Dark Lines on Monitor

[da Wizard]

EDIT:

Please check latest post for update

EDIT:

I hope someone can help me out...

I have a Creative Labs 17" monitor and it is giving the folowing problem:

Whenever there is something being displayed of a darker colour than the background it is on it displays a darkish line across the whole screen...the more of the darker colour there is the darker the line gets...The easiest way to think of it is to have a piece of paper with lines on it, if on the 8th line you have a word (anywhere on the line and any line) the whole line is a darker colour,if you have 3 words the line will be even darker...and the lines are a considerable amount darker.The whole display is also not as bright as it used to be.But the settings are all still the same.I just swicthed my monitor on one day and it was like this...It happened about 3 weeks ago and after using it for a week it suddenly came right, it worked well for another week and then the problem has come back!I have used the "Degauss" option on my monitor's menu but it hasn't made any difference!

My machine specs are as follows:

MSI MS-6309 Mobo
Creative Labs TnT2 Ultra-Using Detonator 21.81 Drivers(there is no difference using the Creative drivers)
512MB PC133MHZ RAM
PIII 1Ghz
Creative Labs Vibra 128 PCI Sound Card
Windows XP Professional

Although I think it is a problem with my monitor not my machine...

Sorry the post is so long but I just wanted to give the best description possible.

Many thanks for any help offered!

da Wizard

[Sneets]

Hi,
my guess would be that the display has a trinitron tube...they always have two or three stabilisation-wires on the screen to keep the lines "stretched"...but your problem explanation doesn't fit into that too good...well, just a guess :-)

[Crowdirt]

Hi Wizard, one thing to do would be to connect the Monitor to another Computer and see how it goes. If the problem is still there then the computer is likely ok. If you suspect the computer then trying a different Monitor would be the thing to do. From your description I suspect there is something not quite right with the Monitor. It will only get worse with time. Basically this is the first indication that the monitor is getting flakey and will eventually quit all together.

[da Wizard]

Thanks guys for the quick responses...I'll take my monitor to a technician to see what he says...

Many thanks
da Wizard

[Bads]

hello da Wizard

How old is this monitor ? please

[Crowdirt]

Hi Folks, I did not know that Creative Labs made and sold Monitors of any kind. Actually it could be simply a case of Creative adding their name to an OEM Monitor as they have done in the past with CD Readers made by Panasonic...Would be good to know who it actually was that made the unit as well as how old it is. As a reminder to find something else instead....

[da Wizard]

The only name I can see on the back of the Monitor is Creative Labs...

It gives the serial number and then says:

Manufactured: (SEC)
April 1999

Is there a manufacturer of monitors called "SEC" ?

Thats the only other info I can provide...

Again thanks for all the help

da Wizard

[da Wizard]

I finally plugged my monitor into another machine and the picture was extremely clear and crisp...

So I opened up my machine and the TNT2 Ultra was extremely hot! The fan on the GPU has given problems before and I think it just stopped working and the card has overheaten and done permanent damage...Now this is what I think....Do you think it could be anything else?
I bought this card in '99 so I think it is time to get a new card...
I also forgot to mention in my first post that I do have a DXR3 Card for my Creative DVD drive...Normally I would plug my monitor into the DXR3 Card and then a cable runs from the DXR3 Card to the TNT2..Plugging it into the DXR3 Card or the TNT2 directly gives the same problem...Do you think that maybe the DXR3 Card just being in the PCI Slot could cause a problem?(I have the latest drivers for the DXR3 Card and I have tried previous versions as well)

I have a few questions:

1.Am I right in my assumption that the problem is being caused by my graphics card?

2.Will it damage the rest of my machine if I continue using it until I get a new graphics card?(with all the heat it is giving off)

3.If I were to get a new card should it be a high-end Geforce 2 or a Geforce 3 even though they are quite a bit more expensive(do you think geforce 3 prices are going to drop substantual amounts now that the geforce 4 has been released?) -what are the best manufacturers of cards? I think MSI and Asus make great products but I would like to know the members of BetaONE personal experiences.

Thank you for everyone's help and comments towards my posts!

Regards,
da Wizard

[Crowdirt]

Hi da Wizard, if the monitor works well on another computer then the Video Card is suspect. If you try another monitor that works ok with the suspect Video Card and the Lines/Bars are still there, then it most likely is the card. Lines and Bars can be caused by Address Rows and Columns not working correctly in the Video RAM. Most likely the Video CPU is not addressing the memory on the card correctly. After 2 years some of those little fans will dry out and stop turning properly...

If the machine has a tendeny to "Crash" now then the Video card could be causing the System Bus, AGP/PCI stuff to be flakey.

If its running ok then there should not be any particular futher damage going on....

[da Wizard]

Every now and again I get a BSOD with the same Stop error of 0x000000c5 and it is totally random...I think it is the card causing the BSOD...I think I am going to remove the card and find a cheap temporary replacement until I get a new good card.

Thanks for all the help Crowdirt

da Wizard