Xerox XA7-19i 8ms behaving strangely - washed-out display and artifacts

[ajgoodfellow]

Hi

Recently I've noticed that the quality of the display on my Xerox monitor has really gone downhill

It used to have a really vibrant display - one of the reasons why I was rather happy with it

Comparing it to the Digimate L-1916 I bought cheaply second hand it really pales in comparison. Everything is just very indistinct and washed-out, as if the Contrast and Colour controls have been turned down and the Brightness control turned up

I have spent many hours changing the Colour, Contrast and Brightness options to try and improve it but without any success. The best display seems to be at Contrast 100%, Brightness 100%, Red 50%, Green 50% and Blue 47%.

I've tried it on both Analogue and Digital inputs (it was far worse on the Analogue input) and off two graphics cards - a PCI 9250 and an AGP X800Pro. I've tried the Digimate monitor on both the Analogue and Digital outputs and it's consistently given a better display. The Digimate screen is far brighter at Brightness 40%, Contrast 40%, Colour temp 6500K

It also has another really bizzarre problem that I just cannot explain. When playing Half Life 2 I get artifacts on the screen after 10 minutes of playing. I occasionally get corrupt tool tips in windows. I assumed that the card was on its way out or its a driver problem - tried Cats 5.12, 5.13 and 6.1 with the same effects. It can run other games without a problem, and GPU temps never rise about 54 degrees C on full load (fitted with a Zalman cooler)

I tried playing Half Life 2 on the Digimate screen - played for about an hour without any artifacts.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Many thanks

 

[Baddass]

sounds very odd. You could try it on another ~PC perhaps, but if you get no luck, it might be a sign that the monitor is dieing

 

[madmaxx]

Aj, how long have you had it? I bought one on Tuesday, and like you, have been rather happy with it so far! Threads like this do worry me.....
Also, what brightness / contrast / colour settings do you use? I've fiddled around with all the settings on mine till im blue in the face, but cant for the life of me hit a happy medium! Mines running on brightness of 29, contrast of 50, think the rest of the settings are as factory defaults.

 

[ajgoodfellow]

Hi

I've had it for about 6 months - I bought it in August when they first went onto the site

At the moment I've got it completely maxxed out, Brightness at 100%, Contrast at 100%, Red 50%, Green 50% and Blue 47%. When I first got it I had Brightness at 100%, Contrast at 50% and all of the rest at default

It's just really wierd. It used to have really vibrant colours and it seems to have lost this. Really can't explain it, particuarly as I've tried different graphics cards. Perhaps it is a cable problem, but as the cable is built into the unit I'm not sure

Might have to phone Xerox on Monday - see what they say. I've got one without dust under the screen, dead pixels, stuck pixels, or any imperfections. The backlight bleed is also non-existant. Hmm

The display looks overly green too.

Just tried setting it to defaults and trying your settings (just in case ) but it looks even worse.

I think it's been a slow thing as I haven't really noticed it but it struck me a few days ago that the colours weren't as vibrant as usual

EDIT: After some more tweaking it seems to be better at Contrast 100%, Brightness 8%, Red 52%, Green 49%, Blue 52%.

 

[madmaxx]

I'm going to give your newest settings a spin shortly, I'll let you know how it looks once its had a while to bed in. Mine is perfect too, zero dead pixels etc - heres hoping its going to stay that way...

 

[madmaxx]

Right, tried your settings, nearly had to poke my eyes out - terrible!!
What I did was compare the calibration image from Photobox (http://www.photobox.co.uk/popup.html?name=colourzoom) and compare it with the printed sample they sent me when i first ordered from them.
Whilst its not a perfect match (specially the skin-tones of the little girl in the bottom left hand picture, who looks decidedly washed out when compared to the print) I get a full range of tones, and decent contrast.
One thing - are you using the latest drivers, or the one that came on the CD with the screen? The newest one can be downloaded from http://www.xerox-displays.info/product_display_xa7.html - might be worth a spin, its what im using.
My settings now are as follows :-
Brightness - 29
Contrast - 50
Red - 85
Green - 86
Blue - 100
and im running it at 1280x1024, at 75hz.
Heres hoping that might help a bit?

 

[ajgoodfellow]

Hi

Just given them a try and they look awful on my screen! It makes it rather tricky to tell the difference between the border around the website address bar and the white bar itself, for example.

