Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of jberenyi
jberenyi

asked on

Why does my monitor do this?

I have a CTX monitor that is six months old.  I know its okay.  I also have a Matrox Millenium 4 meg video card.  Once a week my monitor will change color schemes.  Things that were cyan blue turn to magenta and so forth.  After a few more seconds everything starts to get fuzzy and lines begin to appear.  At this time I reboot the computer and its back to normal.  What could this mean?  Is it a virus?  Do I need to reload Win95?
Avatar of alexo
alexo
Flag of Antarctica image

No virus, a hardware problem.
Your monitor is starting to go south.  Take it to a lab.
Avatar of rmarotta
rmarotta

Does it occur at all resolutions/color depths?
If the problem can be reproduced, try different color depth. (eg. 16bit).  Depending on the result, it may point to video card.  Also, it might be helpful, if possible, to swap video cards.  That should eliminate possible bad one.
Regards,
Ralph

Does the little leaflet that comes with your monitor says it can handle 75Hz at 1024x768?

I have managed to burn two (admittedly substandard) monitors at work by insisting on a refresh rate they apparently could not handle.

Try backing down to 72Hz or even 70Hz.

This is a classic warning signal that you've got a problem with your monitor.  99 out of 100 times this behavior is caused by a poor solder joint inside the monitor.  I'd not recommend taking it to a shop until it goes out completely as most shop don't have the patience to wait until your symptoms show themselves.  If you can live with it until it goes out (or can be reproduced quickly) then you will be better off getting it fixed.

On a side note, unless the unit is under warranty, I'd recommend just getting a new monitor rather than pay big $$$ for a "maybe" repair job.  If you are handy with a soldering iron and know how to safely work on the inside of a monitor, then these can often be found with a bit of persistence.  Almost always, the bad joint is on the analog/HV board.
jhance...

The 1% left in your answer is the part I will cover here.

a210518...

The proposed answer does not mean that your monitor is faulty right away.  Few things have to be checked before we accused it:

1) He have experienced problems with MATROX cards before with clients the way they use their settings in the display.

2) What you should do would be the following, get to Matrox site and download the latest drivers (www.matrox.com)

3) Uninstall the previous drivers you have.

4) Reinstall the new drivers.

5) DON'T adjust the setting using WIN95 settings panel, use Matrox utilties to set it.

When you require to make changes, use MATROX setting option not any other one.

We have solve most of the Matrox problems this way.

Hope this has helped.
If yes, reject the proposed answer for me to post mine as answer.

Regards to all
Hmmm....   Any ideas on why a driver would wait a week to cause a problem?

a210518,
You might try re-seating the video card in its socket.  Or install it in another if one is available.
regards

If you say "sorry I don't think this is the answer", then what do you think the answer is?
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of magigraf
magigraf

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
I guess we won't know whether that works 'til next week.
I would still bet on hardware.
regards to all

Ralph...

Our clients were betting too on their Monitor...
Turned out to be as I said "Settings"
That said, we do not have to overule a hardware problem, but most of the time it was settings and drivers problem.

Regards
You're welcome...