Monitor color problems

[oboyco]

Hi all, first time posting here
I have an old ADI 17" crt, and have been having intermittent problem with the green going out, and has been increasing in frequency. I check the connection at the ATI rage vid card and cleaned, the cable is hardwired into the back of the monitor.

Questions are, is there anything else I can do, or could this be a vid card connection problem. I'd hate to buy a new monitor and find out it's the card, as money is pretty tight for me right now. And I don't have another monitor to check with. Is the green gun shot, do they just die suddenly, or can they be intermittent?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated

 

[MisterChief]

Do you have another CRT lying around? Try hooking that up and see if the problem persists.
Welcome to AT

 

[oboyco]

 

[oboyco]

Thanks for the welcome, but I don't have another crt, wish I did, may have to find one and lug it in to test.

 

[Harvey]

It could be a bad CRT or any component in the green circuitry. Your cable could still be bad, especially where it joins the VGA connector. Try jiggling the cable while watching the screen to see if it the color flickers back on, even momentarily.

 

[oboyco]

Earlier today I jiggled the connection and noticed some color flickering, so I pulled the vid card and used contact cleaner on the male and fm connections. Now when i move it I get nothing. Really strange how this comes and goes for no apparent reason. I even slapped the monitor up side the head for good measure. lol

 

[cwos]

My monitor went green on one side for a few seconds once, and blue another time. Its not EM interference because I haven't moved anything closer to it. Its only 3 years old so I don't think its dying, but have no idea what is causing it, it only happens occasionally.

 

[mhillary]

I think it a bad component in the CRT rather than a bad CRT. CRT dont easily get busted

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: mhillary
I think it a bad component in the CRT rather than a bad CRT. CRT dont easily get busted

Nope. The CRT has "components" within it. Specifically, the connection to the control grid for each color can become intermittant with age.

oboyco -- You said the monitor is old. Considering the cost of a decent monitor, if it's a 15", or even an early 17" model, it may not be worth the cost of getting an estimate to repair it.

 

[oboyco]

Thanks all, Harvey, it sounds like a failing connection or solder joint somewhere.
I guess that Samsung 710 lcd at newegg sounds better and better. Anyone have experience with the lcds?
I don't do ANY gaming at all, just business apps and internet.
While I'm at it, I have an older athalon 900 system. Would I see any appreciable difference in upgrading the cpu and mb. I runs fine right now.
I do want to replace my hd, and upgrade to XP.

 

[WW2Planes1]

i've got a very similar problem with my Mitsubishi DiamondPoint SB70. it's pushing 3 years old, but that's 3 heavy use years (got it my first year of college and i leave my computer on generally all the time). mine's interesting though, because 1) it's always the green beam (or so i think... the screen goes all pink), but I thought that the DiamondTron tubes Mitsu/NEC uses only had a single electron gun.
in any case, mine is always accompanied by a buzzing in my speaker, and I think it's my cell phone causing interference. (although, whether it is or not, I'm thinking of using it as an excuse to get a new LCD flat screen. I'm getting tired of lugging this 40lb beast around with me).
but, anyway, as i was saying, make sure you don't have a cell phone lying around.
and if it does die, LCD panels have gotten pretty good in the last few years.

 

[Matthias99]

i've got a very similar problem with my Mitsubishi DiamondPoint SB70. it's pushing 3 years old, but that's 3 heavy use years (got it my first year of college and i leave my computer on generally all the time). mine's interesting though, because 1) it's always the green beam (or so i think... the screen goes all pink), but I thought that the DiamondTron tubes Mitsu/NEC uses only had a single electron gun.

It's far, FAR more likely to be an issue with the VGA connector or cable than an actual failure of the electron gun(s) (you are correct in that most monitors use a single gun these days). It's most often a problem with older/cheaper CRT monitors that have a hardwired VGA cable -- if the internal connection starts to go, you'll get intermittent loss of one or more color signals. It's usually easy for an electronics/TV repair place to fix, but for an old 15"-17" CRT monitor, it might not be worth fixing it (you could easily pay ~$50 for this, and a new 17" monitor is unlikely to cost a lot more than $100).