Monitor Flickers

Hello I don't know why but for some reason my CRT monitor has begun flickering. It looks somewhat like one line going through either the bottom or top of the screen horizontally.

The recent hardware change I did was adding a $250 sound card which didn't cause my screen to flicker since I put it in 3 days ago.

I've had my pc on for quite some time and haven't turned it off in maybe 48 hours.

I use a generic PSU from the brand DEER. You can check my signature to see what I have in my pc.

Should I be worried and what is going on? It started happening 2 hours ago and it's done it 6 times. The flicker lasts 1 second and is not on the full screen.

 

Have you double checked connectors and such? Probably not what is causing it but you never know sometimes.

How long have you have your vid card? Is anything overclocked? Sounds like it may be a driver issue or something with other software but check the hardware to make sure everything is still securly seated and plugged in.

 

I turned off my pc half an hour ago and unplugged [than plugged back in] the CRT cable from my Radeon 9550 video card. The video card is approximately 7-9 months old.

Well I left my pc off while I ate breakfast and disconnected everything from the wall outlet. Like I said I just plugged it back in as I'm on it right now. It flickered again as soon as it got to the winxp logo progress bar boot screen after the bios image. That's weird, I heard a click too somewhere in the room. I don't know if it was the monitor making that noise or the power surge bar or what. One other thing that's catching my attention is the fact that I hear something like a construction truck beeping in the distance by my residence. I hear it the truck beep every 10-20 minutes out of my window. You know those "backing up" beeps. Speak of the devil it's beeping right now as if I were in that "Stranger Than Fiction" movie. & once again as if it's taunting me.

I was designing a flash website in the wee hours of the day and thought it was that but I guess not. In any case like I said the latest thing I purchased was a $250 M Audiophile 192 sound card which I installed 3 days ago and hasn't given me problems, unless I didn't notice it until now...


What could be wrong? Is this a sign that my trusty old CRT is dying? I think it's from 2001. What else can I check? By the way I have a low grade power supply. [Basically no name - check my signature. I bought the psu last year though. I custom built this pc]

 

It could be the CTR but maybe not. You could also be getting interfearance from that construction site, I know it's a long shot. I know that your monitor has to accept any interfearance it may recieve and I also know that a cell phone close enough (within about 8 inches) can cause some flickering if you're talking on it.

Maybe they have some really strong radio signals coming from over there for some reason. This is probably not the cause but if you find that everything else is OK maybe checking another CRT would confirm it. LCD monitors still have to accept the interfearance but the difference in design eliminates the flicker when a strong signal gets too close.

 

Thanks I understand. What your saying makes absolute sense. I think I'll try a spare monitor later. I have some very important work to do in the meantime and than some sleep since I've been up all night designing a web page. But any other ideas would be great. If I notice the other monitor acting the same way we have a problem. It's a tiny 15 inch monitor I have in the basement collecting dust but I guess that'll do.

Can I harm my pc if my monitor flickers because it is dying or something? For example if my monitor is dying while it's attached to my video card and pc will that damage my pc or will the monitor just poop itself to shreds?

Hmm I can still hear that big truck out there. I wonder what the hell they're doing. I'm assuming it could be small power surges. If so I think it's better if I totally shut my pc down and wait until it they hopefully stop at night. They may be working on a transformer but if so I would assume all power would go out in the neighborhood. Funny thing is like I said this started happening a few hours ago.

 

I just attached an old CRT I had in the basement and it did it again. What could be wrong? Like I said I purchased an "M Audiophile 192" sound card this week, which is very expensive [$250] for advanced recording purposes.

Here's the manufacturer and page for the sound card I bought this week:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile192-main.html

I can't find any info on it as to what kind of power the pci card takes from the psu. I have no idea if the card is like eating at the psu or needs a lot of power. But I didn't notice this happening for a few days after inserting the pci sound card I bought. & yes I had a sound card in there before but it was one of those normal ones. The cheap $30 kind.

I have a Radeon 9550 video card that never ever gave me any problems whatsoever. Could it also be my psu? I mean the psu I have is 450watt. Maybe it doesn't have enough power to power everything I have in this pc. I don't know because I never noticed it do that before.

Please help I don't want something serious to happen like the psu frying my motherboard and everything connected to it or something like that. Or my video card frying or anything. Please help I need help!!

 

We've had a similar thread, CRTs are very sensitive to magnetic fields. Is it possible you have another applience near the monitor. Even another monitor will do it, but it could be anthing with juice.

 

Hmm would a cel phone or cordless 2.4Ghz phone do that? By the way I reattached my problematic monitor and I've been on it for two days now and haven't encountered the problem anymore. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I had my pc on for like 3 days straight and I have hibernate and standby disabled on my monitor and system. So it was on round the clock, or maybe the cpu was overheating but I don't see why this would happen as I own a 1.4Ghz Tulatin P3 processor, and I heard p3's don't get too hot. I dunno weird huh? It just disappeared. By the way I turned off my pc obviously for the past few days during the night.

 

Sorry I didn't get back to this sooner. Since there is no flickering when things are shut down for a while and restarted it could have to do with heat somewhere. Maybe just use a blower or vacuum to clean out the monitor a little. I have mine set the same so that the monitor is never shut down by the OS but I turn off the power switch on the monitor when I'm not at the computer, maybe this could help.

If just turning off the monitor when your not working on the comp solves the issue then it could be time for a new one or a cleaning.

 

Yes.

I used to get flicker like the one you describe, but six or seven thick lines going across the entire monitor, for a second or two every time someone called my cell phone. I'd get the flicker, and my computer speakers would stop playing music and instead emit only static, and sure enough, a couple of seconds later the cell phone rang.