LCD Monitor Cuts Off

[bdunn13]

Just recently I made the plunge from CRT to LCD with my purchase of the Samsung 205BW LCD. It's a 20.1" widescreen monitor that runs at a native resolution of 1680x1050 and from what I've seen gets great reviews from most of the owners. I'm very happy with the quality of the picture and the unit itself had no dead pixels or any other hassles of the sort. However, I've come across some sort of bug that doesn't make sense to me and I can't seem to find any websites/forums/etc talking about it. Perhaps I'm just not googling the right terms, but regardless I can't find any help so I was hoping someone could shed some light for me...

Basically, when I view SOME websites, the entire monitor cuts on and off, leaving me with a blank, black screen for the majority of the time. It does this in both Firefox and Internet Explorer, with both the window maximized or only taking up part of my screen. Even the backlight appears to be off, but the power light is still glowing so I can't imagine it's some sort of power issue. I can watch DVD's, hd quality videos, play games, use photoshop, and almost everything else without even the slightest repeat of the problem. However, as I said, certain websites are nearly impossible to view because it cuts off so frequently. One example for a website I visit frequently that has the problem is compLexityclan.com, which seems to have trouble displaying some of the images towards the top. I have yet to single out which image does it (I don't think it's the ad because even when they're blocked the problem still happens), but when I disable images all together the problem is solved. If I scroll down from the top part it seems to stop cutting out, but I don't know what would be causing this and on certain other websites it's not possible to scroll past the "trouble point" so I need a solution.

If anyone can either help me or at least point me in the right direction I would be very greatful, as for right now I can't find a single website out there even mentioning the problem, much less any form of solution. I can't imagine the unit itself is bad, because it doesn't really make sense to me for more demanding uses to be fine, then something relatively light like viewing a single website to cause problems. If all else fails, I guess I will be forced to try replacing it and/or returning it, but first I want to see if I am the only one who has come across this.

 

[xtknight]

Probably just defective. I've never heard of that before. Just FYI there's nothing making me think it's more the monitor than the video card though. Only the backlight goes out? Is the power light still green and not amber? Is stuff still visible at all? The screen is completely black or is there some backlight seeping noting the backlight is on? Does the monitor's menu (OSM) still work (can you see it when you press menu) when the monitor goes out like this? What refresh rate? And is it hooked up via VGA or DVI? Does it happen with both? Maybe a cable is loose? I'm thinking that there's not enough bandwidth to transfer what's on that page, or something like that. For all we know it could be something dumb like a broken DVI/VGA cable or maybe even power cable.

Does it still happen in Windows safe mode? (could rule out a possible video driver problem)

What about running at 640x480 at 60 Hz? Still happen then?

That monitor doesn't have any adaptive contrast stuff does it? Like stuff that modulates the backlight depending on the shown image? Maybe you can mess with those Samsung "Magic" options in the OSM.

I know, lots of questions, but we need to get to the bottom of the problem...

 

[bdunn13]

Now that I look more carefully (the popup windows on this site cut it off completely and consistently), the backlight is actually still on. I can see a little bit of the bleeding to know this, but absolutely no part of the image that should be displayed. The menu itself will not display, but the button that switches from an analog to digital source does display the little symbol in the upper right corner.

Right now I'm hooked up through a DVI cable, but I will try the analog one for testing. I'm running the standard resolution at 60hz, but in lower resolutions the problem still occurs. I've also tried several different versions of the nvidia drivers, including a full format for fear that the old monitor's drivers were causing problems, but this did not seem to help at all. I'll report back on whether analog mode or safe mode help any, but in the mean time, what are the advantages of using the digital mode over the analog mode other than better picture quality?

 

[bdunn13]

The problem seems to have disappeared in analog mode, would that be more likely to indicate a bad DVI cable or a problem with the digital signal itself? My video card is an eVGA GeForce 6800GT, which has two DVI ports on the back and came with adapters (which I'm using right now) to hook up analog cables.

 

[xtknight]

If the menu does not show up during this period, either the monitor is defective, or the video card is completely cutting the signal off. Right now I'm thinking the LCD is at fault, but there's still a possibly of a video card problem. If this didn't used to happen on your CRT just a few days ago then I'd definitely think the LCD is defective unless it is fine in VGA mode. If it's fine in VGA, there's still a chance it's a video card problem. Which video card do you have and what connectors does it have? Which connectors was the CRT hooked up to (i.e., pure analog, DVI-I->DVI-A converter, etc) and what is the LCD hooked up to now? (Just verify both of the connectors on the video card are working fine.)

DVI is always the best way to hook up an LCD. The image is the sharpest and colors are purest. VGA is more blurry when you hook it up to a digital device such as an LCD. But, it can be defective just like anything else which is why I suggest you try VGA.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: bdunn13
The problem seems to have disappeared in analog mode, would that be more likely to indicate a bad DVI cable or a problem with the digital signal itself? My video card is an eVGA GeForce 6800GT, which has two DVI ports on the back and came with adapters (which I'm using right now) to hook up analog cables.

Alright, so:

DVI port 1 (DVI-D): fails
DVI port 2 (DVI-D): fails
DVI port 1 (DVI-I->DVI-A adapter (VGA)): succeeds
DVI port 2 (DVI-I->DVI-A adapter (VGA)): succeeds

Does that sound right? My best guess would be a monitor or cable problem then. It's unlikely both transmitters on the card went bad. The next thing I would try is another cable, and if that fails, it's gotta be the monitor.

 

[bdunn13]

My CRT monitor never had this problem, but the VGA cables seem to work fine short of the blurry picture. I posted the video card info above and have tried "alternating" ports with no difference. Perhaps I will make a quick run to Best Buy and look for a new DVI cable in hopes that the one supplied with the monitor was simply bad, or do you think this would be a waste of time?

Edit: Beat me to the question, I guess I will report back after getting a new cable. Thanks for the help!

 

[xtknight]

I really do think it's the monitor but it's probably easier for you to get another DVI cable first just to make sure. If it's not that, at least you'll have a spare.

 

[bdunn13]

Replaced the cable and it's working fine now Thanks again for the help.

 

[zephyrprime]

Yeah. I just got a 204b Samsung I have the same sort of problem. Replaced the cable and that fixed it. It actually has nothing to do with the website but the graphical content of the screen. Some screens just have data that is easier to garble apparently.

Also, FYI, I have a Nvidia card and Tom's hardware did some analysis of the nvidia vs. ati cards and the nvidia card had inferior dvi signal quality. I never thought that that would matter for a cable run length of 6' but I guess it's possible. The specs for DVI says that the cable can be up to 5 meters in length.

Mybe the samsung dvi electronics just suck.

 

[ImDonly1]

If it turns blank. Power the monitor off and on and it comes back on. This is because the backlight is dying.