Sudden monitor display issues
blackmagic
Posts: 1,647 Forum Member
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Hi...I've had a problem with my monitor hooked up to my PC and wonder if anyone could help.
A few days ago, I suddenly started having colour problems on the monitor. Some colours appear more dull and some colours aren't displaying as the colours they should be. For example, something that's supposed to appear as bright blue now appears as a dull grey. It's like it's 8 or 16-bit colours. Another way to put it is that the colours appear washed out. If I scroll a page up, I can see a temporary white shadow above text during the scroll, and if I scroll down, a white shadow below the text.
Never had this issue before. I have had instances where the screen won't display anything (it's just black). Simply disconnecting and reconnecting the DVI cable has done the trick. This happens about 3 times a year.
The monitor is an Iiyama ProLite E2208HDS (22" LCD monitor) and I've had it for 4 years now. It is connected to my desktop PC which has an ATI Radeon HD4850 graphics card. Connection is with DVI. The system is a Windows 7 64-bit OS, 3Ghz quad core processor, 4GB RAM.
I have turned the monitor on and off, disconnected the DVI cable at both ends and reconnected it, unplugged the monitor from the power supply and replugged it, tried troubleshooting on Control Panel including display colour calibration, tried all the monitor Menu options, but have had no luck. On Device Manager, my monitor driver and graphics card driver are up-to-date and there are no problems reported there.
Is my monitor knackered? I suppose I haven't tried a new DVI cable, could it be this?
I've taken a photo of the screen below to show how it appears, and a photo of my problem-free iPad screen on the same webpage, for comparison.
PC monitor - http://imageshack.us/a/img10/483/s5nb.jpg
iPad - http://imageshack.us/a/img818/8238/m7xc.jpg
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
A few days ago, I suddenly started having colour problems on the monitor. Some colours appear more dull and some colours aren't displaying as the colours they should be. For example, something that's supposed to appear as bright blue now appears as a dull grey. It's like it's 8 or 16-bit colours. Another way to put it is that the colours appear washed out. If I scroll a page up, I can see a temporary white shadow above text during the scroll, and if I scroll down, a white shadow below the text.
Never had this issue before. I have had instances where the screen won't display anything (it's just black). Simply disconnecting and reconnecting the DVI cable has done the trick. This happens about 3 times a year.
The monitor is an Iiyama ProLite E2208HDS (22" LCD monitor) and I've had it for 4 years now. It is connected to my desktop PC which has an ATI Radeon HD4850 graphics card. Connection is with DVI. The system is a Windows 7 64-bit OS, 3Ghz quad core processor, 4GB RAM.
I have turned the monitor on and off, disconnected the DVI cable at both ends and reconnected it, unplugged the monitor from the power supply and replugged it, tried troubleshooting on Control Panel including display colour calibration, tried all the monitor Menu options, but have had no luck. On Device Manager, my monitor driver and graphics card driver are up-to-date and there are no problems reported there.
Is my monitor knackered? I suppose I haven't tried a new DVI cable, could it be this?
I've taken a photo of the screen below to show how it appears, and a photo of my problem-free iPad screen on the same webpage, for comparison.
PC monitor - http://imageshack.us/a/img10/483/s5nb.jpg
iPad - http://imageshack.us/a/img818/8238/m7xc.jpg
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
0
Comments
As for diagnosing the problem, start by uninstalling and reinstalling the graphics card driver. Try an older version if necessary.
If that makes no difference, you need to eliminate the cable, monitor and graphics card. Swapping the cable is simple, so start there. Also try a VGA cable instead of the DVI.
The next step is to test the monitor, so obviously swap it with another one. If the problem still occurs (and depending on youtr technical ability and confidence), reseat the graphics card and ensure the fan & heatsink are free of any dust. If you have onboard graphics, remove the graphics card and use the onboard instead. Getting hold of a replacement graphics card is a next step, but before then:
- Boot into Safe Mode (keep tapping F8 as soon as you switch on) and see if the problem is still there.
- Download a Linux Live CD, boot from it and again see if the problem is there.
These last two steps can help ascertain whether it's a software or hardware issue.The problem occurs in all programs, and it is constant. I have tried different resolutions, but this does not change anything. I have attempted System Restore but it's giving me errors and won't restore to previous restore points.
I should have a VGA cable handy so I'll try that. Don't have another monitor, but do have a laptop with DVI and VGA ports - should work right? I can reseat the graphics card also.
I can try safe mode/Linux also, and see if I get the issue.
Will report back later.
I connected my laptop to my monitor VGA<-->VGA, replicating the laptop screen on the monitor. Powered on my laptop and booted up Windows. Display problem still apparent.
I tried connecting using the other DVI port on my PC graphics card to the monitor DVI port. Problem still apparent.
I tried connecting from PC to monitor DVI<-->VGA using a DVI to VGA adaptor. Problem still apparent.
I took my monitor to a friend's house and connected it to his machine VGA<-->VGA and really can't remember if he has a DVI graphics card but if he did I'm sure we tried DVI<-->DVI too, but none did anything different. Problem was still apparent.
I also took his functioning monitor to my house and connected it to my PC VGA<-->DVI. His monitor was fine. No problems with the display.
So I've established it's not a software fault, it's not the graphics card, it's not the cable. My monitor's duffed and I need a new one.
http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/low_ESR_capacitors.htm#plague
There are clever kids around who can do this type of repair easily. Ask around. I was repairing TVs for a fiver in my village by the time I was 15.
There are You-Tube videos showing how to do specific repairs. Try searching for your model number there.