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I thought I'd build my own computer. It's been well over a year now. My old Gateway 2000 was just way beyond upgrades.

Antec Sonata case w/ 350W True Power power supply
MSI K8N Neo Platinum MOBO
AMD Athalon 64 3400+ processor
2 GB RAM
PNY Verto GeForce 600GT video card
CRT monitor

Now everything was working well except the dang thing wouldn't play videos - mpg, wmv etc.
It would play web-based video like youtube though. And some of the kids games wouldn't play if there was a video in the startup of the game. I tried everything I could think of and finally picked up a new video card a couple weeks ago.

This one is a VisionTek ATI Radeon X1550 card. I thought I'd ditch Nvidea for ATI. Now I can play videos. I haven't tried any of the kids games that wouldn't work before.

Except the display's become very unstable. It seems like every time I turn the computer on (and depending on who's logged on), the display's adjusted differently. The resolution stays the same, but the visible area of the screen moves around. Sometimes there's a big black area to the left, sometimes right, sometimes the vertical/horizontal size/position is screwed up. Right now, the display is bowed out to the sides, tilted a few degrees to the right, kinda squished vertically and a little too big horisontally. This is the worst it's been. And if I try to adjust using the buttons on the monitor, it works super extra slow, only changing the setting number every few seconds while I hold down the button.

I've downloaded and installed the latest video drivers and that didn't help. Is my monitor dying? It doesn't seem to have any other problems. Other than the display being proportioned oddly, it looks good. There is a little bit of extra flicker out at the edges, but I figure that's because of the weird proportioning. Any of you have any ideas? I tried to get all the info I could think of out without being TOO long winded. And NO, I'm not just going to shoot it! Razz

(Not yet anyway.)

Added- And if I try to change the display settings/resolution, it takes much longer to bring up the changes than it used to. Many seconds instead of almost immediately.

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:02 am Post subject:

rule out the monitor... substitute another one (if available) or swap in another vid card and see if it's still doing the wonky stuff. then worry about software. I'm suprised the nvidia card wouldn't play videos. makes me think that the windows media codecs were not installed or borked up somehow. I think installing the ati multimedia center installs those codecs so if you installed MMC, that's probably what fixed the video playback. switch back to the nvidia card and see if you don't just have a bad ati card. That would qualify as one of the weirdest problems I've heard of though. I'm wagering on the monitor itself though. I've had more problems with old nvidia cards doing that horizontal BLEED because the surface mount caps/resistors between the GPU and the VGA connector get crappy after about 3-4 years.

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:19 am Post subject:

i would also eye the psu........350w psu is probably on the low side for the unit.......if the monitor swap doesn't do the trick try the psu something in the 500w range.

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 7:14 pm Post subject:

I'll agree that your original problem was probably software rather than hardware-related.

Your current problems sound like monitor issues, but you can swap pieces around as others have suggested to narrow down the problem. If you're shopping for a new monitor, there is a wide selection available from which to choose, but I'd also recommend looking for the twice-monthly deals from Dell on their UltraSharp lineup.

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:58 am Post subject:

I've got a kind soul bringing over a spare CRT tonight. So I should be able to rule that out.

I think regardless I'm going to go with at least a 500W power supply. Any suggestions there? It seems like the prices for the same wattage can vary quite a bit.

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:49 am Post subject:

Raynman wrote:
I've got a kind soul bringing over a spare CRT tonight. So I should be able to rule that out.

I think regardless I'm going to go with at least a 500W power supply. Any suggestions there? It seems like the prices for the same wattage can vary quite a bit.

Antec / thermaltake / coolmaster / enermax are some of the more reliable brands out there in the marketplace. JAE wil probably have some links to some great deals.

www.newegg.com is a good source for components imho.

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:22 pm Post subject:

Here are some efficient PSUs.

I am very satisfied with my SeaSonic power supplies. An inexpensive unit from Fortron Source (e.g.: AX-450PN) may be sufficient for your system.