Monitor problem?

For the past couple of days my monitor has become distorted at the bottom of the screen. I havent changed any settings lately but brightness and constrast. I havent changed video card drivers in over 6 months and this started happening a few days ago. I run a Voodoo 5500 agp. Lets see...It isnt always happened but its getting to where its about 70% happening. Sometimes it will go away but like most of the time it wont and if it does it just comes back. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Please explain distorted? All wavie and scrambled-like? Is the bottom black anywhere? Or is the picture just wiggling a tad?

The first thing I would do is try the monitor on another computer or video card (probably not the problem, but its worth a shot). If it works after being changed, it may be your video card.

If that didn't help, try moving your monitor and computer to another power area of the house (the room or area surrounding the room runs on a separate 'fuse' than some areas in the rest of the house). Move the computer to a separate area that is on a different fuse. If it stops after it has been moved and plugged into a separate fuse, it's probably the power conditions in that room. The power in the room may be over burdoned with electrical appliances (this makes my monitor 'wiggle'- I have way too many things plugged into one socket). If you cannot fix the rooms power situation, but you have determined it to be a power problem, try lowering or raising your monitors refresh rate. This can be done by right-clicking the desktop, go to properties, click the settings tab, click on the advanced button, and then click the monitor tab. In this screen, you will see something like "Screen Refresh Rate". If you can, make sure the "Hide modes that this monitor cannot display" is CHECKED. If you venture into screen refresh settings that the monitor cannot handle, it may cause damage to it. Anyway- change the Hertz rate around several times and click apply to test which one works the best. Once you found one that fixes the problem, click apply, and click "yes I want to keep these changes".

If that is not the problem, its most likely your monitor. If you still have a warranty, take it back or contact the manufacturor for repairs/replacement.

I assume you've already tried wiggling around the video cord, replacing the monitors power cord, wacking the monitor, etc...

If all else fails, just go to best buy and get the $100 17inch monitors they have there. They are really nice and cheap, and they shouldn't give you any problems.

DO NOT OPEN YOUR MONITOR AND TRY FIDDLING AROUND INSIDE! CRT monitors and TV's hold deadly charges, even long after the monitor has been off.

Also, don't try taking your monitor for repairs. Radio shack charges you $50 JUST TO DIAGNOSE THE PROBLEM. They charge additional money for parts and labor.

Hope this helps.

~JAB

Yeah its wiggly it the same color as the supposed to be color etc. I have see my start bar to click on start and see the time if i look closely if that gives you any idea. Also when this happens my monitor darkens thats why i raised the brightness and contrast cause it gets really dark when it happens and it helps to fiddle with the controls. Ill try that. It just caused me to crash. I have the error messages if you want them when i got the blue screen of death. It hasnt happened yet (no jinx please) so lets see if restarting for a 7th time helps . This monitor is about 3 years old now but hopefully it lasts for another 2-3 months before i can build a new rig =(

Sigh it started again.. Also its wigglying and have black streaks in the part that is moved. To bad i dont have a digitial camera or it would be alot mroe helpful.

how far is your Pc from your monitor? if they are next to each other (on same desk)- then it could just be interferance from your PC, also- do you have a TV nearby (less than a meter from your monitor and/or any cables that connect to the monitor)?

My TV is on a shelf above my monitor and at closest dimentions is about 7inches/40 cm or so away from it. I only have problems when the TV and Pc is on at the same time, i get thin lines going down my monitor (as if the frame rate is reduced to 50hz- default is 60hz).

but if the display is getting darker- then its probably on its way out, i'm not 100% sure but if you leave your monitor on standby when its not being used then it can damage it in the long run (manuals normaly say something like "if you arnt going to use your product then disconnect from mains").

heat may be another issue- is enough dust has gotten inside the casing and has settled on essential parts, then your monitor may be overheating- there are projects on a few sites that have involved putting spare case fans INSIDE the case of their monitors- splicing the fans power cables into whatever parts they goto, you could run a spare molex connecter (with a couple of extentions) from your case- going out of the back of a spare PCI port, and gluing a fan to the outside of your monitors case... in the right place- this made someones temps drop almost 20*c if I remember properly.

Just a couple of ideas- let us know what happens again.

Lately ive been running it all night but turning off the monitor since its right next to my bed. The case is on the floor and the monitor is on the desk. It hasnt happened in awhile so maybe something is doing right

Ok here is a brief detail description of my finding. I started messing with the monitor picture. The only part like previously stated that messes up is the bottom inch or so. So i move the picture and messed with it where its smaller all around but isnt in tht inch of space. ITS fine. Nothing wrong with it. But when i expand and make it bigger and it starts going into that space little by little it starts that. So maybe it is a section of the monitor that is messing up? If im right what could be causeing this?