My computer monitor no longer displays the color red.

March 8, 2007 11:04 AM

My computer monitor no longer displays the color red. Is this the end?

Running Windows XP Service Pack 1, video card is an Nvidia GX 5200. Monitor is an 21" CRT by IBM, and it's at least ten years old.

Last night I left Lego Star Wars on overnight. When I woke up this morning, the color red no longer displays. Things which should be red are just black. Colors which have no red hue in them still display fine.

Given that it happened overnight and nothing changed, am I right to assume that leaving a graphics heavy game running for too long just overtaxed my really old monitor, and killed something inside it?

posted by poppo to Computers & Internet (18 answers total)

It's also possible that the graphics card itself may have failed...
posted by yeoz at 11:09 AM on March 8, 2007

Best answer: Double check that the cable is snuggly plugged in.
posted by jclovebrew at 11:11 AM on March 8, 2007

This is often caused by a broken solder joint or similar, and can be fixed Fonzie-style by smacking the side of the monitor. YMMV.
posted by smackfu at 11:26 AM on March 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Best answer: 2nd checking the cables and connectors.

Find a second monitor and plug it in to isolate problem to either monitor or computer.

There's no particular reason red would preferentially fail or overnight operation would kill something.

90% + of computer problems in my experience are connector related.
posted by FauxScot at 11:26 AM on March 8, 2007

CRTs have three guns, one for each R, G, and B.

It is possible for one to die, in which case, yeah it's the end.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 11:29 AM on March 8, 2007

I should have added that this effect can also be caused by one, or more, pins on the monitor cable not being fully connected to the video card, so I'll echo what was said before this. Check the cable first!
posted by WinnipegDragon at 11:34 AM on March 8, 2007

It happened to me once. There was 1 bent pin in the plug connection (can't remember if it was serial or parallel). But I straightened the pin and voila. . .red came back.
posted by Danf at 12:34 PM on March 8, 2007

This happened to me years ago on an Apple CRT monitor. I had it replaced (under warranty) and the next one they sent did the same thing about a year later.

I never moved or adjusted/connected/disconnected the cables and it happened to me twice.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 12:52 PM on March 8, 2007

I agree with everyone saying connect the cables. My monitor has been turning various shades of pink when the cable's too loose.
posted by rubberkey at 12:58 PM on March 8, 2007

*ber, I meant CHECK the cables. not connect. although that is the ultimate goal.
posted by rubberkey at 1:00 PM on March 8, 2007

Nth'ng bent / improperly seated red pin. VGA pinouts.
posted by mnology at 1:11 PM on March 8, 2007

If you never unplugged the monitor, it's probably not a bent pin. One of the guns or its supporting circuitry has given out. A capacitor died or something. CRTs die. It happens.

You could probably get it fixed, but it would probably cost nearly as much as a new monitor.
posted by GuyZero at 1:42 PM on March 8, 2007

This happened to my television, which I threw out. When I told my brother the story, he said that he had fixed such a problem before by running a high powered magnet over the screen to "reset" something. YMMV.
posted by ontic at 2:37 PM on March 8, 2007

ontic refers to degaussing. Most CRT monitors (as opposed to most CRT televisions) have a degauss option hidden in the menus somewhere (look for a little magnet-with-a-line-through-it logo). From what little I know about monitors, it seems unlikely that that's the problem, but, before you buy a new monitor, give it a shot.
posted by box at 3:21 PM on March 8, 2007

Think of it as an opportunity to get a flat-panel display, which will use much less electricity, and will be more pleasant to use.
posted by theora55 at 5:20 PM on March 8, 2007

Does the color red still display in the OSD (On screen display)? You can usually see all the colors in the color temperature settings or some such. If you only see two dots, greed and blue, and a black circle where the red should be, then the gun is probably dead. If all three colors are showing, then check the cable.

Good luck!
posted by defcom1 at 5:27 PM on March 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks so far...Checked the connections...Definitely not that.

I will swap in a different monitor this wknd

I will check on whether I can degauss from the menu, and double-check whether red displays in the monitor menus (but I think I did both of these two things already).
posted by poppo at 6:01 AM on March 9, 2007

Response by poster: For anyone still checking this: It was the cable!

As I started to swap in a new monitor I saw that I had a VGA extension cable (I had totally forgotten about this). Squeezed it back together and good as new!
posted by poppo at 3:11 PM on March 9, 2007