Dell P990 Monitor Problem

swinada · Post by **swinada** » Mon Jan 13, 2003 7:48 pm

Hi, i have a Dell P990 Triniton Monitor. A couple of weeks ago when somebody else was "abusing my computer, it started to act up. The Screen gets slowly very blurry (starts at the edge and takes over the whole screen) then it flicks off for a sec and comes back in all clear but right away there is kind of a whistling sound that starts on a low note gets higher and higher till it dissappears. Then the screen getsw blurry again and the whole thing start over again.
As i was writing this the screen totaly blacked out and now seems to be dead.
Any Advice? ideas?
it is hooked up to a Dell Inspiron 3800 laptop wit a ATI M1 video card. 8MB video memory.
But it seems to be hardware related to the screen.
Could setting a wrong (to high ) refresh rate have damaged the screen?
Any help is apteciated. Thanks

blade · Post by **blade** » Mon Jan 13, 2003 8:23 pm

Welcome to PCA.

Could setting a wrong (to high ) refresh rate have damaged the screen?

Yes. Was it set too high?

Also, have you tried that monitor on another system? And check the buttons on the monitor and see if it has a reset or recall button. If so try that, and cross your fingers.

swinada · Post by **swinada** » Mon Jan 13, 2003 9:17 pm

when the guy that was using it, called me and said that my computer is doing something weird, Ichecked the refresh rate and it was set to 100. I'm not sure if that is to high for this monitor, but i always had it at 85, and it work good. I also dont know how he set it at 100 for it is not in the list of settings, it only goes to 85.
I dont have a reset button.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Mon Jan 13, 2003 10:44 pm

Any monitor made in the last 5 years will automatically turn itself off to protect itself if you set the refresh too high, so I doubt that was the problem. Any modern monitor can easily handle 100 Hz up to 1280x anyway.

You probably have a weak transistor in the high voltage section. I'd stop using it since if it pops althogether it can do more damage to other parts.

Take it to a SMALL mom & pop TV repair shop (not a computer shop), one that's willing to give you a free estimate. Explain the problem and I'm certain they'll know EXACTLY what you're talking about.

Just about any TV shop can work on a computer monitor.

If I'm right it's a nickle and dime part - maybe a $5 part, and a couple of hours of labor. Should be less than $90 at a small mom & pop shop that's honest. Worth it if it's less than 2 years old.

DO NOT take it to a big retail store. They'll charge you a fee just to look at it and will probably want too much money to fix it.

Sean · Post by **Sean** » Wed Jan 15, 2003 5:03 pm

Yeah, I can run 100hz on my P990 at 1024x768. At 1280x960 I run 85hz. And I know for a fact it shuts off if its set too high. Even this 6-7 year old Sony Trinitron does it, so its not refresh rate related.