What is wrong with my monitor/desktop? [picture inside]

Alright guys, this happens usually ONLY in the morning when I get up to turn my computer for the first time:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/Lysimachus/TechnicalSupport/baddesktop.jpg

There are all these crazy fuzzy lines and squares across my monitor, and the more I move windows around, the worse it smears.

However, the problem is easily resolvable. Turn my computer off, wait for like 20-30 seconds, and turn it back on and it's fine! Some mornings there won't be any problems at all, but many mornings it happens. Does this look like my video card or my monitor? The fuzzy lines usually do not show until once I'm at the BIOS boot screen. One time I thought I didn't see it until the Windows screen.

As for my system specs:

Windows XP Pro
1024 Corsair DDR PC3200
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128
80 Gig Maxtor 7200rpm 8meg cache
19" Hitachi CM721F Black flat screen (not flat panel) monitor

At least you can see what I see! So tell me what you think it is if you can. It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

For starters reseat your video card and memory. Clean the contacts before reseating.

If that dosen't help go to windows memory diagnostics

The above file will make a boot floppy that will do a good test on your memory. It could also be a problem with the memory on the actual video card. I don't think it's a bios issue as it's not all the time and sounds like it could be thermal.

 

If Jay's suggestions don't solve the problem, to further pinpoint the problem, you might purchase an inexpensive PCI or AGP video card to try (after you remove the current card) to see if that resolves the problem. Be sure to avoid static elecrticity while doing all this, and while you have the AGP card out of the box, suggest you carefully blow the dust out of the heat sink and fan with a can of compressed air. You might do this to the power supply fan(s), and the CPU fan too. If a fan doesn't rotate when you blow compressed air onto it, suggest you replace it.

 

Hi.

The scan rate for your monitor appears to be too high. If it is
boderline then it would work after the monitor warms up a little.
You can find the scan rate settings in the display properties,
settings, advanced. They also might be in any particular programs
for your screen card that are loaded. I would reduce it down
to about 60 (which is slow) and see if that works. If so you
can increase it until you find the best scan rate. Your picture
is a typical picture of a monitor driven with too high scan rates.
If that doesn't work try another monitor and see what happens.
Might be the monitor is going.

Edit: I might also mention that I've seen some pictures similar to
that on a monitor with the screen card set for a pixel setting that
the monitor can't handle. For example if a monitor maxes at 800x600 and
the screen card was trying to drive it at 1024x768 it would produce
something like that. I'm sure your card and monitor can handle much
higher rates but something might be going wrong on the monitor (rather
than the screen card).

giles

 

Thanks a ton for your suggestions! I will definitely give them a shot!

You guys rule!

[Edit:]

I have the Screen Refresh Rate at 75Hz. My monitor is a fairly new one...have only had it a couple years. People talk about how good this particular model is and how reliable it has been. It is .22mm. It's capable of going well over 75Hz.

But I did notice something interesting for my monitor display function:

1. For H. Moire (Adjusts horizontal moire), it shows as "0% "
2. For V. Moire (Adjusts vertical moire), it shows "50% "
3. Color Temp, shows 9300, 6500, 5000 (9300 selected)

Is this how it all should be?

 

Only a theory.
It is booting to the wrong or corrupt drivers. When you switch off/on it switches to PnP/default drivers.
It would not hurt to uninstall the monitor(s?) in Device Manager, then rerun the driver installation CD that came with the monitor. See how it goes after rebooting.

That screenshot seems like a monitor driver problem to me.

Matt

 

Ever since I changed the monitor to 70Hz from 75Hz, and put Vertical Moire to 60%, I have not had the problem.

Loads up like a charm.

 

Hi.

Good show. That picture certainly looked like a scan problem.

Sometimes I would change the Vertical Moire back to where it was. I don't
think that would cause that problem. Leave the scan at 70 when you do
and see if it's ok the next time you turn your computer on. It feels like maybe some of the caps (capicators) are starting to slide in the monitor. You might also set the scan rate higher depending on the rating for that monitor. If it's still bad at any setting higher than 70 then the monitor is starting to get a bit bonkers. I usually
run my monitor at 100 or 110 or 120 but be sure to check the rating of
the monitor and screen card. Sometimes, for no particular reason, you can
get a mismatch between the house voltage frequency and the computer
screen driver electronics (card or built-in) and the monitor and a particular
scan rate just won't work. Also, if your monitor is normally off, turn it on
a few minutes before your computer and see if it still does it. Don't forget
to set the scan rate back to 75 before you try it. If it is ok with this test
then something in the monitor has to heat up before it works properly.

