Viewsonic PS790 pops and clicks...

[LampEft]

Hi, I have a question about my Viewsonic PS790 monitor, and I was hoping someone here might have an answer. Every now and then the monitor will make a click or a pop and the picture will narrow on both sides. After a fashion it will click again and snap the picture back to full screen. There appears to be no rhyme or reason to this. I've tried the monitor on two different PCs with the same results. It will just be going along fine and then randomly click and change the screen width.. then click/pop and go back to how it should look. Can someone tell me what is going on with the monitor? It's primarily an annoyance now, but if it's an indication that the monitor is about to go on the blink, maybe I should start shopping for a replacement. Thanks in advance!

 

[Crashman]

If you're running a relatively high refresh rate, try dropping it a bit. It sounds like the monitor is getting hot, that could kill it, but if you get the heat down on the electronics you might save it for years.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[RichPLS]

Could be automaticaly degousing.
How often is randomly?
See if your refresh rates match what your monitor supports.
I have a PF790, and it makes a boing and the screen wavers during degousing, Is this what you are refering to?


========================
Try everything...
Do not be afraid of failure, for this is how we learn and grow...
Live life to the fullest...
Do not regret what you have not yet done!!!

 

[LampEft]

RichPLS --

First, thank you for your response. I would say it exhibits this behavior at least 2 or 3 times while I have it on during the course of the day. I don't think it is degaussing.. what happens is there will be a "click" and the screen will narrow vertically. Then a few moments later it will click again and the image will expand to fill the whole space again. I have also since discovered that if I give it a light whack on its side, the screen will pop back to normal.

 

[LampEft]

Crashman --

Thanks for responding. I don't think it's a matter of overheating because sometimes it will do this as soon as I turn it on. My computer will boot up, and on the monitor the desktop will be squeezed narrow, with maybe 1.5" bands of black on each side, to the left and right. The whole desktop is there, just squeezed more narrow. Then, after a few moments, or minutes, I'll hear a click and the image will fill out the whole screen again. Be that as it may, I'll take your suggestion and crank down the refresh rate a bit and see if that helps things.

 

[folken]

We have had about 10 ViewSonic 17" monitors (I think they were E70's) at my place of employment that do exactly that. All of them ran at 1024x768 @ 60hz. That was also a wide spread problem with apple g3 17" monitors. The monitor is likely defective. I recommend you RMA it.

If you do manage to fix it please let me know what you did. I'm likely to see many more of these "defective" monitors so if there is a solution I would like to know it.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[LampEft]

I purchased the montitor 4 or 5 years ago, so I don't think I can RMA it at this point. I'm more curious as to why this is happening, and how much longer the monitor may have. I paid over $600 for this thing so I do wish to get more use out of it. And, as it is, I can still use it. It's just.. annoying. And probably likely to get increasingly annoying. I also don't want it suddenly exploding or starting a fire. So, mostly I started this thread to get an understanding as to the nature of the problem and its severity.

 

[folken]

I'm not sure exactly what causes it. At least you got more use out of yours, the ones I have seen die were in use about 1 month or less before the started doin it. I don't know how dangerous it is but it sure seems scary when it happens and you arn't prepared for it. If it is doing it frequently then I would definatly invest in a new monitor, $600 for 4-5 years of service is pretty damned good. If you have a local TV repair place or something simmilar they might be able to repair it for you but I really don't know for sure if the problem it is having can be repaired.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[LampEft]

I found the receipt for the monitor... I bought it in March of 1999 for $579, so a little over 5 years ago. Nearly five and a half. And maybe I'm expecting too much life out of a monitor (though, my nephew has my old, ancient 15" CTX monitor and it's still working great). I recall I once had a 14" monitor (showing my age, aren't I?) that used to go all green. My hand got sore from whacking it repeatedly to get the normal colors back. As for taking it in to be repaired, I think that may cost more (and be more of a hassle) than buying a new one. Yup, maybe it's time to start looking at new CRTs, or perhaps an LCD. Thanks again for the responses.

 

[phsstpok]

<A HREF="http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/REPAIR/F_monfaq8.html" target="_new">
This FAQ</A> might explain your problem.

Don't attempt repairs yourself unless you know what you are doing!

A CRT discharge can kill you!!


If you are hearing a loud snap, like the crack of a whip, then it is undoubtedly high voltage arcing.

If it more of a "click" sound then your CRT could be cycling through resolution modes (though I don't know why it would do that at random times).

Pinching of the picture is also sign of high voltage issues.

You could get it serviced but it would problably cost as much a new 19" CRT which are about $200 these days.

<b>A mind is a terrible thing</b>

 

[LampEft]

Great resource, phsstpok! Thanks. And, believe me, I have no plans to open up my CRT and try to repair it myself. I'll stay far away form that whole can of worms, so to speak.

 

[phsstpok]

I've opened many of my CRTs but not to fix, to adjust the coarse focus.

<b>A mind is a terrible thing</b>