware though...

Kieseyhow

PS: check the cables!..... you never know.... the trouble with an electrical problem, is when the contact is good, .... there is no problem! wiggle things, and have somoene watch the screen.

sometimes, the tiny simple things...take down kingdoms...cause everyone just ignores them...

Terry Seyforth

I am keen to take the cover of the monitor, when unplugged, but am I safe to look around, if I touch anything , is there any chance of a belt, while the monitor is unplugged ? I have tried wiggling the power lead etc, but no change.

batty_professor

Ok, with the set unplugged, and the rear cover removed. You will find there is a thick red lead that runs from the IFT (integrated flyback transformer) to a button connector on the CRT. ( the button connector itself and the mating terminal on the end of the lead is hidden under a rubber composition insulator approx. 1-1/2" in dia.) As much as 30,000 Volts DC can be found there while in operation, and can be stored there after power is off for a perion of time. Most sets have bleeder resistors that slowly dissipate the charge. And is normally not dangerous at all after a day to rest. Most technicians (such as myself) will discharge this so as to work safely by using a good cliplead clamped to the metal part of the chassis and a thin metal probe, with a well insulated handle, and sliding the tool under the edge of the afore mentioned round insulator, and making SURE the probe, cliplead, and chassis will not come disconnected from each other, (you sure don't want to become any part of the discharge path), slowly under the edge until you hear the first "rifle shot" and you jump away, not because you got any shock, just that is startles the crap right outta you. Continue sliding the probe under the insulator until contact is made with the button, and hold there a few seconds to get all the residual charge from the tube. There will be some minor snap-snap-snap.. along the way. Be sure to do this proceedure with the unused hand in your back pocket, if the worst happened the charge doesn't cross your chest. I've done this hundreds of times without any accidents, but that first time really gets your attention. After this proceedure the set is safe to have your way with.

Terry Seyforth

Well that certainly has scared the crap out of me, what about leave the monitor off for a week ?
Will that be long enough to work safely ?

andrew11099

ive got a monitor problem it turns off when computer reaches welcome screen it shows the startup screen and all up to the welcome screen wat the fook to do
i run a amd athlon 2600+
win xp pro

Terry Seyforth

You minge teasing b*****d...... I cant help but someone looking at my thread might.

Der Rabe

My guess is the tube is bad and turns off becuase it gets too warm it just happens to be at that point but i would try booting to safe mode to see if ti works then could be a bad video setting also

Kieseyhow

Hi there,

Hmmmm. You know, I would bet your refresh rate is set out of the range your monitor can accomodate. Boot the PC into safe mode. In linux, you will have to bypass the startup and create a custom start. This happens to me a lot with my old cranky test monitor... lol Older screens often will go no higher than 75Hz, and often 60Hz at anything above 800x600. Since you see the POST (bootup screen) and the Windows Welcome logo, you know your Monitor can handle 720x400 and 640x480 respectively. Safe mode in XP is 800x600 @ 60Hz (by default) now...if your screen cannot handle that, dont bother using it for XP OMG, Linux can be up to 1280x1020 as a default refresh as it detects your video card capabilities correctly, but not those of your screen. Play with settings, look around online, research, you can do it! Have fun. If we hear a loud bang, and glass patters on our rooves, we shall know you got miffed.. *grin*


Oh yeah, and about the CRT discharge .... trust me you DONT want to feel that. Imagine having someone slam a wooden 2x4 across your chest from the side out of the blue, and then trying to remember how to breathe for 30 seconds. If you are unlucky, your chest muscles will break some of your ribs... which you may not notice right away as you as too busy trying to breathe and sailing across the room at high velocity. I remember a scene back in "Electronics Advanced and Practical" back in highschool.... and our prof. arching gracefully across the room like a rag doll from touching the tube in an old floor-model 27" cabinet TV set. It is really amazing how powerful your leg muscles can be when you place them in the discharge path; In his case from his hand to his shin near that was touching the metal chassis of the inner frame of the set as he was crouched forward looking to see, yup, that the set was properly discharged. The 2x4 feeling, is from painful and lingering personal experience.... I make DAMN sure now.... some things you learn real FAST... like the speed of light FAST.

Kieseyhow

Terry Seyforth

100% cpu any ideas, tried task manager, nothing there, tried virus checker, nothing there, I have downloaded freemeter to check how the computer is running, as it isnt running that fast and it shows cpu running at 100%, why would this be? I have a 3000+ amd athlon,geforce fx 5200, 512 ram which also says it is running while idoling at 303..... what can it be, the computer has speeded up slightly since I downloaded a couple of programmes , like spybot, registry mech, I have microsoft pack 2, which gives me the firewall, and also have pc cillin 2002, . do you think there might be a worm ? any ideas appreciated.

batty_professor

Suggest a day should be enough, as little as 10 minutes may be OK so long as you respect the region of that insulator. How long it takes for the charge to dissipate varies from one make/model to the next, and there's no published chart to tell who's faster and who's slower to discharge. if you stick to the solder (bottom) area of the circuit card and check the connections you shouldn't be near anything dangerous. Also be cautious of the CRT neck area, there are adjusting rings there that you don't want to disturb, and the neck is rather fragile. Back to the bottom...look for areas of discoloration on the board, this indicates the "hotter" running components and if soldering is going to break down, heat and time will do it. One can usually remove the old solder either using a "wick", or one of the more sophisticated tools with a spring and plunger that develops a vacuum to aid removal. then resolder the connections in question. Don't ignore connector pins, those too are prone to problems.

Terry Seyforth

I have noticed that my cpu is running at 100%, I have shut down all but microsoft services and the cpu has returned to normal, I wasnt sure which to turn of or leave on, its confusing, but one thing I have noticed my monitor hasnt played up again, is it possible that with the cpu running at 100 % would cause the monitor to be eratic... ??... it is a amd athlon 3000+.......
well it hasnt played up yet, is this just a coincident?? :face12: :face12:

batty_professor

It's probably mere coincidence, but then again, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Terry Seyforth

nearly 2 days monitor still not playing up ??
Thanks for all the help Batty Professor and der rab.
I will leave a post in a few days to let you know if monitor is still ok, then monoitor trouble could be also down to cpu problem.
For future advice.
But as you said it probably is a coincidence.
I am going to work away for four days, whats the chance when I get back its all back to normal.(nackered)
especially in the kids hands..
Cheers

Terry Seyforth

yes it was a coinsidence, the bloody monitor is back to normal..
Still waiting for the arrival of the 19" monitor.