What is this problem?

Dr Zoidberg · 25 Apr 2008 at 16:31

I have taken delivery of a new monitor, a Samsung Syncmaster 245B and its fantastic compared to my last monitor which was still a CRT,

But i have a problem, and i am not sure what is causing it.

Towards the bottom of the screen there are 5 areas across the width around an inch long that contain what looks like barcodes? (best description i could think of)
Each area has 5 of these barcodes in it, the lines making up each barcode are varying length,from around 0.5mm to maybe 3mm,
When looking at the standard XP telly tubby wallpaper they are blue, against the blue background of this forum they are yellow.
If i drag a window around the screen and over these areas it leaves a trail on the moving window that stays in place when i move the window away from the area.
I cant really think of any thing else to describe about it,
Is this a monitor problem? or may be graphics problem? i have never read any thing about this sort of problem before that i remember.
Any one have any ideas?
Thanks

Dr Zoidberg · 25 Apr 2008 at 16:36

Ok i think i have answered my own question, it looks to be stuck pixels not dead pixels,
Running jscreenfix to see if it 'wakes' them up, but there is rather a lot of them !!!

Dr Zoidberg · 25 Apr 2008 at 16:58

If this problem was a pixel issue would it appear regardless of what resolution i was using? i would guess it would, in which case i don't think that this is a pixel issue and more of a graphics card issue and it not working well at higher resolutions, my card is not that new or super powered.

philjohn · 25 Apr 2008 at 18:59

Can you post a photo for us? If there are that many stuck pixels don't even bother running dead pixel buddy or whatever it is, send that bad boy straight back for a replacement...by the sounds of it you've got a lemon.

Dr Zoidberg · 25 Apr 2008 at 23:03

philjohn said:
Can you post a photo for us? If there are that many stuck pixels don't even bother running dead pixel buddy or whatever it is, send that bad boy straight back for a replacement...by the sounds of it you've got a lemon.

I will look at doing a pic tomorrow, but its not a pixel issue, it is software/drivers or graphics card issue,

Lowering the resolution removes the problem, and pixel problems would not leave a trail across a dragged window,

I had a chat with Samsung tech support on the phone and they suggested re installing drivers etc, but were sure it wasn't a panel fault, if i couldn't fix it ring them back,

Must say 1st time i have called Samsung tech support and they have to be the friendliest most helpful manufacture i have every called, A+ from me.

Dr Zoidberg · 26 Apr 2008 at 16:38

Here is a partial screen dump of the problem

http://www.keithdrayton.f2s.com/screenerror.jpg

The red circle on the left shows what happens if i drag a window over a problem area,
The red circle on the right shows the 'barcode' type lines that are the problem.

I have been playing around a bit and have found the problem only exists at certain resolutions,
If the res is AAAA X BBBB it seems that the problem only appears after BBBB goes above a certain point,
For example 1280 X 1024 gives the problem but 1360 X 768 and the screen is clear.

I can also put it at the full 1920 X 1080 and drop the colour to 16bit instead of 32 bit and the problem goes away,

I was running ATI drivers (didnt note which ones :rolleyes:

) but have now changed to Omega drivers, and still the problem is there.
version 3.8.252 going to grab the new ones and give those a go.

I also reinstalled the monitor drivers with no difference.

The screen capture shows the problem around the middle of the screen (top to botom middle)
Where as yesterday i was getting the problem in the bottom section of the screen.

I have also found another problem while playing video, with large dots in lines across the video area that flash and change colour, but unable to get a screen capture to show this very well.

Has any one seen any of these problems before or have any idea what is causing it.

sid · 26 Apr 2008 at 18:25

that seems like a graphics card fault rather than a monitor one. Perhaps its overheating?

Dr Zoidberg · 26 Apr 2008 at 18:33

sid said:
that seems like a graphics card fault rather than a monitor one. Perhaps its overheating?

Its doing it from cold, would have to be overheating very quickly, the fan is working and clear, and its the card i have been using for several months, bit of a coincidence that the card develops a fault the same day i change monitors,

But i still don't think it is the monitor.

Dr Zoidberg · 26 Apr 2008 at 20:34

I have run ATI Tool and these 'barcodes' appear while running the 3D renderer while set at a res that is clear on standard windows,
ATI tool is classing them as artifacts, so now i just need to work out why it is producing artifacts.

http://www.keithdrayton.f2s.com/screenerror2.jpg

HaMMuS · 26 Apr 2008 at 20:55

Its def not a pixel problem with the monitor, as that wouldnt have shown up in a screen dump. Artifacts usually are caused by your graphics card memory overheating, is it overclocked? Another potential cause (which i found with my 24") was when i used a cheapo DVI cable and kept having problems at higher resolutions in videos, i found somewhere it was from signal noise in the cable and was fixed by buying a better DVI cable.
Hope that helps.
Mikey

Dr Zoidberg · 26 Apr 2008 at 21:14

I have the temp monitor from ATI tool running at the moment, the card is not over clocked, GPU temp stable at 44C,

I had just read about monitor problem not showing in a screen capture and proceded to bang head against wall thinking 'why didnt i think that earlyer'

Cable is on the list of things to check, but not done yet, i am using the DVI cable that samsung chucked in the box, wil switch to the VGA cable shortly,
DVI cable would be a nice easy to sort problem so fingers crossed.

eggnoodle · 26 Apr 2008 at 21:20

can you get your hands on a second card to try? I cant imagine it being a cable issue, sounds more like the card itself.

HaMMuS · 26 Apr 2008 at 21:24

What colour are the dots/lines you get in videos? are they by any chance red or cyan/turqoise coloured? thats what my dodgy cable produced, which was one that came bundled with an LG monitor btw.

Mikey

Dr Zoidberg · 26 Apr 2008 at 23:40

HaMMuS said:
What colour are the dots/lines you get in videos? are they by any chance red or cyan/turqoise coloured? thats what my dodgy cable produced, which was one that came bundled with an LG monitor btw.

Mikey

Yes, mainly red, but defiantly cyan/turquoise colours in there as well, going to try the VGA cable as soon as i post this.

Dr Zoidberg · 27 Apr 2008 at 00:15

VGA cable gives the same problems at the same resolutions,

In the morning i think i will try and connect the monitor to another PC if i can get one in the room, also try the monitor from that one on my PC, its a smaller screen (19") but still capable of a resolution that mine is currently struggling with on my monitor.

Aod · 27 Apr 2008 at 00:24

it looks like a faulty card or faulty Vram.

to be honest mate, the X800 is such an old card. why not treat yourself to a new card like a 8800GT or if you're strapped for cash, an ATIHD3650?

that is, assuming that you have a PCI-E mobo...

<edit>
i notice you're using Omega Drivers. why not try using stock drivers and see if it goes away?

Dr Zoidberg · 27 Apr 2008 at 11:12

Aod said:
it looks like a faulty card or faulty Vram.

to be honest mate, the X800 is such an old card. why not treat yourself to a new card like a 8800GT or if you're strapped for cash, an ATIHD3650?

that is, assuming that you have a PCI-E mobo...

<edit>
i notice you're using Omega Drivers. why not try using stock drivers and see if it goes away?

I have been trying Omega drivers and ATI drivers

Im using an X800 because it was a cheap option to replace a 8500 in a AGP system,