Vista - Monitor Distortion

Not sure if this the right section to ask this so redirect me if its not. I've noticed recently that I have some slight distortion in my monitor. It looks like electrical distortion or signal interference but I can't determine the cause. I mean its REALLY subtle and I only notice it if I'm on a very light colored page like this site or google or anything else that displays a white or light colored background. The distortion looks like ripples in the screen or a slight flickering. My speakers are far enough away from my monitor so I don't think its that. I'd just like some tips on reducing the distortion. Or is my monitor just in need of a replacement? Its a 17" CRT Monitor if that helps.

Try hooking it up to a different pc and see if it still acts like that.. doesn't seem like a graphic card issue to me though (with which I do not mean you cannot post it here, this is probably the most relevant place..)

Amplid

I would check that the monitors plug is seated correctly at the back of the pc. I would also check that I have the latest graphic driver installed. I would even try to uninstall the drivers I have now and install a fresh copy of the latest drivers just to see if there was some corruption on those drivers.

While you are at it, make sure your monitor drivers are up to date as well. Aside from this, testing it on another pc like amplid said is about all I would be able to recommend.

Ok I'll have to do that. I probably just plug it in to my laptop in another room and see if it does the same thing and i've already done an uninstall and reinstall of my drivers so it wasn't that. But I can't seem to get the drivers for the monitor itself to install in vista. Everytime I try to update the driver it says something along the lines of: "Generic Monitor's already has the best drivers installed." Or something like that. No matter which way I tried to install it, it just did the same thing.

Your monitor does not support vista x64 and this is probably part of the reason you are seeing some tearing.

Try to find x64 drivers from another or a bit newer model than yours and see if you can install them this way.

Don't update your drivers through windows update. Get them at your monitors website, same thing for the graphics card, go to www.nvidia.com

Amplid

That's not the reason. And even if there aren't any Vista drivers, the monitor will still work, he just might not have the correct color profile automatically installed, although it can be installed manually, but neither of these would have anything to do with picture distortions.

I just moved away from a 19 Inch Dell CRT monitor (P991) and it worked just fine under Vista x64 (without "Vista" drivers).

@Shahal,

Since you have a CRT monitor, you should have a de-gauss switch or button, try hitting that once or twice and see if the problem clears. Also check the VGA cable for damage, and make sure it’s not resting against any electrical cords, if so try to moving it away from them. I would also venture to guess that monitor has some years on it? So...

Tried the de-gauss function a number of times and it didn't clear up and I checked the cord and moved it around and such and it didn't do the trick either. I'm just guessing it was old and in need of replacing. Good thing I have a spare 19" LCD laying around. Its nice but I don't like the way it performs in games hence why I was using that "used to be nice" CRT.

Thanks for the help guys. I appreciate it.

I am experiencing exactly the same problem, both in xp32 and vista32. It looks like electrical interference from another unshielded signal, as you sometimes get on a tv when signal wires cross. But the baffling thing is that this is only with the 18x.xx and newer drivers. I have a xfx 9800gt. The system can't have an effect, since it did exactly the same thing with my new intel board and cpu as it did with my old amd and nvidia board. I have yet to find a solution, but I'm hoping this will give someone an idea as to what is causing the lines on the screen. The only thing I can think of is that nvidia stopped supporting crt's with the 180 drivers.

Hi Voyager501,

That is odd that this is only happening with the 18x.xx and newer drivers; however you might want to check to see if your VGA/DVI cable is damaged or sitting next some kind of electrical bundle or magnet. Again, It's not a CRT thing, meaning drivers will affect CRT's one way while affecting LCD's another. If you have a "driver" conecrn, you might want to look to see if your CRT monitor has a "Vista" drive, which I doubt.

Again. I'd check your VGA/DVI cable.

Peace