Blurred display on Samsung TFT-LCD

[Aidan Whitehall]

I have a 17" 'wise view' Samsung TFT-LCD display that's been happily
working with an XP PC for over a year now. We've just bought three new
identical XP PCs (base units only),and I was going to swap my old base
unit for one of the new ones. The motherboards in the new PCs are all ASUS
P4P800-MX with Intel 82865G on-board video and an Intel Extreme Graphics 2
utility.

The TFT display when used with the old PC has pin-sharp clear text at 1280
x 1024 @ 60Hz (the display's optimal setting), after having used the
screen's "Auto adjustment" OSD feature.

With each of the new PCs, the same TFT has a much softer picture at 1280 x
1024 @ 60Hz and having used the "Auto adjustment". I've made sure that
font smoothing is off under Display Properties | Appearance | Effects and
have tried every screen resolution and refresh rate the on-board video
supports. If you open Notepad and start typing, it appears as though every
character is smudged to the right.

I've tried adjusting the display's built-in Phase, Frequency and Sharpness
options and also using the Factory Reset option, but can't get an image as
sharp as the older PC produces.

Using a KVM to be able to flick quickly between the display from a new and
the old PC confirms that it's not my imagination -- it's apparent that
there is a difference in the display.

Does anyone have any ideas what's going on, and if there's anything else I
can try / do? Thanks.

 

[Ron Cook]

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I have a 17" 'wise view' Samsung TFT-LCD display that's been happily
working with an XP PC for over a year now. We've just bought three new
identical XP PCs (base units only),and I was going to swap my old base
unit for one of the new ones. The motherboards in the new PCs are all ASUS
P4P800-MX with Intel 82865G on-board video and an Intel Extreme Graphics 2
utility.

The TFT display when used with the old PC has pin-sharp clear text at 1280
x 1024 @ 60Hz (the display's optimal setting), after having used the
screen's "Auto adjustment" OSD feature.

With each of the new PCs, the same TFT has a much softer picture at 1280 x
1024 @ 60Hz and having used the "Auto adjustment". I've made sure that
font smoothing is off under Display Properties | Appearance | Effects and
have tried every screen resolution and refresh rate the on-board video
supports. If you open Notepad and start typing, it appears as though every
character is smudged to the right.

I've tried adjusting the display's built-in Phase, Frequency and Sharpness
options and also using the Factory Reset option, but can't get an image as
sharp as the older PC produces.

Using a KVM to be able to flick quickly between the display from a new and
the old PC confirms that it's not my imagination -- it's apparent that
there is a difference in the display.

Does anyone have any ideas what's going on, and if there's anything else I
can try / do? Thanks.

Our company recently moved into a new building with a new, updated data
center.
We have ten 19-inch Planar LCD monitors in the new area and see exactly the
same issue you are seeing.

We think (but can't yet prove) that the issue in our case is the KVM system:
it's carrying the KVM signals from the servers over seventy-five feet of
Ethernet to the remote consoles.

Avocent (the supplier of the KVM system) appear to not have a clue about the
problem.

While your system exhibits the same symptom, I'd be more likely to suspect
the Intel video subsystem.

My impression is that the on-board video system can't provide a signal level
high enough to properly drive the LCD monitors.

If you can disable the internal video system and try a good add-in video
card, I believe you'll see the quality of image you expect.

This might be an 'easy fix', albeit one that should not be necessary.


- --
Ron n1zhi
(e-mail address removed)
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[Matthew Maddock]

Our company recently moved into a new building with a new, updated data

center.
We have ten 19-inch Planar LCD monitors in the new area and see exactly the
same issue you are seeing.

We think (but can't yet prove) that the issue in our case is the KVM system:
it's carrying the KVM signals from the servers over seventy-five feet of
Ethernet to the remote consoles.

Often encountered this problem with similar switches to KVM. (Never
run KVM over EthernVGA cable. Gets worse with higher resolution
& higher refresh rates.

Have you tried a different monitor cable (if this is possible?) some of the
supplied cables are incredibly cheap and nasty.

Matt.

 

[Jerry G.]

Set the refresh rate to 60 Hz for an LCD monitor. These are not like the
CRT (tube) monitors, and there should be no flicker or refresh problems.

After setting the refresh rate to 60 Hz, then press the "Auto" on the
monitor to adjust to re-do the setup. This should work well for you.

I have also seen some types of combinations of display cards not work
well with some LCD monitor models.

--

Jerry G.
======

message I have a 17" 'wise view' Samsung TFT-LCD display that's been happily
working with an XP PC for over a year now. We've just bought three new
identical XP PCs (base units only),and I was going to swap my old base
unit for one of the new ones. The motherboards in the new PCs are all
ASUS
P4P800-MX with Intel 82865G on-board video and an Intel Extreme Graphics
2
utility.

The TFT display when used with the old PC has pin-sharp clear text at
1280
x 1024 @ 60Hz (the display's optimal setting), after having used the
screen's "Auto adjustment" OSD feature.

With each of the new PCs, the same TFT has a much softer picture at 1280
x
1024 @ 60Hz and having used the "Auto adjustment". I've made sure that
font smoothing is off under Display Properties | Appearance | Effects
and
have tried every screen resolution and refresh rate the on-board video
supports. If you open Notepad and start typing, it appears as though
every
character is smudged to the right.

I've tried adjusting the display's built-in Phase, Frequency and
Sharpness
options and also using the Factory Reset option, but can't get an image
as
sharp as the older PC produces.

Using a KVM to be able to flick quickly between the display from a new
and
the old PC confirms that it's not my imagination -- it's apparent that
there is a difference in the display.

Does anyone have any ideas what's going on, and if there's anything else
I
can try / do? Thanks.

 

[Ron Cook]

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Have you tried a different monitor cable (if this is possible?) some of
the supplied cables are incredibly cheap and nasty.

Matt.

Yep. We tried cables from the 'incredibly cheap and nasty' right up to some
really high quality cables.

Substituting a CRT for an LCD showed no difference, either.

We're still pursuing the KVM supplier.

- --
Ron n1zhi
(e-mail address removed)
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[Aidan Whitehall]

[snip]

While your system exhibits the same symptom, I'd be more likely to suspect
the Intel video subsystem.

My impression is that the on-board video system can't provide a signal level
high enough to properly drive the LCD monitors.

If you can disable the internal video system and try a good add-in video
card, I believe you'll see the quality of image you expect.

This might be an 'easy fix', albeit one that should not be necessary.

Yup, you're right. Just dropped a GeForce4 MX-440 card in one of the PCI
slots (would you believe, this new ASUS P4P800-MX mobo has *no* AGP
slot?!?), and the picture is pin sharp.