CRT Monitor Troubleshooting

[AstroD]

Hello. I have a Trinitron CRT monitor, purchased in 1999. The screen image either a) compresses vertically before jumping back to normal, and/or b) sometimes scanlines appear at the lower bottom third of the screen. Often, the screen image is normal; the problem occurs at random intervals. I'm not sure if the problem is computer related or monitor related. There is no magnetic interference nearby. I am using a computer powerbar and everything is grounded. The computer itself seems to be functioning fine. Attempting to isolate the problem, I changed my graphics card (from an ATI XPERT 128 16MB card to an ATI Range 9000 64MB card) and dusted the inside of the computer but this has not fixed problem. I thought the problem may be heat induced so I cleared away anything that was near the monitor; this seems to have had little effect--expect perhaps slightly reduce the frequency of the occurances. Average room temperature with the computer on is 26-30°C. I did swap my CRT with a funtioning LCD display. There were no problems using the LCD other than parallel diagonal lines that moved from right to left and a peppered static-like haze, similar to traditional tube TVs. The LCD was really cheap and I determined that lowering my video card's refresh rate resolved the display problems with the LCD. I tried using my CRT on another computer and there were no problems as far as I am aware; it is worth noting that the other computer was in a different room which had an average temperature of 23°C. Some people suggested the problem may be due to my power supply which they thought might be overheating due to dust or not being able to supply enough power to all the computer devices. I'm not sure if the problem is the power supply or the monitor. Lastly, I'm not sure if this is important but when I maximize all windows from a minimized state the boundary edges of the screen image move slightly and then stay put. I would appreciate any help. Here are some additonal specs:

My Computer Specs:
---------------------
ASUS P3B-F Jumperfree ATX Motherboard Revision 1.03 with Intel 440BX AGP Set
Intel Celeron Processor
Computer speed currently 900MHz (100MHz bus)
640MB SDRAM
BIOS Revsion 1006
Range 9000 64MB AGP Video Card on 2x AGP bus
Power Supply:
-- Touch Switching Power Supply
-- AC I/P: VOL: 115/230V~CUR: 5/3A MAX. FREQ: 50-60Hz
-- Model: ATX-50A
-- DC O/P: 250W, +3.3V: 14A, +5V: 18A, +12V: 9A, -5V: 0.5A, -12V: 0.5A, +5VSB: 1A
Currently attached devices:
-- 2 hard drives
-- 2 optical drives
-- 1 floppy drive
-- 1 chassis fan
-- 1 ISA ethernet card
-- 1 PCI sound card
-- 1 PCI modem
-- 1 PCI Promise Ultra133 TX2 IDE adapter
ART A-701T
-- Max Supported Refresh Rate: 120 Hz
-- Max Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Current Video Card Refresh Rate and Resolution:
-- 100 Hz
-- 800 x 600
Operating System: Windows XP SP2
Current motherboard readings from ASUS Probe:
-- CPU Temperature: flucuates between 45-51°C, 107-123°F
-- Motherboard Temperature: 33°C / 91°F
-- CPU Fan: 3629 rpm
-- Voltages:
-- +12V fluctuates between ~11.8 and 12.032 V
-- +5V ~4.838V
-- +3.3V ~3.44V
-- Vcore at 1.744V

[shantanu]

its quite an OLD monitor ,,, WHy dont you change it ,, but if you wanted to change why would you post here ,, so trying to get RID of the Problem

as you have written 100Hz refresh rate , change it to 85 Hz .. i think by this only your Problem will go away

if not then do and check this:

have you attached your MONITOR also to SMPS... if yes then remove it and plug it to different supply or directly from UPS..

now after this try to remove(just unplug) extra hardwares like one Optical drive , one hdd and any ADD on cards.. after that jsut restore your monitors factory settings and then uninstall your systems VIdeo driver (display driver) and then reinstall ...

now after installing the drivers ... set the screen resolution to 640*480 and 85 hz and then see if your monitor shows that things.... if not then incrase your resolution to 800*600 and set the refresh rate to 85 hz. then 1024*768 and 60 hz

after that see whether the problesm comes....

and tell it here....





after this see that now also the lines appear

[AstroD]

Thanks for the tips! I'll try them out but it may take a few days for me to post my findings. I can tell you right now that my 100MHz refresh rate isn't to blame because up until this morning I had it set to 85MHz. My monitor is plugged into my powerbar (so if I understand you correctly it's not an SMPS problem.) Following your advice, I disconnected both my optical drives and am now waiting to see whether this solves the problem. What is interesting is that this has caused my +12V power supply to stabilize a bit (it doesn't seem to drop below 11.904V now as opposed to the previous 11.8V) and now my average CPU temperature is now an average 10°C lower (then again, that could be because I opened my window a little wider). A thread on this site dealing with CPU overheating mentioned that ASUS reported that a lower than optimal voltage results in CPU overheating (although this was for a different motherboard); http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/newr...reply&p=432694 . I'll report back sometime in the week.

[shantanu]

that fine !!! waiting for your reply

[AstroD]

I put the monitor on another computer again. Turns out it is the monitor that's faulty and not my computer. The slightly cooler temperature of the other room seems to decrease the frequency of the image malfunction.

I appreciate your help though.
Thanks.

[shantanu]

its ok dude...

[ranjan2001]

But on a serious note save ur eyes, buy a new monitor, I wonder what u do with such a old monitor & how do u manage to work with such old monitor.
CRT beyond 4 years will tax ur eyes heavely, though triton is one of good brands.