Shoutbox

Just now my temporary (I hope) second monitor has been acting strangely. I'm not quite sure what the technical term is for it, so a picture is in order (excuse the phone camera):



I doubt this is fixable, and it's been very poorly treated by my sister () which doesn't help its cause. Should I throw it out or do something else with it?

EDIT: Yes, I have checked the cables, and while doing so noticed that the OSD was still affected by this, so it must be a screen problem.

I've seen that twice, the first time was really a problem with the screen and the other was a virus. But as you said that

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Originally posted by ryxdp
it's been very poorly treated by my sister

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I believe that it should be a screen problem.

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Originally posted by ryxdp
EDIT: Yes, I have checked the cables, and while doing so noticed that the OSD was still affected by this

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What do you exactly mean?

You checked the cables and noticed that it fixed the stuff which is shown on the screen but it did not fix the distortion on the OSD? So now only the OSD is affected?

Is that distortion static or does it change/flicker? (I assume the later)

PS: If there is a distortion on the OSD too then almost the only conclussion is a screen problem (the OSD should not be affected by a broken or badly connected screen cable as the OSD is generated by the monitor itself, not from the signal comming from the PC).

It's a long shot but you might try to check the resolution (the resolution you can set on your screen itself (if possible), not the resolution you set from your computer settings), the horizontal en vertical frequency, refresh rate and other screen related settings from the menu on your monitor.

It seems to be fine now (After about a day of being in standby mode), although it still has a minor problem which I've had for a while now where things like display names on my contact list have "shadows" blurring off to the right.

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Originally posted by nimicitor
Are there any magnetic objects nearby?

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Not that I am aware of. I moved the screen from my desk to down on the floor on top of my PC, and it didn't really do anything.

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
You checked the cables and noticed that it fixed the stuff which is shown on the screen but it did not fix the distortion on the OSD? So now only the OSD is affected?

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Sorry, what I meant was that checking the cables did nothing to help the problem, and that I'd concluded it was a screen problem as it was also affecting the OSD.

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Is that distortion static or does it change/flicker? (I assume the later)

PS: If there is a distortion on the OSD too then almost the only conclussion is a screen problem (the OSD should not be affected by a broken or badly connected screen cable as the OSD is generated by the monitor itself, not from the signal comming from the PC).

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Yes, it changes a bit, I think it might even be alternating between distorted and normal.

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It's a long shot but you might try to check the resolution (the resolution you can set on your screen itself (if possible), not the resolution you set from your computer settings), the horizontal en vertical frequency, refresh rate and other screen related settings from the menu on your monitor.

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I did try changing the refresh rate from the Display Properties () and found that the amount of distortion differed, but I can't remember if it was lessening with ascending or descending rate.

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Originally posted by ryxdp
It seems to be fine now (After about a day of being in standby mode), although it still has a minor problem which I've had for a while now where things like display names on my contact list have "shadows" blurring off to the right.

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Ah! That is the number one culprint of a conflict in screen resolution.

Your computer is currently outputting a screen resolution which is slithly different (either in size or either in refresh rate or both) than the default one of the screen.

Change the resolution (and/or refresh rate) in Windows to the default one of the screen. You also might want to upgrade (or downgrade!) the video drivers.

Changing the refresh rate did not help with the "blurring", and everything is as recommended (1280x1024@60Hz). Since I'm not very good at explaining things, have another picture:



EDIT: I forgot to mention this is a mockup of what I'm seeing, but this is generally what it looks like.

How long is your VGA cable? Is it a double shielded cable? Do you use a switchbox to switch between screens? Always use as short as possible doubled shielded cables and try to avoid switchboxes.

Are there any speakers in the neighbourhood (or near your cables)?

And do you use a (anologue) vga cable or a (digital) DVI cable? (I assume it is anologue).

Also note that the screen resolution displayed in Windows is not always the exact screen resolution which is outputted! Some graphic cards allow you to set your own screen resolutions so you can later pick them in the list. Thus, although they are in the list, it doesn't mean they are always supported. Some video cards also alway you to use non-supported resolutions by using interpolation (this is again not seen in the default Windows dialogs, you need to look in the advanced settings of your graphics card for this).

Note that some LCD panels also allow you to shift the image left or right. The same with the video card driver. Make sure both are set by default (middle) and not one completely to the left and the other completely to the right as that might also distort the image (giving ghosting).