Radeon 9200SE, Blurry 2nd Monitor

[boulez]

Hi folks,

I have a Radeon 9200 driving two CRTs - one from a standard analog port, the other from a DVI output with an adapter. All was well for about a year, when suddenly the second monitor started flickering madly. Now, it's stopped flickering, but is permanently blurry. It looks fine without drivers (safe mode, BIOS, etc.) But once XP loads, it looks like crap again.

I've played with resolutions, refresh rates, etc. I've swapped the monitors (the blurriness follows the output port, not the monitor, so both monitors are fine). I've updated drivers, used alternate drivers, played with Synchronization settings, etc.

Any ideas? Thanks...

 

[Peter]

There might be a problem of poor contact (often with those DVI-VGA adapters when they're not inserted all the way), or maybe the DVI plug on the card became de-soldered from the heavy mechanical load. Inspect the card for broken solder joints, or torn traces near the connector.

 

[boulez]

Yeah, good ideas.

I tried checking the card just now but couldn't find any visible signs of hardware damage.

 

[Peter]

Have you tried another DVI-VGA adapter?

 

[boulez]

Hi Peter,

Yeah, I did finally manage to get another adapter to try - same situation. I'm assuming at this point that it's the card, and since it's still under warranty I've taken it in to get checked. In the meantime I've bought another budget card, and it's giving me even more problems...but that's another topic.