Monitor or video card problem?

My desktop is shrinking/growing on its own, just flickers and changes size.
Is this an indicator of a monitor issue (17" CRT, 2 years old) or the video
card (ATI 32MB Radeon (yes the original)), or is this an either/or
situation? If it the monitor is there an adjustment I can make, or should I
just upgrade the card & see if that helps, then the monitor if not?

TIA

"Dwight Deckard" wrote in message
news:IfFrd.125440$V41.27173@attbi_s52...
My desktop is shrinking/growing on its own, just flickers and changes
size. Is this an indicator of a monitor issue (17" CRT, 2 years old) or
the video card (ATI 32MB Radeon (yes the original)), or is this an
either/or situation? If it the monitor is there an adjustment I can make,
or should I just upgrade the card & see if that helps, then the monitor if
not?

TIA

I'd boot up in safe mode (press f8 like crazy at boot up), and see if the
problem affects the system there as well.
If it does, i'd guess the monitor. If not, i'd consider the video card or
it's drivers to be at fault.

If your monitor is only 2 years old..the warranty MAY still be in effect.

You don't have your monitor sitting on a microwave oven right


jody

"Jody" wrote in message
...
"Dwight Deckard" wrote in message
news:IfFrd.125440$V41.27173@attbi_s52...
My desktop is shrinking/growing on its own, just flickers and changes
size. Is this an indicator of a monitor issue (17" CRT, 2 years old) or
the video card (ATI 32MB Radeon (yes the original)), or is this an
either/or situation? If it the monitor is there an adjustment I can make,
or should I just upgrade the card & see if that helps, then the monitor
if not?

TIA

I'd boot up in safe mode (press f8 like crazy at boot up), and see if the
problem affects the system there as well.
If it does, i'd guess the monitor. If not, i'd consider the video card or
it's drivers to be at fault.

If your monitor is only 2 years old..the warranty MAY still be in effect.

You don't have your monitor sitting on a microwave oven right


jody



No, it's not the microwave, but we have a cat that I occasionally find
sleeping on the monitor. I thought about opening it up and blowing it out
with canned air to see if that helps.

I'll try safe mode & go from there. Thanks for the reply.

As an afterthought, I wonder if this could be a driver/XP service pack 2
issue. I'll check for driver updates as well.

Dwight

"Dwight Deckard" wrote in message
news:lYHrd.702658$8_6.177239@attbi_s04...

"Jody" wrote in message
...
"Dwight Deckard" wrote in message
news:IfFrd.125440$V41.27173@attbi_s52...
My desktop is shrinking/growing on its own, just flickers and changes
size. Is this an indicator of a monitor issue (17" CRT, 2 years old) or
the video card (ATI 32MB Radeon (yes the original)), or is this an
either/or situation? If it the monitor is there an adjustment I can
make,
or should I just upgrade the card & see if that helps, then the monitor
if not?

TIA

I'd boot up in safe mode (press f8 like crazy at boot up), and see if
the
problem affects the system there as well.
If it does, i'd guess the monitor. If not, i'd consider the video card
or
it's drivers to be at fault.

If your monitor is only 2 years old..the warranty MAY still be in
effect.

You don't have your monitor sitting on a microwave oven right


jody



No, it's not the microwave, but we have a cat that I occasionally find
sleeping on the monitor. I thought about opening it up and blowing it out
with canned air to see if that helps.

I'll try safe mode & go from there. Thanks for the reply.

As an afterthought, I wonder if this could be a driver/XP service pack 2
issue. I'll check for driver updates as well.

Dwight



Noooooo.... opening the cat up and blowing it out will really do it no good
what so ever.

Also, it might be illegal :-/

"Gingangooli" wrote in message
...

"Dwight Deckard" wrote in message
news:lYHrd.702658$8_6.177239@attbi_s04...

"Jody" wrote in message
...
"Dwight Deckard" wrote in message
news:IfFrd.125440$V41.27173@attbi_s52...
My desktop is shrinking/growing on its own, just flickers and changes
size. Is this an indicator of a monitor issue (17" CRT, 2 years old)
or
the video card (ATI 32MB Radeon (yes the original)), or is this an
either/or situation? If it the monitor is there an adjustment I can
make,
or should I just upgrade the card & see if that helps, then the
monitor
if not?

TIA

I'd boot up in safe mode (press f8 like crazy at boot up), and see if
the
problem affects the system there as well.
If it does, i'd guess the monitor. If not, i'd consider the video card
or
it's drivers to be at fault.

If your monitor is only 2 years old..the warranty MAY still be in
effect.

You don't have your monitor sitting on a microwave oven right


jody



No, it's not the microwave, but we have a cat that I occasionally find
sleeping on the monitor. I thought about opening it up and blowing it out
with canned air to see if that helps.

I'll try safe mode & go from there. Thanks for the reply.

As an afterthought, I wonder if this could be a driver/XP service pack 2
issue. I'll check for driver updates as well.

Dwight



Noooooo.... opening the cat up and blowing it out will really do it no
good
what so ever.

Also, it might be illegal :-/



Yeah, you're probably right...the wife woulda put me out for sure. Thanks
for pointing it out.

If it is the monitor, you have a high voltage problem.
When the size gets larger .. if it gets dimmer, then the
problem is the monitor. Time for a new monitor. On
the other hand, if the brightness stays the same, then
I think the video card is jumping settings / resolutions
for some reason ?? I'm betting on the monitor. Flickering
sounds like arcing in the flyback .. or a bad solder joint
on one of the big electrolytics in the monitor. Not worth
the cost of repairing. Get a 19inch AOS from Mwave
... or a local computer shop. The pure flat is only about
$189 or less.

johns