Monitor's Death Throes?

September 21, 2004 6:52 PM

So I turned on this monitor (CRT) I have and the image started jumping around and contracting and expanding and dimming and brightening for a bit all crazily. It goes away after the monitor has warmed up and only returns when I turn it on after it's been off for a while. Is it dying or is it just a quirky mannerism and is there anything I can do to fix it?
posted by frenetic to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

are the plugs loose? it sounds like a power issue to me.
posted by amberglow at 7:51 PM on September 21, 2004

Did you try degaussing it? There should be an option on the on-screen menu that makes the picture jump around and then settle back into its normal position. This may or may not do anything useful once the cool jumping around part is done.
posted by revgeorge at 7:52 PM on September 21, 2004

I've got a monitor that started doing this one day. It comes and goes -- some days the effect is worse, some days better. To me, it looks mostly like lost sync -- ever set your monitor for a mode it doesn't support? It usually lasts only a few seconds, but I've seen it jump around for up to half a minute. I've tried just about everything to fix it (degaussing doesn't help, it appears to get enough power, video card is properly seated, etc.). I once dropped the monitor a very short distance, but this started many months after that.

Sorry that's not terribly helpful, but you'll be happy to know that it's been doing it for upwards of two years now, and, otherwise, the monitor is still going strong. In fact, it does this far, far less often than it used to. To sum up: don't know the cause, don't know a fix, but it's not that bad, and, on my monitor, at least, it's gotten somewhat better. Could be aliens.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:07 PM on September 21, 2004

Definately your monitor is broken, frentic. The thing is, unless it is mucho big, it's probably not worth fixing. Just let it be and when it finally smokes, trash it. :-(

Since my repair skills don't go too far, I can't even guess at the actual problem, sorry.
posted by shepd at 8:29 PM on September 21, 2004

I have similar issues with my old 19" ViewSonic. I've determined the problem ies with the VGA cable. It's loose at the back of the monitor, but it's attached to the monitor so there's nothing I can do about it.
Horrible design flaw.
posted by Evstar at 8:46 PM on September 21, 2004

While it could very well be a loose cable, more likely (if it's an older monitor that you leave on a lot) parts are simply getting old and showing signs of imminent failure. It happens. I've got a ViewSonic 20G that I have to let warm up for about 5 minutes, then re-adjust brightness every time the thing comes out of "sleep" mode. It's old. I need to get a new one. You, too.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 8:53 PM on September 21, 2004

Here's something I learned that you might not think was the cause: do you have any lamps, particularly flourescent, nearby? Flourescent lights can wreak havok on a CRT because of the way flourescent light works. Try shutting off or moving any nearby lamps or lights and see if that does anything. The most notable symptom is a constant, fast-moving shaking that is not necessarily a deal-breaker, but something that could cause some headaches and eyestrain after 8 hours.
posted by robbie01 at 12:32 AM on September 22, 2004

Any monitors I've had that did this soon became ex-monitors.

One even caught fire.

My suggestion: don't power it off any more, and make sure it's in a fire-proof sort of area.
posted by five fresh fish at 11:13 AM on September 22, 2004

Good advice, fff. All that being said, I've always turned off monitors physically when I wasn't near them. That's probably because I often rescue monitors from the junkyard and I've seen 2 have some small flaming parts (didn't burn outside the case, fortunately).
posted by shepd at 3:25 PM on September 22, 2004

It's not the turning-off that's the problem: it's the turning-back-on. All my past monitors have bit the dust on a power-up; one of them burst into flames as it did so. I'm convinced they'd have run forever if only I'd left them alone.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:31 PM on September 22, 2004