My monitor gets very blurry, then it blinks out

[underseasurveyor]

with a small *pop* then comes back clear as a bell. Sometimes it does this cycle 3 or 4 times each time it begins with the screen slowly getting more and more blurry until it becomes impossible to read or discern what is on the screen, then *pop* blinks out then comes back on. After the third or forth time it stops and is fine. It did this for a couple weeks about a year ago then it stopped doing it as suddenly as it started.

Now it just started doing it again, what up with that?

It's a sony trinitron flat screen monitor and it's 4 years old.

[jayfish]

1. What Video Card Are You Using? -NT-

Jay

[underseasurveyor]

2. Hell if I know

I'd have to ask my soon to be ex, he'd know. Would that be the most likely problem, the video card is dying?

Thank you :-)

[jayfish]

3. I Have Had This Occur A Few Times...

and mostly with lower-end Nvidia cards and flat CRTs. It seems to have something to do with the card or the monitor not being able to maintain a constant refresh rate. This causes the tube to go on and off and you get a sound like a static electricity discharge. I ha d a couple 19" monitors ruined over time from this. To find out what vid card you have:

>Right-click on your desktop and select "Properties" from the menu that appears.
>Select "Settings"

Under the heading "display" you will see you monitor model (or PnP monitor) and video card model.


Jay

[underseasurveyor]

4. Hey thanks. It says it's a

HMD-400 on NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Model64 (Gateway-English)
This is also not the original monitor that came with the computer if that makes any difference.

Is there something I can change or check within the settings? The refresh rate is set on optimal. Hardware acceleration is set on full. Or would it be best if I just got another (better?) video card before the monitor is ruined?

You're so kind to help and answer "dummy" questions:dunce:
I appreciate it :hi:

[jayfish]

5. Your Not Going To Like This...

but I would look into another video card. Here are a couple good replacements for the TNT2

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814121508&CMP=OTC-pr1c3watch&ATT=Video+Cards

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102318&CMP=OTC-pr1c3watch&ATT=Video+Cards

One is a PCI card and one is an AGP card. You can use a PCI card in most systems but you cannot use an AGP card in a system that doesn't have an AGP port.

Jay

[underseasurveyor]

6. heh I don't like a lot of things lately.

If it's not one thing in my life right now, it's ten. Oh well, I'll be moving back to California by the end of Aug. if not before, close to my younger brother who like you is also a computer genius so then I can enlist his help in replacing the darn card for me. I don't have the foggiest idea what a video card looks like or where it lives;-) heh heh
But for now I at least have somewhat of a clue of 'what's the matter' thanks to you :thumbsup:

I just checked and it says, Bus Type: AGP.

But it's still all Greek to me:dunce:

Jay you're a doll :loveya: OXOXOX

[jayfish]

7. Your Very Welcome. -NT-

Jay

[jayfish]

8. Ohh, Ohh, One Thing I Forgot To Mention.

If your monitor has on screen controls, there may be a setting to adjust it's input level. The setting usually has only two choices so try the one it's not set to now.

Jay

[underseasurveyor]

9. Yes it does and I'll try that.

I'll say it again.......
Jay you're a doll :yourock:

[tkmorris]

10. This doesn't sound like a graphics card issue to me

Firstly if there was a sync problem it would be consistent, not sporadic as you describe it. Also, sync problems do not manifest themselves as blurriness.

I would check first to make sure there is nothing magnetic that has found it's way to your computer desk. If so, remove it. You might check to see if your monitor has a "degauss" function, many do. This will correct any magnetization issues.

It is also possible that a good cleaning inside the monitor may help. A large dust build-up can cause symptoms like these; believe it or not a mass of dust can develop an electrical charge across it which will subtly throw off the electron beam resulting in a loss of focus. I don't recommend you do this yourself unless you are familiar with working on devices like this; monitors and televisions can retain harmful and damaging amounts of electrical energy even with the power removed.

To be honest with you though these are simply things you can try. Even money says that there is an issue in your monitor which while it can be repaired would not be cost effective to do. If and when the monitor begins exhibiting these symptoms on a consistent and reliable basis I would simply try it on another computer if one is available to you. If the problem manifests itself on the other machine you definately have a monitor issue and can feel confident replacing it.

Good luck.

[HamstersFromHell]

11. Definitely not video card...

The loss of focus is usually associated with the the high voltage supply to the CRT. The focus voltage is usually derived from a winding on the HV transformer or "HV tripler/focus divider" and is directly tied to the actual HV produced to the tube. The blooming is caused when the high voltage to the CRT gets too high.

When it does it again, try turning the brightness down to see if the problem quits. You may just have the brightness and contrast set way too high, and a marginal HV supply that can't keep up with the current demand. Note that Sony doesn't usually design their monitors with marginal HV supplies, so...

Truth be told, it sounds like the flyback transformer (HV supply) is going south. It's arcing either internally or from itself to the circuit board somewhere. (The pop you hear.) I think you'll be in for a new monitor soon. :(