Here I sit with (3) 21" Gateway FPD2185W LCDs...

[CCityInstaller]

I am sitting here with 3 brand new 2185Ws. I purchased the first one less then 25 days ago from Bestbuy. Right after the 15 day exchange period ended, it started the horrible buzzing. I am not sure why so many people downplay how loud it is, but their claims of "its so hard to hear...etc etc," convinced me to finally get one. Bestbuy refused to take the monitor back, claiming there was no defect, and after speaking with 3 managers I gave up. I called Gateway and explained the problem to the tech that answered the phone. He tried to convince me that the problem is inherient to all LCDs, however I quickly responded that neither of my 4 Samsung LCDS make any noise at all. Once he realized that I wasn't going to accept that, he offered to ship me out a brand new monitor and pay for return shipping. Once I got the new monitor, I promptly hooked it up and was greated with the same problem, however it was five times as loud, and had a much different pitch. I called Gateway back and spoke with a female tech who assured me that Gateway was well aware of the problem, yet there were no plans to make a design change in the near future. She offered to send me another monitor, which had the same problem. All three of the monitors were made in '06, and the brightness has to be turned up to at least 95-100 to make the noise disappear. I tried decreasing the brightness through the ATI CCC, however the colors become washed out, and no amount of tweaking seems to correct it. I am really at a loss as to what I am supposed to do. Under Maryland law, the product qualifies for a refund due to it being a lemon, but I can only imagine how much trouble it is going to be if I have to take that route. I don't have the money to run out and buy another $600+ display to replace this, however in my current situation it seems like I have no other alternative.

 

[xit2nowhere]

Hi CcityInstaller
You don't have to spend 600+ for LCD.
Read the sticky about LCD. There are some great LCDs posted there.

Best regards..
P.S. I'm gonna buy VX2025 next month, unless something better comes. Wish I had money for that NEC 20.1 though

 

[Navid]

I have that same monitor. The date on the back of mine is Dec 2005.
It has the buz. But, it is not too loud. It goes way completely if I increase the brightness to over 80%. I set the brightness to around 30% since it is too bright. I cannot hear the buz.

So, it seems like almost all of them have the problem. But, at different levels of magnitude.

 

[jaythespacehound]

I'm curious, can you set the brightness to 80+ and get rid of that buzz and then just decrease the brightness using your video card drivers?

 

[ForumMaster]

well, if they know it's a problem, they have to take it back as it is a design flaw. btw, why did you get a Gateway monitor? i saw lot's of bad reviews for that brand.

 

[russki]

Keep exchanging monitors from Gateway until the problem goes away is your only solution since your money is tied up.

A good retail store to buy from is Costco, as an alternative. They will return anything for you for the lifetime of the product if it has a problem, unless its a computer or laptop, in which case the return is 6 months.
Much better warranties than Best Buy. Only downside is the $50 a year membership fee, but it quickly becomes worth it.

 

[Don66]

Originally posted by: russki
Keep exchanging monitors from Gateway until the problem goes away is your only solution since your money is tied up.

A good retail store to buy from is Costco, as an alternative. They will return anything for you for the lifetime of the product if it has a problem, unless its a computer or laptop, in which case the return is 6 months.
Much better warranties than Best Buy. Only downside is the $50 a year membership fee, but it quickly becomes worth it.

qft

 

[tony4704]

i notice not a buzz but an occasional high pitch like noise or pop coming from my Dell 2405, wondering if thats the same thing?

 

[CCityInstaller]

Originally posted by: ForumMaster
well, if they know it's a problem, they have to take it back as it is a design flaw. btw, why did you get a Gateway monitor? i saw lot's of bad reviews for that brand.

For the money, the Gateway is one of the best monitors in its class. It has several major features, including HDCP support, that most monitors do not. It works great in games, has good color reproduction with very little to no banding (unlike the newer Dell 2007). It is a great monitor, except for the noise.

Keep exchanging monitors from Gateway until the problem goes away is your only solution since your money is tied up.

A good retail store to buy from is Costco, as an alternative. They will return anything for you for the lifetime of the product if it has a problem, unless its a computer or laptop, in which case the return is 6 months.
Much better warranties than Best Buy. Only downside is the $50 a year membership fee, but it quickly becomes worth it.

I would love to buy from Costco, however there isn't a local store. All we have is a Sam's Club, and when it comes to something like electronics, I wouldn't want to purchase it via their website without a local store to honor their great return policy. My grandparents live in Oregon, and they swear by Costco as well.

I'm curious, can you set the brightness to 80+ and get rid of that buzz and then just decrease the brightness using your video card drivers?

.

If you read my OP, you will see that while this does offer a solution to the noise, it makes the color reproduction go down the drain. The colors become washed out to the point that greys almost appear like an off white, and reds are very orange. Another point is that while many claim that setting the monitor to 80+ brightness gets rid of the noise, that is not always the case. All three of my monitors have to be set to at least 95, which is like staring into the sun. I simply do not know what to do. Gateway has another monitor on it's way, so I hope that this one will at least be useable. I don't care if the monitor isn't completely silent, I just want it to be tolerable. I still feel that for a $600 product it shouldn't exhibit any noise from the backlight, but at this point I'm willing to take what I can get.

 

[imported_Christopher]

I just got this monitor from Circuit City and it does the same thing. I exchanged it, but the new one buzzes also.

What's really weird? I brought it to Circuit City for them to look at, and it didn't buzz at all in the store, regardless of brightness setting. I can move it around my apartment with no effect on the noise, and it buzzes as soon as I plug it into the wall, even if no machine is attached.

I have no idea what could cause this. It's like my electricity is bad or something. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Any ideas?

 

[Navid]

The noise level in the store is much higher than in an apartment. You may not notice the difference because your brain adjusts so that you can hear things. The noise level masks the buzz. But, it is still there.

It is the same as looking at the sky in a city and not seeing many stars. Then, go camping away from cars and street lights and buildings and look up at night and you see many more stars. The stars are there. You just cannot see as many in the city because of the light pollution.

 

[alcoholbob]

You need to box the monitor up, go back to Best Buy, and tell them to take the monitor back, because you spend a lot of money at Best Buy and this is a defective product, and don't take no for an answer. The retailer needs to take responsibility. They have arrangements with manufacturers so they get credit back on returns on a scheduled basis anyway--it costs them nothing other than a little bit of packaging and effort.

I've returned failing monitors before to Best Buy, three! months after I bought it. It developed problems two weeks in and I was too afraid to return it, but my dad told me to man up and I went in and got store credit.

 

[XJustMeX21]

Yeah i have to admit this is a major pain i have had mine for 6 months and it started buzzing last week. after reading this i turned the brightness back down to 30 and turned it back to normal in my video card settings and now there is no noise...
i am however sure that it will return.