Computer monitor flickering

gss036 · Jan 11, 2008

My monitor (Dell 15" flat screen LCD) is getting to the point that is does not come on when turned on. The on/off switch flight flickers and some light movement on the screen. I can tap on it and set it down a little hard on the desk and it will work. I have been into the monitor section of my computer etc and checked the trouble shooting sections. Is this the monitor itself or a card in the computer? Any help/advise would be appreciated. I don't want to run out and buy another monitor and have it do the same thing.

BoogieMan · Jan 11, 2008

Re: Computer monitor flickering

Best thing to do is bring it to a computer repair shop and let them decide what is wrong with it.

I am out of date with these new monitors. back when I worked on computers they were the tube type monitors. I have a lap top that I am really pleased with, graphics are great though, even though the computer is 3 years old if not older now.

My opinion..........the monitor is on it's way out or it has a loose connections somewhere......one of the two. I don't believe it is your video card.

How old is the computer? Have you checked the plug at both ends?

Just to add, a repair shop will most likely hook the monitor up to their computer and be able to tell you what is going on......if the monitor is bad. If the monitor is good........Then they should be able to hook one of their monitors to your computer and diagnose if it is the video card.

SpinnerBait_Nut · Jan 11, 2008

Re: Computer monitor flickering

If you get rough with the monitor and it works, that kinda rules out the computer I would think.

Gary H NC · Jan 11, 2008

Re: Computer monitor flickering

SpinnerBait_Nut said:
If you get rough with the monitor and it works, that kinda rules out the computer I would think.

Agree,If that was not the case i would say to download an updated graphics drivers.But if you can smack the monitor and it works its most likely the culprit.

JB · Jan 11, 2008

Re: Computer monitor flickering

Bigger hammer??

Solittle · Jan 11, 2008

Re: Computer monitor flickering

Borrow another monitor and see if the problem is still exists. That will isolate the problem to either the monitor or PC.

gss036 · Jan 11, 2008

Re: Computer monitor flickering

I was thinking of hooking up an old PackardBell monitor that I have and see what happens. I would think it would work on the computer. The Packard Bell is a 1997, the Dell 3000 is a 2003, just abput 3-4 months out of the 3 year warranty.

BoogieMan · Jan 11, 2008

Re: Computer monitor flickering

The Packerd Bell should work to test the computer's video card out, and should even work for a back up monitor. But you will be lacking in graphics with that monitor.

samo_ott · Jan 11, 2008

Re: Computer monitor flickering

I have a 19" Samsung LCD and it does weird things a lot and is less that 2 years old. I have to whack it pretty hard sometimes but it always comes back... so far...

rogerwa · Jan 11, 2008

Re: Computer monitor flickering

If you do a search on the dell monitor you will find that this condition is a fairly regular occurrence with these monitors. The intermittant nature is unusual as mine failed hard and all I get is a flashing power light.

I know this because I have a 17" dell that did the same thing. If you want you can even repair it yourself. Either by buying the new logic or Inverter board (depending on your problem) or by buying a parts kit or even going to radio shack and buying the parts. You can get the stuff on E-bay or there are sites like this one which will do all of the above..

URL-http://www.lcdrepair.us/e172-e173fpb-inverter-power.html

This is the board that is bad on mine, and based on your description is probaly wrong with yours. There are four power transitiors that burnout on these boards and the parts list is essentially replacing them..

rogerwa · Jan 11, 2008

Re: Computer monitor flickering

I forgot to mention that these things fail due to cold solder joints. That would explain your intermittant failure. You may be able to inpsect the inverter/PS board to see if you can find any suspect solder joints..

waterinthefuel · Jan 12, 2008

Re: Computer monitor flickering

All you guys beating on your monitors....I'm ROTFL over here. If a monitor goes out and a firm impact brings it back, that's a loose connection, bad solder joint, etc. Finding it is damn near impossible without know-how and you can also kill yourself easily on the old tube-type monitors so you must be very careful if you are going to work on it yourself. That thing has a step-up transformer on it bring it to between 25 and 40 thousand volts on the tube.

In October I finally upgraded from a KDS 17" tube to a 22" widescreen LCD flatpanel. What an upgrade. I can't imagine going back. That old 17" sucker must weight almost 40lbs. The bigger LCD weighs like 10 I think. And its super thin and takes up almost zero depth. Awesome thing I tell ya.

