Hardware problem

[dishawjp]

Hi All,

I'm having a problem with my FC1/RH9 computer's video. I'm pretty sure that it's hardware and not software since it happens whether I boot to RH9 or FC1. The colors on my display aren't staying constant and fade in and out, though text and all stays sharp regardless. For example, right now the background on this board is brown, a minute ago it was black. I bought the computer about 1 1/2 years ago including the monitor.

The monitor is an Optiquest Q71 and I have a nVIDIA geforce2 video card. Being a cheap old fart, I really don't want to replace both the monitor and video card, but just want to get what is needed.

Any thoughts as to which of the two is dying or any way to troubleshoot it?

Thanks!

Jim Dishaw
Jim Dishaw

[Void Main]

The easiest way to trouble shoot it is to stick a different monitor on it. If the problem goes away it's a bad monitor, if not it's the video card. It sounds like a monitor to me, one of the RGB guns appear to be going bad. You might also check your cable. I've seen cables that weren't plugged in all the way and making intermittent connection on one of the pins also do this. You can also slap the side of the monitor. If you can slap the monitor and cause the problem to change then that's another good sign that it's the monitor.

[dishawjp]

Thanks Void!

I tried slapping the monitor and checked the connections. No change, but I am suspecting the monitor. I'm leaning towards a monitor problem myself, and will see about trying out a different one just to be sure. If I do have to replace it, I'm thinking about trying one of those LCD flat screens.

Anything I should keep in mind when looking for them? Compatability issues or anything to avoid?

Thanks for the quick and helpful response!

Jim Dishaw

[Void Main]

I would also like a flat screen. I have been keeping my eye open for a good deal as I also have a 19" monitor going bad in my kitchen. I think the resolution and the size are the two most important things to me (next to price of course). :) I notice that there are some inexpensive flat panels out there but the resolution is usually low. My ultimate would be at least a 17" panel that is capable of at least 1280x1024 for somewhere under 300 bucks. Preferably around $200.

[Linux Frank]

Have you tried degaussing. It should be somewhere in the monitors menu, and I'd strongly suggest you check you don't have magnets anywhere near. I spent time recently trying to suss out this office worker's computer. She had one of those secretary pads that had a tiny little magnet in it and she was putting that right next to the monitor, and clearing it away for when I came to look. Cheap monitors are especially susceptable to this.

I also know a guy used to pull this stunt and tell people the monitor was heading south, and sell them a new one. (That's as bad as when we used to turn the Vax terminal monitors upside down, and people couldn't understand why the text was coming up wrong, always got us out of work for a while.).

[dishawjp]

Thanks for the input! My eyes aren't what they once were and having a good quality monitor is a lot more important to me now than it once was. On CRT monitors you have to consider max resolutions and dot pitch (.20, .18 and etc.). Is there something similar to consider in the LCD screens or is it just a matter of resolution?

Linux Frank,

I moved everyting magnetic that I could think of as far from the monitor as possible. The network switch used to be close to one of my monitors and it seemed to affect the corner of the monitor that it was near. But I had forgotten about degaussing. I'm at work now but will give that a try tonight. That is if I'm in any shape to do that when I get home. Tonight is the monthly Linux Users Group meeting and a bunch of us usually stop for hot wings and cold suds afterwards. Sometimes we spend more time at our friendly local tavern than we do at the "official" meeting

Thanks again,

Jim Dishaw

[Linux Frank]

I personally have an LCD at the moment, but I'm not happy, I may look into a flatscreen soon. I don't think they have the reliability or longevity of CRT. Also I got a couple of pixels that have gone bright, and you have no idea how annoying something that small really is. And cleaning it is proving somewhat difficult.

On degaussing, you should do this say once a year / six months anyway, there is actually enough EMI in the air to affect monitors over a long period of time.


mmmmmmmm hot wings. Man I got to go get some Buffalo Tenders now. Yuuuummmmm. Place 30 mins up the road does the best buffalo tenders I ever tasted. Just too far to do take out, and open only during my work hours. Damn. That is one of the biggest banes of my existance. Really good Buffalo tenders in Boston are hard to find.

[dishawjp]

Maybe I should stick to CRT if degaussing doesn't help. It would certainly be less expensive.

I work for a college in Syracuse NY and there's an excellent restaurant/bar just down the hill from my office that has wings as good as any you can get anywhere. I'm heading there right now to meet my fellow SyrLUG members for the obligatory pre-meeting wings/fries/gyros/beer to get the mental juices flowing. Then a few more beers afterwards to top off the evening.

Damn, I love the first Wednesdays of the month

Jim

[ZiaTioN]

I have 2 Samsung SyncMaster 171 17" monitors and have nothing but good things to say about them. With any LCD monitor (including laptops) there is a chance for some of the pixles to go "bright" or even die all together. This is why for a laptop getting an extended warranty might be a good idea.