I would suspect that the monitor is starting to show signs of wear and these tests would give a little more info. It would give you a bit of extra time in planning for a replacement. I doubt if it will go any time soon and maybe not for quite a while.

giles

 

Hmmm...I can't see how this monitor would go that quickly. It still looks shiney new after these 2 1/2 - 3 years of owning it. The image is still sharp and clear....however, there is something I just noticed.

I have Creative Labs 5.1 surround speaker system. The center speaker was giving me problems so I ended up moving it from a higher position to being right next to the monitor on the left hand side. I must have done this subconciencely, but I hear that speakers should never be right next to a monitor.

P.S. You're not going to believe this guys, but the setup manual that came with my Creative Labs 5.1 actually tells you to put your center speaker ON TOP of my monitor! I had done that for a while until I called tech support and they said NO WAY! And that that was super dumb, and a manual should never tell you that. Well, I moved it away, so we'll see how it goes.

 

Hi.

It's true that speakers shouldn't be right next to monitors but it depends on the size of the speakers too. A speaker with a larger magnet will bend the beams that illuminates the screen thus distorting the picture. A speaker won't actually damage a monitor, just make it look dumb. If you take a magnet and move it aroung the outside of the case on a monitor it should bend the beam and distort the picture as you move the magnet. Large tower speakers near a tv will usually cause big splotches of distortion in the color and you have to orient them so the picture is normal.

As for the monitor, these manufacturers buy their parts by the hundreds of thousands. Every now and then they get a batch of bad parts that came off of a manufacturing run and wern't caught. Some of these parts will go bad early. Those things I mentioned above to try would just give you an idea that the monitor is going bad or it's just an oddity within the system (everybody has some of one kind or another).

Just for the heck of it I ran my monitor up to a scan rate of 160 to see if everything was still ok and it worked like a dream. I normally run about 100. A scan rate of 60 is too low and you will notice some flickering. PeteC is right, 85 (or above) is about right. At that scan rate the human eye can't pickup the separation in the scans and it looks seamless.

If your monitor is slipping, 70 should last awhile and then you might have to go down to 60.

Enjoy.

giles

 

Hi

I'm not convinced that this is a monitor / refresh rate problem...

assuming the picture is some kind of screen capture (PrintScreen or a screenshot utility) then what we are looking at is what's squirrelled away in the display adapter's memory - which means that it's going wrong before scan rates come into it.

so why did altering the refresh rate fix it? Windows goes non-WYSIWYG, it's not uncommon. The "fix" is to set to something else, Apply, set back to what you want, Apply. As soon as you Apply new properties it brings everything back into kilter.

a couple of months back my internet time sync (automachron, nice prog by Steeve McCauley) packed up - every time I tried to sync the clock it just jumped forward ten minutes. I Applied another time zone, then set myself back to UK & Applied... problem solved

Along the lines of what mattman was thinking - corrupt drivers - only they aren't corrupt - they are just getting initialised incorrectly with something they cannot understand.

==

very easy to tell! - just try setting the refresh rate back to what it was originally, see if you can repeat the problem.

with any luck you will find the monitor now works fine over the whole range of refresh rates that it's meant to accommodate... and can rest happy not worried that the monitor is on the way out


best wishes, HJ

 

Hi.

You may be right there. I'm not convinced either. Just speculating.

I set up a monitor that can't do high scan rates and ran it high. Here's a picture of it:

http://users.adelphia.net/~jpnewton/scan.jpg

You can see the dark bands running down the screen where the scans overlap. I just thought that Lysimachus's picture looked a whole lot like that. The picture will be different depending on the screen pixel setting and the overscan rate.

giles

 

Hi Giles

I dunno either! - but trying to be hopeful for lysimachus sake

it would surely be the best outcome for the owner of the monitor if it's merely down to Windows gone non-WYSIWYG - far less hassle than corrupt drivers, and much less frustrating than potential early death of monitor

yours is indeed a photograph of a screen (thanx for doing that, very useful to have something to look at for reference), but lysimachus' "baddesktop.jpg" shows no signs of screen curvature and cuts off so very neatly at the edges - it really looks like some sort of screen grab, which is why I thought we're looking at what's in the display adapter's memory...

note the pixel dimensions! "baddesktop.jpg" is 1104 x 883 px "Shurely Shome Mishtake" (apologies to Lord Gnome) - can't really blame a display adapter for getting its wotnots into a twist if it's being asked to do 1104 x 883

best wishes, HJ.