[Kristina]

Today morning I found my computer wasn't closed, having that end program window on the screen and the screen had a jawdrop appearence. I remember closing it last night, but seems it might have been left open, which has happened before. The colours have all been changed: the corners of the screen have darker shades and are mostly coloured in red and purple, the whole structure of colours of my desktop images is changed. It litterally looks like some 80s screen which will soon stop working.

I am shocked and don't know what I should do first. It looks like a serious hardware problem, I don't know if there could be a software setting to bring good colours back. The monitor is from a Pentium III in 1998, the rest has all been changed around 2003 (when the cd-rom got burned down). Could it be that a new monitor is all that's wrong? Do I need to back-up all my drives or simply replacing the monitor would do?

Also, are there any compatibility factors I should take care of when buying a new monitor? Are any particular monitors recommendable in terms of price-quality?

Edited by Kristina, 03 December 2008 - 11:37 AM.

[Advertisements]

Hi Kristina

The first thing to check is the cable connection (i.e the cable that connects your monitor to the computer). Sometimes if the cable is not fully connected the colours on the monitor go weird. Check where it connects to the PC & also check to see if your cable is hard wired to the monitor or removable. If it's removable then check the connection there as well.

If that all seems ok, then check the pins inside the connector - see if any are bent or pushed in. NB you may notice 2 pins missing from the middle row - this is perfectly normal.

If it's not the connection then try & test the monitor on another computer if possible. This should confirm whether the monitor is ok or not. If it is ok, then I would say the video card is likely to be the problem.

[Samm]

Hi Kristina

The first thing to check is the cable connection (i.e the cable that connects your monitor to the computer). Sometimes if the cable is not fully connected the colours on the monitor go weird. Check where it connects to the PC & also check to see if your cable is hard wired to the monitor or removable. If it's removable then check the connection there as well.

If that all seems ok, then check the pins inside the connector - see if any are bent or pushed in. NB you may notice 2 pins missing from the middle row - this is perfectly normal.

If it's not the connection then try & test the monitor on another computer if possible. This should confirm whether the monitor is ok or not. If it is ok, then I would say the video card is likely to be the problem.

[PedroDaGR8]

had a jawdrop appearence.

This to me indicates the electron gun aimming circuitry going out on the monitor, if it means as I am interpreting it, a picture bowed down in the middle. Though first I would do as advised and check out the cable and test it on a different computer if you can.

Most people seem to like Dell's LCD monitors as they are usually pretty good at a decent price, though of course make sure you do your research.

[Kristina]

Thanks for the advice. The problem seems to have have been the monitor, so I'm now with a new one.

I have bought a Philips LCD screen 200CW8, new model, so it should be quite awesome...
However, it keeps saying the optimal resolution is 1680x1050 and I don't know how I can change it exactly to that.

Currently the letters as I type in here apear in different colours, grey and purple...I used the smart control auto settings, but screen is still heavy for the eyes. I can't seem to configure this right by myself...Any help would be very appreciated.

Edited by Kristina, 02 December 2008 - 05:39 PM.

[PedroDaGR8]

Thanks for the advice. The problem seems to have have been the monitor, so I'm now with a new one.

I have bought a Philips LCD screen 200CW8, new model, so it should be quite awesome...
However, it keeps saying the optimal resolution is 1680x1050 and I don't know how I can change it exactly to that.

Currently the letters as I type in here apear in different colours, grey and purple...I used the smart control auto settings, but screen is still heavy for the eyes. I can't seem to configure this right by myself...Any help would be very appreciated.

To change this, you right click on your desktop and

in XP:
CHoose properties. Then the Settings tab

in Vista:
Choose Personalize and then the Desktop Settings option

On that screen, there will be a slider to set the resolution.

[Kristina]

Thank you. I knew about those settings, but it seems they aren't fit for my wide screen. The dimensions I need are different (1680x1050) and I can only choose from those 6 preset options. A message keeps appearing on my screen saying I need to change them to "1680x1050@60Hz" for best results, but I can't. How is it possible to do it??

Also when viewing photographs they now appear stretched on my computer. I know about others who have wide screens and the photos appear in normal size with 2 black stripes on each side. But for me it stretches the image to fit the whole screen. How can I keep images in their natural size?

I'm quite confused with this wide screen..I've followed the program in the installation cd, but it didn't seem to solve much.

Again, the letters as I type appear coloured...I guess another problem may be with the video card (maybe that's also a reason why the old monitor started having a terrible appearance). Here something strange is notable only for black unbold writing.

[PedroDaGR8]

Thank you. I knew about those settings, but it seems they aren't fit for my wide screen. The dimensions I need are different (1680x1050) and I can only choose from those 6 preset options. A message keeps appearing on my screen saying I need to change them to "1680x1050@60Hz" for best results, but I can't. How is it possible to do it??