I haven't yet used any drivers - I tried the ones off the website (thanks for the link) but they don't work with Windows XP x64

It won't go into 75Hz via DVI at 1280x1024 for me

Thanks for your help BTW

 

[madmaxx]

Mine wouldnt go into 75Hz via display properties - it will using the Catalyst control centre though, which I thought was strange. I only tried it after checking the manual on the CD to ensure the screen could take it, which it can. Im using DVI too, btw, only powered by an old 9800 pro graphics card.
Weird the variation in settings isnt it, what one person likes, the other hates!
Good luck!

 

[ajgoodfellow]

Hi

Yeah - as you say it's interesting how people differ! I do wonder whether my monitor is working properly though as they're so different!

I seem to have got a slighly better display by changing the settings in the Control Center.

The monitor is set to:

Brightness: 0
Contrast: 100
Red: 52
Green: 49
Blue: 52

Under the Colour options in the Catalyst Control Centre, I've got it set to:

RED:

Gamma: 1.20
Brightness: 10
Contrast: 107

GREEN:

Gamma: 1.20
Brightness: -14
Contrast: 107

BLUE:

Gamma: 1.20
Brightness: 12
Contrast: 107

Under Video, I've got it set to:

Gamma: 0.85
Brightness: 0
Contrast: 100
Saturation: 112
Hue: 0.0


I really hate the Control Centre though. Very slow and buggy - as an example, if I have Media Player open and click on "3D" the entire machine crashes. It's a hard crash (music stops, keyboard doesn't respond etc) requiring a hard reset!

 

[madmaxx]

I must admit I've never tried changing the settings under the Catalyst control centre - will report back later....

 

[ajgoodfellow]

Hi

I've just tried reverting back to the Cat 5.11 drivers as these were the last release available with the Control Panel (against the Control Centre)

It actually looks a little better, although still not as good as it should be. The settings are now:

Brightness: 80
Contrast: 78
Red: 49
Green: 46
Blue: 49

The ATI settings are back to default.

Out of interest I tried Lost Coast again but it still artifacts. Whilst it was artifacting I swapped the monitors over and it still did it on the cheapo Digimate (as expected).

I've noticed another problem though. There is an ever so faint series of white lines at the top of the screen (about an inch down) and at the bottom. They were worse under different settings. You can only see them against certain colours too

 

[crashuk]

good luck with xerox

 

[ajgoodfellow]

Thanks

 

[Amoeba]

I've noticed another problem though. There is an ever so faint series of white lines at the top of the screen (about an inch down) and at the bottom. They were worse under different settings. You can only see them against certain colours too

Most likely screen burn (of the task bar and prolly the top of your web browser). I have this on my Xerox monitor.. Also the screen has started flickering, and the DVI has never worked (still waiting for a replacement from 6 months ago).

Avoid this monitor...

 

[venusflytrap]

hello im new
i bought an Xerox XA7-172i 8ms 17. im not sure if its normal but ive got a problem where there is dust between the glass and screen. it barily noticible but can look like dead pixels does anyone else have this prob? thanks

 

[ajgoodfellow]

Hi

Welcome to the forums

That was a common problem with the earlier examples of this monitor and it is dust stuck under the glass. Thankfully the front is relatively easy to remove - there are just a few screws on the back which you can take out and then the front comes off

 

[venusflytrap]

cool thanks a bunch. phew i thought i was collecting dust which could not be removed.
thanks !!

 

[Nutster]

Sounds like you're just victim to ATI's wonderful drivers ajgoodfellow. Especially the corruption. Could be your gfx card is on its way out. Corruption usually means over-heating, dodgy ram, or a screwed memory controller on the card.

 

[ajgoodfellow]

Yeah, I do wonder about that, especially as it seems to have improved a little with the older drivers. It's funny that the other monitor is great though, and this one isn't that good on my other card which is also an ATI card!

I'm worried about the corruption - as you say that's what it's usually down to. It only happens in a few games at the moment but Lost Coast when maxxed probably really stresses the card. I really hope it's not on it's way out as it's only just under a year old and I've replaced the cooler. I can't afford to replace it!

 

[Nutster]

Replaced the cooler eh ? I'd double check its seated properly.