Strange display problem with my monitor...

[Hguols]

I remember in the good old days when you could degauss a monitor, and it was more of a 3 second visual novelty than anything useful, so I though.

Now, I wish I had this function....

My monitor is tracing like a mofo. It doesn't do this all the time, but it does it too much.
If there's static buildup, it will blur/smear something fierce, always to the right....
I took a picture of this anomaly with my phone because, obviously, any sort of screen capture doesn't show it...

You can see it best on the Manage Topic Poll button, but really anywhere there's a light color and a dark color together, it does that.
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I've looked up my monitor's manual (my monitor is a Dell S1709W by the way) and there's nothing mentioned about a degauss function.
Perhaps, degauss isn't the function I need? I don't know....

I've actually turned my monitor around a few times and it cleared the problem up.... (probably somehow dumping the static off of it) but that doesn't always work.

Does anyone have any ideas on curing this?

Any input would be appreciated.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Had a clients rig doing this recently, replaced his gfx card with known good, cleared problem up, do you have a spare card you can try it with?
Moto

 

[Hguols]

I'm sorry I don't have another graphics card to work with.

I didn't really think it was a gfx card issue because I can move the monitor sometimes and it will go away.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Ok, are you moving it away from speakers or something then maybe?
do you have a graphics output on the mobo you could use instead of the card?
Moto

 

[Hguols]

I'm not sure what it is. I can't seem to repeat it.
I really do believe it is the monitor, not the graphics card because I did a built in diagnostics and the static distortions still display on the screen.

I don't believe its permanent because some days (like if its humid) it doesn't do it at all. Some days its really distorted, like the picture in the original post.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Maybe it is the monitor then, but without having a spare to swap out, its between that and the card,
How old is the monitor btw? solder can dry out and crack, I've reflowed Motherboards and gfx cards but I wouldn't try it on a monitor
Moto

 

[Hguols]

The monitor and PC are the same age. 18 months.

I'd like to know if there was like a home remedy to de-static or degauss to see if that would take care of this... in lieu of jumping straight toward dismantling my tower/monitor.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

I'd say theres something locally affecting it if they are both that young, you've noticed its affected by humidity?
I'm at a loss now to be honest, short of checking everything within say 6 feet of it, or changing with known good units to rule out faulty equipment
Moto

 

[andy_in_kenya]

Hi,

I've seen that on some LCD screens here in Kenya. Acers in fact... Seemed to be related to poorly shielded analogue (15pin d-sub connector) VGA cables, mostly in conjunction with slight variations of the mains power frequency (yes, we have that. If you'd see a graph of the supposed to be regular sine wave coming from our wall outlets you'd probably lough yourself to death). So I'd try two things:

- change your "vertical" frequency (for the monitor) from 60 to 75Hz or vice versa (if possible)
- get another VGA cable, make sure to try one of those thicker type cables with proper shielding (maybe you could borrow one from a friend for trying...). Your cable is probably about 5 to 6 millimeters thick, the one I'm talking about is roughly 7 to 8 millimeters.