Samsung 243t LCD Monitor - 2 Vertical Lines - Problem?

[Gregory]

Just purchased a 24" Samsung 243T LCD monitor. There are 2 faint
vertical lines running up and down right in the middle of the display.
I don't remember these when I initially plugged in, but noticed them a
few hours later. They are faint. You only seem to see them on darker
colors like blue and gray. I do not see them on a white background.

Is this a flaw with the monitor or it is designed this way. I thought
I remember earlier generation LCD's that had some kind of "wire" that
ran behind the display and could be seen.

I spent $1800 on this and don't want to keep it if it is a problem.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Bob Niland]

Just purchased a 24" Samsung 243T LCD monitor.
There are 2 faint vertical lines running up and
down right in the middle of the display.

You might create some wallpaper files, each at
full-res and of a single color, such as:
all-red.bmp
all-blue.bmp
all-green.bmp
all-black.bmp
all-white.bmp

Load each in turn as the wallpaper, with all other
stuff minimized (or use an image viewer with full-
screen mode), and see if the problem is specific to
a single color drive. If you have a jeweler's loupe,
examine the affected color triads.

With all-white.bmp engaged, you should see distinct
R-G-B triads in black boxes. If you see anything
else, it might be an artifact of how the panel was
fabricated. If you see the absence of a color primary,
suspect a defective panel (or graphics card).

To rule out the graphics card, create 640x480 subsets
of the bmps, wallpaper them, and let the monitor upscale
them to fill the screen.

I thought I remember earlier generation LCD's
that had some kind of "wire" that
ran behind the display and could be seen.

Prior to the deployment of FABs that could handle full-
size LCD substrates, some early "large" LCDs might have
been tiled from smaller panels, in TV "window wall"
fashion, and these would have visible join lines.
There's no excuse for that in a contemporary LCD.

I'm no expert on this, but I don't know of any other
reason for such lines.

On aperture-grill CRTs (Trinitrons), of course, two
horizontal lines are common, representing the shadow
of the tension band wires that stablize the thousand
or so vertical grill wires.

 

[GS Wilder]

It's really a strange problem.

I am pretty sure the lines were not there when I installed it this
afternoon. I didn't notice it until several hours later.

I have tried on 2 different PCs (both with nVidia card). Same problem.

Downloaded latest nvidia driver. no help

The lines are really starting to bug me. I do not want to spend almost
$2k for something like this. But I need to know folks opinion. Bad
monitor or is this the way they are supposed to look?

Thanks....

 

[J. Clarke]

It's really a strange problem.

I am pretty sure the lines were not there when I installed it this
afternoon. I didn't notice it until several hours later.

I have tried on 2 different PCs (both with nVidia card). Same problem.

Downloaded latest nvidia driver. no help

The lines are really starting to bug me. I do not want to spend almost
$2k for something like this. But I need to know folks opinion. Bad
monitor or is this the way they are supposed to look?

If you don't have Powerstrip you might want to download it
<http://entechtaiwan.net/util/ps.shtm> and play with the resolution
adjustment--it sounds like your video board might be running at a
horizontal resolution just a little tiny bit different from the native
resolution of the display, causing artifacts to appear in the form of the
vertical lines you describe. Or it could just be that you have a defective
monitor.

 

[Bob Niland]

If you don't have Powerstrip you might want to
download it <http://entechtaiwan.net/util/ps.shtm>
and play with the resolution adjustment--it sounds
like your video board might be running at a
horizontal resolution just a little tiny bit different
from the native resolution of the display, causing
artifacts to appear in the form of the vertical
lines you describe.

Switching to VGA (640x480) mode and letting the monitor
upscale would also rule that out, by at least moving
the artifact position.

Is the connection DVI or HD15-analog, by the way?

 

[GS Wilder]

I am using a DVI cable.

I have connected to 3 different PC's (2 nvidia based, 1 ATI). Also
went by CompUSA today and their floor model did not have the same
lines on the display.

Unfortunately, I will probably have to return to the mfg for a
replacement. Newegg will not swap monitors.

Thanks....

 

[Bob Niland]

Sorry - imprecise question. Is the monitor using the digital
or analog signal?

I am using a DVI cable.

That doesn't necessarily answer the question. A "DVI" cable
always contains wires for at least one digital link (DVI-D),
but often also contains wires for RGBhv (DVI-I).

I specifically bought a DVI-D (only) cable that excluded
the analog signals, because I wasn't sure I could:
a. shut off analog or digital selectively at the card, or
b. tell the monitor which signal to ignore
It turned out that the monitor (not a 243t) supported
independent selection of "Digital (DVI)" and "Analog (DVI)".

Does the 243t have controls to select DVI digital (only) when
both sets of signals are present at the DVI input connector?

Not that this issue necessarily has anything to do with
the artifact, but it's always helpful to be sure of the
precise test conditions.

 

[GS Wilder]

The 243T monitor does do both analog and digital.I do have it in
"digital only" mode, and the display indicates "digital" when the PC
is booting up.

I did try the analog cable and analog out on the card. Same problem.

I am 99% sure the display is bad. Unfortunately I have to send back to
Samsung to get a replacement. Newegg won't do replacements for
monitors.

Thanks for the help.

Greg