Odd video problem - ATI 9600

[SuperK]

I just started having an odd video problem. When in some applications, notably IE and Outlook, the top and bottom of the screen is sometimes "blurry", meaning that a portion of the screen (all the way across) has wavy lines. The lines are intermittent, and going back to the desktop gets rid of them.

The lines generally appear while any web pages are loading, and seem to go away when they are completely loaded. Outlook varies - sometimes it does it more than others.

I just grabbed the newest catalyst drivers, which didn't solve the problems. Using XP, and I can't see any updates that I would need. Nothing changed system-wise to cause this issue. I can't tell if it is video-card related, network activity related, or software related (or a combination of the three).

Any thoughts?

 

[DanTMWTMP]

This happens when you have a high contrast ratio and such. It's the differences between the whites and the darks that causes your monitor to do this. This has nothing to do with you video card.

I suggest first to change your refreshrate to 75-85.

Also, lower the brightness of your monitor, or lower the gamma.


Usually, this fixes the problem

 

[DanTMWTMP]

ugh..i thought they fixed DP's..

 

[SuperK]

Thanks Dan, but this seems strange as:

1. It just started happening yesterday, after at least 6 months without any hardware changes

2. Refresh rate is at 85 already. Brightness is in the middle somewhere

3. It doesn't happen all the time. It seems to happen more while there is some network activity.

I'm going to tweak my monitor anyways, just to see if it helps, but this doesn't seem to fit with the symptoms.

 

[huesmann]

Degauss?

 

[DanTMWTMP]

my sony G400 19inch flat is dying. Mine started to have the same exact symtoms when i finally reduced the gamma. And yes, it is off and on. My brightness is currently @ 0. :Q, yet it still looks bright. My monitor is doomed

There's a really nice monitor diagnostic tool from nokia that I use to help calibrate my monitor. If you can't get it calibrated correctly using nokiatools, then the monitor is about to die or just old or just not working properly.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download960.html


and all degauss does is just what it says...it degausses (Gauss has to do w/ magnetic field..so degauss = demagnetize affected area)