OT: Monitor Troubleshooting

Since nobody at the manufacturer seems to have a clue as to what is 
going on with one of my monitors, I thought I'd pose the issue to the 
Ventura computer gurus:

I've got a dual monitor set up in Windows XP with an ATI Radeon XL1650 
PCI express video card. Everything had been working very well for over 2 
years when suddenly last week, the secondary monitor (a 20" Dell LCD) 
showed an 1.5" wide grey stripe or bar from top to bottom of the screen, 
about 1 inch from the left edge of the LCD's screen.

I have tried to eliminate all the variables (switched ports, switched 
VGA cables, even connected the monitor to another computer with a 
different video card). I have tried changing the screen resolution, but 
to no avail. The grey bar remains (it's translucent, not opaque -- but 
still a bit disconcerting). Interestingly, the bar is not captured when 
you perform a screen capture. I've performed the Dell self-test where 
you disconnect the monitor from the computer and turn on the power. A 
white box with stripes of the three primary colors slowly navigates its 
way about the screen -- the bar does not appear visible during this test.

Anybody got any ideas? I'm at a loss. Thanks for any guidance.



-- 
Daniel Lauber
Planning/Communications
River Forest, IL

dl@planningcommunications.com

Websites:
http://planningcommunications.com
http://jobfindersonline.com
http://dreamitdoit.net

You are good! I wish I had come back here again to check for responses 
before I called Dell Tech Support late this afternoon. It took 1.5 hours 
on the phone with Dell's customer service/tech support (based in India 
where somehow they managed to be bright and friendly at 3:30 am there -- 
I don't know how they do it), but they finally got me to somebody who 
provided support for monitors (4 different people along the way) and 
after getting the full story, immediately offered to replace the monitor 
free under warranty. So a new monitor (probably refurbished would be my 
bet, which is okay) should be here within 3 to 5 business days. Who knows?

Thanks for your feedback - you were right on the money.

DEAK JAHN, Gabor wrote:
> On Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:11:10 -0500, Daniel Lauber
> <dl@planningcommunications.com> wrote:
> 
> Daniel,
> 
>> to no avail. The grey bar remains (it's translucent, not opaque -- but

>> still a bit disconcerting). Interestingly, the bar is not captured when

>> you perform a screen capture.
> 
> Not really surprising as the screen capture has nothing to do with the
> display on the monitor, it's a copy of the video memory contents in
> Windows. Technically, you can make screen captures without a monitor
> actually attached.
> 
> It sounds very much like an internal electronic problem in the
> monitor, probably a failing driving panel. Hardly repairable these
> days, under warranty they simply replace the whole circuit panel,
> after warranty this might be prohibitively expensive.
> 
> Bye,
>   Gabor
> 
> DEAK JAHN, Gabor
> Hungarian CVP Forum
> http://www.tramontana.co.hu/index_en.php
> 

-- 
Daniel Lauber
Planning/Communications
River Forest, IL

dl@planningcommunications.com

Websites:
http://planningcommunications.com
http://jobfindersonline.com
http://dreamitdoit.net

On Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:11:10 -0500, Daniel Lauber
<dl@planningcommunications.com> wrote:

Daniel,

> to no avail. The grey bar remains (it's translucent, not opaque -- but 
> still a bit disconcerting). Interestingly, the bar is not captured when 
> you perform a screen capture.

Not really surprising as the screen capture has nothing to do with the
display on the monitor, it's a copy of the video memory contents in
Windows. Technically, you can make screen captures without a monitor
actually attached.

It sounds very much like an internal electronic problem in the
monitor, probably a failing driving panel. Hardly repairable these
days, under warranty they simply replace the whole circuit panel,
after warranty this might be prohibitively expensive.

Bye,
  Gabor

DEAK JAHN, Gabor
Hungarian CVP Forum
http://www.tramontana.co.hu/index_en.php

On Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:59:39 -0500, Daniel Lauber
<dl@planningcommunications.com> wrote:

Daniel,

> Thanks for your feedback - you were right on the money.

It wasn't difficult. These flat panel monitors are very simple,
practically four parts: the display panel, the backlighting, the
electronic panel and a plastic frame to keep the other three from
falling apart.

And each have its characteristic problems, the display panel might
have dead or stuck pixels or, I guess, compelety black areas. Problems
with the backlighting are obvious. And everything else that makes a
visible but incorrect picture (if it is independent of the computer,
for instance, another computer driving the monitor show the same
symptoms) is the electronics.

Bye,
  Gabor

DEAK JAHN, Gabor
Hungarian CVP Forum
http://www.tramontana.co.hu/index_en.php

> It sounds very much like an internal electronic problem in the
> monitor, probably a failing driving panel. Hardly repairable these
> days, under warranty they simply replace the whole circuit panel,
> after warranty this might be prohibitively expensive.
For anyone who's shopping for an LCD panel, Samsung may not be the way 
to go. On the advice of someone who knows much more about monitors than 
I do, I went with a Samsung SyncMaster 245B when I had to give in and 
replace my dying CRT in December. General display quality is good. OTOH, 
colors are determinedly cool and can be calibrated only so far.

But... Early on, wild problems started cropping up. One is what I call 
the "corduroy" effect. Usually happens on a boot, especially a cold 
boot. Another is the appearance of horizontal yellow smudges on white 
areas. Both those issues are usually cured by turning the power on and 
off. On occasion, wild behavior ensues from working on a graphic that's 
mostly blue, or when the colors are being calibrated and blue has focus. 
A permanent feature is a noticeable drop-off in the backlight in the top 
quarter of the screen. Fortunately, although it's noticeable and 
annoying, it's not bad enough to seriously affect editing on most of my 
work (because that area is generally occupied by window borders and 
toolbars.

So why haven't we called Tech Support? We have. On multiple occasions. 
I'm actually using the second of the three instances we've had since 
December. That's because the third instance was even worse. That one had 
a dark band across the bottom of the screen as well. And Samsung doesn't 
want to send us yet another one. Neither are they interested in looking 
into the problem.

BTW, my refurb Lenovo ThinkVision is a joy (for an LCD).

Allison