The color brilliance in an LCD dwarfs the comprable CRT monitor. The vendor of the LCD is very important when deciding on which LCD to get. Quality (or price for that matter) is not something you want to skimp on when buying an LCD. If you do not have a good $400.00 to spend on an LCD right now I would recommend getting a flat screen and stay away from tradition CRT's (rounded screens). Samsung is actually a great choice for LCD vendor and so is View Sonic.

The dot pitch for some of the View Sonic flat screens is actually lower (meaning better) than some of the top of the line LCD's. However as I said the color brilliance is much better in a LCD than a flat screen. For instance I had a 19" View Sonic flat screen that had a dot pitch of .21 and the Samsungs I have, have a .24 dot pitch (I believe).

Another bonus for LCD's is the whole magnetic issue (which I can see you have already experienced). LCD's are void of this weakness. Lastly the biggest bonus for LCD's is the saved desktop space and pure neatness of their appearance.

LIke I said LCD's are still not in the right price range for everyone but if you can afford it, it would be a better choice to go with an LCD (especially if you game). You might want to try places like Tiger Directorpricewatch for better prices on such things.

[dishawjp]

Thanks for the in-depth information ZiaTion,

I tried degaussing my monitor last night... no joy. This weekend I'll hook up a different monitor to see how it behaves. I'm hoping that it's the video card, since the one I have is only a GeForce2 32 MB card and I'd kind of like to upgrade that a bit anyway.

I do game a bit. I just got my first commercial Linux game, Majesty, yesterday. Figured I'd do my bit to support outfits who produce Linux games. But I'm not a hard core gamer by any means.

I'm afraid that $400 is a bit more than I can easily drop on a monitor right now, so I may take a close look at flat screen CRT's. Space isn't a huge issue for me, my computer rooms are not very pretty and probably never will be So, if it does turn out to be the monitor, I'll most likely go for a good CRT.

Thanks again!

[Linux Frank]

You might want to try Craigslist, if you are anywhere near a city they currently serve, if not you could always ask them to add yours. Best of all it is free and it runs on Linux. Check out the free and computer sections (there are always monitors available). I know you are upstate, but this is the only NY state site I recognse (other citys are on the right of the page).

http://newyork.craigslist.org/

I love this site, currently locating my next apartment through it, and have had some really good buys on it.

[dishawjp]

I found a 17" Samsung 900 DF flat screen CRT for $178 which is in my price range. I've Googled this thing and can't find any info on it. It is a .20 dot pitch. Anyone here have any experience with this turkey?

I've been looking at LCD flatscrens, but good ones are more than I can afford to spend right now and cheap ones... well, they're cheap.

[Griffin518]

I found a 17" Samsung 900 DF flat screen CRT for $178 which is in my price range. I've Googled this thing and can't find any info on it. It is a .20 dot pitch. Anyone here have any experience with this turkey?

I've been looking at LCD flatscrens, but good ones are more than I can afford to spend right now and cheap ones... well, they're cheap.

I actually had that model right before I broke the bank on my current 18" LCD... in my opinion it's the best CRT monitor I've ever seen... hands down.

[dishawjp]

Resolved!!

Thanks to all for the input and advice.

It turned out that it was the video card and not the monitor after all. I took Void's first bit of advice and put the monitor on another computer and everything was fine. I had been trying to avoid the XF86Config rewrite, but I'm glad that I took the time to do it since the monitor worked perfectly on that computer.

I picked up a cheap Champion MX400 ($49.00) card, nVIDIA chipset, 64 MB of RAM and it now that I've updated my drivers everything is working perfectly. It amazes me that you can get such good hardware so inexpensively. My first "hot" PCI video card had 1/12 MB of VRAM and cost me a lot more than this one. Hell, my first "hot" PC only had 640 KB of RAM and it cost me a fortune!

Again thanks to all for your support and advice. This forum is truly amazing!

Jim Dishaw

[Void Main]

You know what's funny about this whole thing? I mentioned earlier in this thread that I have a 19" monitor going bad in the kitchen which is plugged into my main desktop. I never use it because I have a laptop with a wireless card.

Well, I assumed it was the monitor because I had never seen a video card act anything like it is. It really seemed like a monitor. It's still usable and my wife and kids don't complain too much about it so I just left it (didn't want to fork out the cash for a new one really). After Jim trouble shot it to his GeForce 2 card I decided to go out to the kitchen and plug the monitor into my laptop. Huh, worked just fine which means it is my video card that is hosed. Guess what video card I'm running in it? Yep, GeForce 2 with 32MB.

This card has really done me right for the last couple of years and I believe I only paid around $40 for it back in the day. In fact, if they still make them I would buy another one. In a way I'm actually relieved to find out it's a video card because they are a lot cheaper than a monitor. On the other hand, I don't have an excuse to get the flat screen LCD. :) I think I'll look for another GeForce PCI card on the cheap so I can just plug it in and go.