SpinnerBait_Nut · Jan 12, 2008

Re: Computer monitor flickering

Yea, if I had to beat my monitor to get it to work, it would get beat into the dumpster and get a new one.

SgtMaj · Jan 12, 2008

Re: Computer monitor flickering

Unplug the cables from the back of the monitor and then plug them back in solidly. Test it to see if it works. If yes, loose cable, if not swap the cables but not the monitor. Test it to see if it works. If yes, bad cable, if not, swap the monitor. Test it to see if it works. If yes, bad monitor, if not, put your glasses on!

i386 · Jan 12, 2008

Re: Computer monitor flickering

After ruling out bad power supplies and loose cables, inverters are the most common problem I've seen in LCD monitors. They're easily replaced, but the price varies. Some are really cheap and some are too expensive to justify fixing. The first thing I would do is see if it's still under warranty with Dell and go from there.

gss036 · Jan 12, 2008

Re: Computer monitor flickering

It had a 3 year warranty and it is now 39 months old, so I dobt if they would warranty it. I think I will call them on Monday and ask, never hurts. It is a 15 inch LCD E153FP.
I just turned off all the power and pulled the power plug on the monitor (turned it upside down) and took off the cord from the PC and put it back on and tightened lightly w/a screwdriver. Turned it back on and everything came back on the way it is supposed.
I will just have to keep and eyed it. Thanks for all the responses.

gss036 · Feb 19, 2008

Re: Computer monitor flickering

Well, it still flicker and seem to be doing it more often. Office Depot had an instant rebate for a ACER 19 inch monitor , final price $149.00, bit the bullet and I now own a new monitor. Don't know what I will do with such a huge screen, but it sure looks great and works.

v1_0 · Feb 19, 2008

Re: Computer monitor flickering

gss036 said:
My monitor (Dell 15" flat screen LCD) is getting to the point that is does not come on when turned on. The on/off switch flight flickers and some light movement on the screen. I can tap on it and set it down a little hard on the desk and it will work. nt to run out and buy another monitor and have it do the same thing.I have been into the monitor section of my computer etc and checked the trouble shooting sections. Is this the monitor itself or a card in the computer? Any help/advise would be appreciated. I don't wa

Well, to paraphrase the commercial: dude, don't get dell. I have a laptop that has a lot of lines up and down the LCD. Did a search - found out that this is a very common problem with dells. I'm out of warrenty, of course (not by too much), so SOL. I'm guessing that it's a cost cutting measure. (Lowest bidder, etc).

I can replace the hard drive, cpu, video card, motherboard, etc. for a resonable price. Replacing the LCD will cost as much as a new laptop..

-V

i386 · Feb 19, 2008

Re: Computer monitor flickering

gss036 said:
Well, it still flicker and seem to be doing it more often. Office Depot had an instant rebate for a ACER 19 inch monitor , final price $149.00, bit the bullet and I now own a new monitor. Don't know what I will do with such a huge screen, but it sure looks great and works.

I hope that works out. I purchased about 10 acer lcd's at work about 2 years ago and 2 of them are flickering. None have failed yet. These were ordered to replace Viewsonic monitors. I have about 6 Viewsonic monitors all with bad inverters in them. The part is about $70 when you can actually find it in stock. I keep checking in on the price from time to time to see if it drops. I was thinking about fixing 2 of them and changing out my 21" crt to dual 17" lcds.

I really like my Acer laptop BTW. I got it for $550 after rebate. I would expect their customer support to be lacking, but it's ran great for 3 years. If I have problems other than hard drive/dvd drive I'll probably chuck it and buy another.

ThumbPkr · Feb 20, 2008

Re: Computer monitor flickering

If you happen to end up trying that old Packard Bell monitor be sure and set the computer resolution to 640x480x256 colors because many of the old monitors of that era were VGA only and could not process a Super VGA signal.
It would appear that the CRT monitor was also bad if that were the case.
It sounds like you might have a inverter failing.The next likely part would be the CCF tube.You can get free suitable CRT monitors these days on Craigslist or Freecyle.Ron G

Computer monitor flickering

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