Also when viewing photographs they now appear stretched on my computer. I know about others who have wide screens and the photos appear in normal size with 2 black stripes on each side. But for me it stretches the image to fit the whole screen. How can I keep images in their natural size?

I'm quite confused with this wide screen..I've followed the program in the installation cd, but it didn't seem to solve much.

Again, the letters as I type appear coloured...I guess another problem may be with the video card (maybe that's also a reason why the old monitor started having a terrible appearance). Here something strange is notable only for black unbold writing.

Hmmm, it could also be an artifact of the stretching algorithms found in the LCD. To me it sounds like more than likely for some reason your computer still thinks it has a normal LCD instead of a wide screen one. SO it is outputting one of the normal resolutions such as 1280x1024, the monitor sees this (warns you) and then uses conversion hardware (or firmware) to stretch the image out to fit its native resolution. WHile it could be your videocard, lets try to get it to output the proper resolution first.

In the mean time, I need to know are you running Vista or XP and what is the make and model of your videocard. These would be helpful. So I can put together some instructions to fix this.

[Kristina]

Thank you. I think that could be the case, a different resolution is used as the computer doesn't know what the current one should be.
I have Windows XP.
I'm not too sure where to look for the model of the videocard. I entered in System Information but don't know what to search there...

Btw, I've already tried changing the resolution: editing the registry (no effect when I restart, the warning message appears again) and using the program powerstrip (the option "powerstrip advanced timing" isn't active).

Edited by Kristina, 03 December 2008 - 12:18 PM.

[PedroDaGR8]

Thank you. I think that could be the case, a different resolution is used as the computer doesn't know what the current one should be.
I have Windows XP.
I'm not too sure where to look for the model of the videocard. I entered in System Information but don't know what to search there...

Btw, I've already tried changing the resolution: editing the registry (no effect when I restart, the warning message appears again) and using the program powerstrip (the option "powerstrip advanced timing" isn't active).

Ok, to find out your video card. Go to Start-->Control Panel-->System and a new window will come up. IT will have several tabs, under one of these tabs (I think it is called hardware but I am not too certain as I run Vista and am going from memory) there will be a button called Device Manager. Click that. It will bring up a list of all of the hardware attached to your computer.

Give me the names of the devices under these two categories:
Display Adapter
Monitors

[Kristina]

Display Adapters: VIA/S3G Unichrome IGP
Monitors: Philips 200CW (20 inch WIDE LCD MONITOR 200CW8)

[PedroDaGR8]

Display Adapters: VIA/S3G Unichrome IGP
Monitors: Philips 200CW (20 inch WIDE LCD MONITOR 200CW8)

Sorry I forgot to ask one more thing in my previous post. Can you open up device manager again, just like before, then go to your display adapter and double click on the entry "Via/S3G Unichrome IGP". A new window should open up. CLick the driver tab in the new window and tell me the driver date and driver version. Then do the same thing for the Monitor. I am suspecting a driver issue. Also, this is a desktop correct?

[Kristina]

Display adapters: VIA/S3G Unichrome IGP
Driver date: 02.02.2004
Driver version: 6.14.10.113

Monitor: Philips 200CW (20 inch WIDE LCD MONITOR 200CW8)
Driver date: 23.05.2007
Driver version: 1.0.0.0

What does it mean to be desktop correct?

Edited by Kristina, 03 December 2008 - 12:43 PM.

[PedroDaGR8]

Display adapters: VIA/S3G Unichrome IGP
Driver date: 02.02.2004
Driver version: 6.14.10.113

Monitor: Philips 200CW (20 inch WIDE LCD MONITOR 200CW8)
Driver date: 23.05.2007
Driver version: 1.0.0.0

What does it mean to be desktop correct?

What I meant was this is a desktop computer, as opposed to a laptop. Now I am going to g research the drivers and see if I can find a newer one. KNowing via they won't make it easy and I will more than likely have to ask your some more questions .

[Kristina]

What I meant was this is a desktop computer, as opposed to a laptop. Now I am going to g research the drivers and see if I can find a newer one. KNowing via they won't make it easy and I will more than likely have to ask your some more questions .

Yes, it's a desktop pc. I'll try to answer as soon as I can then. Thanks a lot for the help!

Edited by Kristina, 03 December 2008 - 02:30 PM.

[PedroDaGR8]

What I meant was this is a desktop computer, as opposed to a laptop. Now I am going to g research the drivers and see if I can find a newer one. KNowing via they won't make it easy and I will more than likely have to ask your some more questions .

Yes, it's a desktop pc. I'll try to answer as soon as I can then. Thanks a lot for the help!

OK, Via is being VERY annoying. http://www.viaarena....I...&CatID=1160 here is the download site. Do ANY of those look familiar to you? They basically group their drivers by chipset, which is not an easy thing to find in the device list if you don't know what you are looking for.

Is it possible to read the model of your motherboard (the big thing everythign plugs into), or who made your computer and the model.