Question for any computer guru's...

[Bill-N-Donna]

I'm using a 2-monitor set up and one of the monitors (Compaq Presario MV700 Color Monitor) is making me think I need to go and purchase 2 new flat screens to replace them. With this one monitor I see a faint line scrolling from the top of the screen to the bottom. It is so faint it can barely be seen at all but can be an aggravation to say the least.

I noticed this a long time ago and then it seemed to go away. Now, I don't know what made it go away but I have recently re-formatted the hard drive and I see it again. I also lost the ability to control the additional monitor through the process of re-formatting but after finding the drivers for them I re-loaded them and now I have the control of both monitors once again.

I might also use this as an excuse to go buy 2-flat screens with out very much pressure.


Anyone know of a solution for this and how I might be able to stop it from scrolling?

Thanks!

[exav8tr]

Bill, I think the only Cure is two new flat screens....Faint lines can be like a cancer, they will grow.




At least all of this sounds good......

[radioattic]

Two things I can think of:

1) Check your cable to the offending monitor; if you have a VGA cable, see if there is a way to use a digital cable and upgrade to that. You could be getting interference that a digital cable can block.
2) change the screen refresh rate on the monitor if you can; this is done in CP-> display-> settings-> advanced. (this is for XP; I don't know how to get there in Vista or Seven)

You may want to try switching the monitor cables first to see if the line switches from one monitor to the other. If it switches, it's probably a setting or a cable. If the line stays on the same monitor, it's probably the monitor.

Or you could take the path of least resistance and buy new equipment!

[Leaseit]

Gosh, some of those old monitors still ticking ?? Unplug the I/O Video cable. Turn the monitor back on and if you still see the line, the electron gun is not turning off completely. (Its leaking)
Two new flat panels are in order.

Randy

[Waynem]

I personally have used less of an excuse to upgrade. Example: Recently my 5 year old Toshiba laptop disk drive would not stay closed. So I used scotch tape for awhile and even copied some items to the CD/DVD using the scotch tape. However, about two weeks after that I just up and bought a new laptop. I know, I know! I could have just swapped the cd/dvd player out, but that's not upgrading. I now have a new Toshiba running Windows 7 and I am enjoying it.

I'll sell the old lap top for a grand$$. (got pay for the upgrades somehow)

p.s., I vote for refresh rate as a start, but it may be the video card. Pull out the video card, use an eraser on the contacts and clean them, then stick it back in and see what happens. (Or just go buy two nice flat screens.)

[Bill-N-Donna]

Thanks guys, my MOC friends came through again!

Ok, here's what I did….
I went into properties and adjusted the refresh rate as as radioattic mentioned. I raised the refresh rate from 60 hertz to 72 hertz. I didn’t know it could be on a different setting but it looked a little better so I raised it on the other monitor as well, which seemed to help the general appearance on it. I thought it got rid of the original problem but then I noticed the line was still there. The appearance changed though in that it was now scrolling from the bottom of the screen to the top of the screen. This only makes sense because of the normal frequency of electricity. (Not sure I even know what I'm talking about here.) I also didn't know the frequency refresh rate could be changed, I thought it had to stay on 60 hertz.

I then switched the monitor leads on the computer and I noticed that it was still scrolling on the same monitor so I raised the refresh rate to 85 hertz (in both) and "I haven't seen the scrolling any more. "

Since it seems to have fixed the problem for now, I switched the monitor leads back to normal and everything still appears to be ok.
I think I have a weak monitor, maybe even 2 of them. I'm probably way over due to change them out! At best I may have bought some time.

This leads to another question. If and when I change out the monitors, shouldn't the refresh rate be re-set back to 60 hertz?

[radioattic]

I think so, yes.

[Bill-N-Donna]

Since the last post and where we got the problem straightened out, I've been talking to the shop where I buy my computers and things. He had two 17" flat screens for $75.00 each. It was the last 2 he had so I got them. I use a flat screen at work so I really didn't get too excited about getting the flat ones but they are actually a lot nicer than what I had once I got them set up. If nothing else it's nice not having two behemoths sitting on the desk top.

Thanks again MOC for coming through!

[ehmcfarl]

I would just run the the two new flat screens at what ever refresh rate is the default for them. On older CRT monitors you would definitely get some flicker at 60hz refresh, but the new LCD screens don't seem to be affected this way.