Is my monitor dying/dead?

[commiedic]

Hi there...

I have had my system for about 4 years now and the only thing I have not upgraded / replaced over the last 4 years is my CPU, HDD's, and my monitor. I have in the last 2 years replaced everything else including a new mobo.

I have started having a problem with my monitor blinking on and off the last couple of weeks. It has slowly been getting worse and worse. It started out only happening occasionally and would just be a pain for one day out of the week. Now it is happening every day and I can't tell what is triggering it.

I know that when I play games after a while it will start to flicker even when watching movies. Again didn't ever used to happen during movies, but now it does about 30 min into it. When it starts to happen I can usually show desktop and since there are no animations on my desktop it will stop flickering, but as soon as I alt+tab back to anything with animations it instantly starts to flicker again.

Right now it is so bad that it will flicker once or twice and then stay black even though the monitor power on light won't change. It is blue for working and amber for on, but not connected.

Sometimes it will blink on and off, stay black and then say input signal out of range and the light on my monitor will turn amber.

Also I think black/dark screens trigger it too. Whenever I go to websites such as forums with dark backgrounds it will start to flicker.

I do believe it is the monitor, but have no way to be 100% sure. I only have 1 monitor, 1 cord, and 1 video card. I am too poor to go buy a new cord to test it on since I am a broke college student, but I have checked the inside of the monitor for blown capacitors like other sites have suggested and found none on all 3 circuit boards.

Another thing I noticed earlier today is when it flickered my keyboard led back lighting went out and my keyboard stopped working. Then I unplugged the USB cables from the back of the computer that control my keyboard and mouse and the screen flashed. Don't know if it was coincidence, but seemed strange. My mouse goes into my keyboard and my keyboard has 2 USB cables that split out of 1 big cable.

I have checked the voltages and monitored my graphics card and after a seizure fit with my monitor nothing that MSI afterburner or HWmonitor changes as far as my GPU goes. Everything stays the same. It isn't heat related because it happens on websites and movies which don't run my temp above 45oC with fan on auto.

Also after it flickers on and off for a while sometimes the resolution will be messed up and everthing will look wierd on the monitor like it is in 1900x1080 res instead of 1920x1200 (Optimal) res.


I would like to also point out that it does it during the boot up screen as well and when it comes back it sometimes it has overlapping screen text. Like to pictures off center as if you were look at it cross eyed.

So I don't know if it is the monitor just being old or what. If you need any more info just let me know. I plan on calling this local tech support guys that live across the street from me tomorrow and see if they will look at it for cheap =P


Windows 7 64 Bit
6GB of Corsair Dominator Ram
Hanns-G 27.5 16:10 Monitor
ASUS Rampage III Extreme Mobo
Intile i7-920 OC'd to 3.8GHZ
Nvidia GTX 580 (Sometimes OC'D by no more then 10%)
2x WD Velociraptor in Raid 0

 

[commiedic]

Also I run it at 59hz and have tried changing it to 60hz, but it did not help. Normal for this monitor is 59hz

It was also flickering on and off almost the whole time I was typing this message, but when I showed desktop it would stop. Though once it didn't stop and I unplugged the monitor from the back of my computer along with my keyboard and mouse again and then had to wait 5 min while it was in a black screen for the picture to finally come back.

 

[commiedic]

New info...

So I was thinking I was having a lucky moment since my monitor hadn't started flickering in about an hour of watching a video. Then it didn't blink/flicker it just went black. I gave it about 5 min and nothing was happening. I turned my monitors power on and off 3 times and nothing was happening it still had its blue active light on so the connection was good.

I then unplugged the monitor from the back of the computer to cycle it this way. Then I noticed that the blue light wasn't going amber like it used to instantly to show that the connection had been broken. So I plugged it back in after about 10 sec and nothing happened. I unplugged it again and it finally went amber after about 20 sec and then this happened... The message where it said no input device connected blinked on and off before going amber. So now I definitely think it is the monitor.

 

[commiedic]

More new info...

So I got a friends video card. He had a GTX 480 and I wanted to finalize my test to make sure it wasn't my GTX 580. First time booting with the 480 it wouldn't show anything on the screen even though my monitor light was blue (signifying something was connected). Then on the 2nd boot it came up normally but started to blink on and off when the initial windows logo came up. Then started normally blinking after logging in. So, I think i am going to go get a new DVI to HDMI cord today and see if that fixes it. If not I think I need to repair/replace the monitor.

 

[commiedic]

Ok went out and bought a new DVI to HDMI cable (Freaking $40 for plastic and copper wire) and hooked it up. Restarted the computer and the blinking is still happening. Going to return the cable tomorrow and take the monitor in for repairs. These guys across the street said they could fix it for $50. If they can fix it then $50 is a lot better then ~$300 for a new monitor.

 

[commiedic]

Did some more testing... Tried 2 Different Video Cards, 2 Different DVI to HDMI cables and tried a laptop with a HDMI cable and on all set ups it did the same thing. I am hoping it is just a back light issue on the monitor, but I don't know if that would cause a loss of input and the built in speakers to pop whenever it flickers.

I have taken the monitor apart and I couldn't see any blown capacitors so if it is not them and not the backlight it may be the power, but if it is the power wouldn't that cause the monitor to completely shut off intermittently? All that happens is the light usually stays blue showing a connection, but a blinking screen with the occasional amber light saying the input is out of range. It never turns completely off.

 

[commiedic]

Ok had some guys over at this computer repair place look at it. They are saying the circuit board that which has the connections for the VGA and HDMI cables is bad and needs to be replace. Ballpark repair cost he said would be about $80, but said he would have a definite price tomorrow.

I was kind of thinking this also but was really hoping it was just the backlight. He said if it were the backlight you would still see the picture on the screen but it would be very difficult. Don't know how true that is, but it could be. I am not expert. He also agreed that it wasn't the capacitors like I had already checked. Just this morning I called and asked him to check and see if it was the HDMI port being the problem and sure enough it was the board which houses the HDMI port.

 

[commiedic]

So I got a new monitor. Told the guys at Geek Rescue to just keep the broken one and sell it for parts or try to get it working. The guy fixing it said that the part he needed was no longer available. So it was going to just stay broken.

Got a new monitor and so far I like it.

Thanks for everyone's input on this I always appreciate the advice from these forums. Way to go champs!