Acer AL1916W Monitor Display Problem

[gwmc001]

Hello,
After my Acer AL1916W monitor was working fine for over a year, all of a sudden it started displaying vertical ribbons/lines on the screen and nothing else. Can you tell me if it is possible and worth fixing, or should I buy another monitor?

Thanks.

 

[khubani]

Try a new VGA/DVI cable & power cable.

 

[guggesn]

My client is experiencing this, but the bars are horizontal, not vertical. Everything worked fine until a few weeks ago. Here's what I did and what I'm guessing:

I first checked Device manager (no errors), reinstalled driver. Problem persists. Oh, and the cable is fine, since the client computer is here, on my bench, attached to a different monitor and cable, problem persists.

Then I installed Malwarebytes, and disinfected 213 files, registry settings, etc. of trojans and malware.

While I was waiting for the scan to finish, I found some references to RAM pairs not working and to an Acer E-Lock Management/AVG conflict. Acer monitor, but no E-Lock software, I uninstalled AVG, but problem persists.
I did remove one stick of a pair, but problem persists.

What did work as a temporary fix was to go to Display|Settings and just lower resolution, see the changed screen, but then say no, leave it as is. This removes the bars until... I open Explorer (XP Media Center SP3), Internet Explorer 8 or Mozilla Firefox 3.6, I get the bars again. And the longer I have those programs open, the more bars appear. All this makes me really think it's a virus/trojan because it's only these three programs, and it's always these three programs.

I did disable several add-ons in both browsers, but obviously, if Explorer is hit as well, this won't do any good, I don't think. Maybe, so I did it.

After using mbam, I am now able to update the PC, using Win Update, and have applied all patches, etc.

I then found this old 2008 MS KB http://support.microsoft.com/kb/903251 which does mention the BSOD I was getting and the Stop error of PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA, etc., and then I went to Symantec looking for a specific HAXDOOR threat removal - http://www.symantec.com/business/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2007-011109-2557-99 Negative. The article tells you what to look for in the registry and file system, and I did not find any of reg keys or files, so I think MBAM did the job, but there is some artifact left.

Where I am at now is problem persists when I open Explorer, Internet Explorer or Mozilla, and after a while, I get BSOD, referencing ialmdev5.dll and PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA, as written up in that KB above. The system is more stable now, not blue-screening all the time, I can login and open programs (except those 3).

I think I will ask client to use it for a week, as is, so she can back up her files (why does no one do this?), and then I will install XP Pro clean for her.

 

[guggesn]

Oh, I should add that when I tried to install Housecall from Trend Micro's website, some crazy ad for trial software popped up, never got to the install screen. I tested on my computer, and I got to the normal site. I was able to run ESOT from the web, negative, nothing found.

 

[guggesn]

More digging around and I found this article http://www.pchelpforum.com/blue-screen-errors/74725-blue-screen-death-ialmdev5-dll.html

Mad Monkey's workaround worked for me!
Workaround
- Right click on the desktop and go to Properties, followed by the Settings tab.
- Click on Advanced and then the Troubleshoot tab.
- Take "Hardware acceleration" down a notch or two.
- Also make sure that "Enable write combining" is unticked.

So although there were lots of trojans, it's a HW issue, looks like. I will check again in the morning, but right now I have no bars appearing on the desktop, it's not bluescreening or giving errors as mentioned in the KB.

 

[guggesn]

Take back what I said! After my last post I tried to reinstall AVG, problem surfaced again with a vengance, BSOD every couple of minutes. So I uninstalled AVG again, and went back to Mad Monkey's post, and ran the Windows Memchecker as a last resort. The second stick has errors all over the place. I yanked it and although CPU is whining, problem with display and BSOD is gone for now. Maybe AVG conflict AND bad memory was the issue. Not sure, and I can't remember where in the order of steps from yesterday I yanked the stick the first time - before AVG install or after.
My advice to those with this issue - first run Memchecker, then uninstall AVG, install Malwarebytes and apply the workaround.

 

[terrychadwick]

So sorry to review a golden oldie - I have an Acer A1916 monitor. Been working perfectly for quite a few years. I unplugged it recently and after plugging it back in it powers up but screen just has a blue box with "ISP" in white text in middle of the box. Doesnt matter if i plug in a VGA signal or not, message just sits there. Does anyone have any idea what this means? I would hate to throw this faithful old friend!
Thanks