Acer LCD Monitor (AL1912) Displays Random Black Noise

[Steve]

This is a new one for me, but I don't have a ton of experience with LCD
monitors...

Occassionally, my 19" Acer LCD monitor (AL1912 using a VGA connection)
goes flaky and starts displaying random, flickering, horizontal, black
dashes of varying quantities and lengths. It sometimes happens on the
plain vanilla, blue-green Windows desktop background occasionally
covering a very large portion of the screen. The phenomenon also
occurs sometimes on photos. The funny thing about the photos is that
when you zoom in on the photo, the black pixels stay in the same parts
of the photo and grow in quantity and size. It's almost like the A/D
converters get a confused between subtle gradations of color, give up,
and just turn off (I'm assuming black is "off").

Additional info:
-- Monitor is 14-18 months old. The problem began in the last couple
months.
-- Tends to come and go.
-- Turning the monitor on and off does get rid of it.
-- It happens when using different computers.
-- Switching to a different computer using a KVM does not get rid of it
-- only changes what sections of the screen display the problem.
-- Problem occurs with a direct cable connection (i.e. not going
through the KVM).
-- The VGA cable is the one that came with the monitor, and it's
screwed down tight on both ends.

Anyone have any theories or even better -- proven facts?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Jan Alter]

Try the monitor on another computer and see if the same thing is happening.
If it doesn't do this anymore then it may be the graphics card.

If it does then
get in touch with Acer. Your monitor does have a 3 year warranty. I have
your model as well so I'll keep your experience in mind.

 

[kony]

This is a new one for me, but I don't have a ton of experience with LCD
monitors...

Occassionally, my 19" Acer LCD monitor (AL1912 using a VGA connection)
goes flaky and starts displaying random, flickering, horizontal, black
dashes of varying quantities and lengths. It sometimes happens on the
plain vanilla, blue-green Windows desktop background occasionally
covering a very large portion of the screen. The phenomenon also
occurs sometimes on photos. The funny thing about the photos is that
when you zoom in on the photo, the black pixels stay in the same parts
of the photo and grow in quantity and size. It's almost like the A/D
converters get a confused between subtle gradations of color, give up,
and just turn off (I'm assuming black is "off").

Additional info:
-- Monitor is 14-18 months old. The problem began in the last couple
months.
-- Tends to come and go.
-- Turning the monitor on and off does get rid of it.
-- It happens when using different computers.
-- Switching to a different computer using a KVM does not get rid of it
-- only changes what sections of the screen display the problem.
-- Problem occurs with a direct cable connection (i.e. not going
through the KVM).
-- The VGA cable is the one that came with the monitor, and it's
screwed down tight on both ends.

Anyone have any theories or even better -- proven facts?

Leaving the monitor on, still displaying this problem, try
adjusting the monitor control settings. Also try resetting
your video card (driver, display properties) settings to the
defaults. If the problem still persists then get Acer to
replace it.

 

[john.scaglione]

I was having the same exact problem with my Acer AL1912, purchased 1
year ago. Flickering vertical black lines, mostly in reds, mostly in
high color photos.

This morning I went to the Acer website:
http://www.acerpanam.com/us/

I downloaded and installed the driver for my monitor, and so far (about
6 hours) the problem has gone away. I'll post a reply if the problem
reappears

I hope this helps.

- John

 

[john.scaglione]

Bad news.

My monitor worked wonderfully all day yesterday after i installed the
drivers. Then today the same symptoms appeared while i was checking out
the world baseball classic standings.

Turning off the monitor for a minute, then turning it back on fixes the
problem for a little while, but it will be back.

Guess i'll be calling Acer today to get a replacement.

- John

 

[kony]

Bad news.

My monitor worked wonderfully all day yesterday after i installed the
drivers. Then today the same symptoms appeared while i was checking out
the world baseball classic standings.

Turning off the monitor for a minute, then turning it back on fixes the
problem for a little while, but it will be back.

Guess i'll be calling Acer today to get a replacement.

- John

I was a bit surprised about the driver, windows doesn't
actually use drivers for LCD for much, can get a color
profile or refresh limits if you're using analog to connect
but otherwise, it's only a windows limiter, shouldn't really
effect what's on the monitor to this extent.

It would be interesting to know what's happening but of
course for an under-warranty product it's unreasonable to
probe and push parts... might be heat related (?) or a dodgy
connector or similar, is what I'd suspect but not worth
trying to fix when a replacement is possible.