My monitor, its making sounds.

Zed Snardbody · Post by **Zed Snardbody** » 2004-11-30 09:16pm

My monitor from time to time emits a high pitched tone. If I turn it off, and then back on again, its gone.

Is my monitor going to explode ala star trek. Am I halucinating?

Whats wrong, any thoughts?

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-11-30 09:26pm

Nothing's going to happen to your monitor, AFAIK. There's a reason for it, I just can't remember what it is.

J · Post by J » 2004-11-30 11:32pm

Mine does that too. About 5-10 minutes after its turned on, the monitor will whine for a minute or two and then go back to being silent. We think it's just the parts warming up and settling in. So far (3 years) so good...

Post by **Beowulf** » 2004-11-30 11:35pm

It's the flyback transformer. The monitor sends a high frequency signal through there to create the high voltages needed. Sometimes it manages to vibrate a little. You're hearing it vibrate.

Cal Wright · Post by **Cal Wright** » 2004-11-30 11:50pm

Whew! Glad to hear that. Mine does that from time to time. This thing is probably four or five years old now. Hopefully it's going on 6-10.

Isil`Zha · Post by **Isil`Zha** » 2004-12-01 12:51pm

Mine does that too. In fact, I can hear that *most* do it... but it seems that I'm the only one that can hear it... and it annoys the fuck out of me when I can't get it to stop!

Batman · Post by **Batman** » 2004-12-01 01:46pm

The whine CAN be a sign of you running the monitor close to/beyond its rated specifications. If you aren't, ignore it-mine has been doing it for 6 or so years without there ever being any trouble.

Isil`Zha · Post by **Isil`Zha** » 2004-12-01 03:15pm

Batman wrote:The whine CAN be a sign of you running the monitor close to/beyond its rated specifications. If you aren't, ignore it-mine has been doing it for 6 or so years without there ever being any trouble.

you mean above it's rated frequency? As an interesting note, if you set the monitor above it's maximum operating frequency, the screen will jump to the left or right (I can't remember if it jumps a specific direction, or if it could be either...) Most people just readjust it using the monitor controls, not realizing it's a sign that they're slowly frying their monitor.

Mine OTOH, simply goes blank and displays "Out of Frequency Range" if you try to do that, so I don't have to worry about it.

Batman · Post by **Batman** » 2004-12-01 03:23pm

Isil`Zha wrote:
Batman wrote:The whine CAN be a sign of you running the monitor close to/beyond its rated specifications. If you aren't, ignore it-mine has been doing it for 6 or so years without there ever being any trouble.
you mean above it's rated frequency?

Exactly.

As an interesting note, if you set the monitor above it's maximum operating frequency, the screen will jump to the left or right (I can't remember if it jumps a specific direction, or if it could be either...) Most people just readjust it using the monitor controls, not realizing it's a sign that they're slowly frying their monitor.

The problem is that doesn't alway happen, especially if you only go lightly beyond its rated specifications. I've seen a lot of monitors that simply do as thy're told and fry themselves in the process.

Mine OTOH, simply goes blank and displays "Out of Frequency Range" if you try to do that, so I don't have to worry about it.

I bought mine when 'high-end' meant P133. We didn't need cowardly safety features like that back then

Isil`Zha · Post by **Isil`Zha** » 2004-12-01 03:30pm

Batman wrote:The problem is that doesn't alway happen, especially if you only go lightly beyond its rated specifications. I've seen a lot of monitors that simply do as thy're told and fry themselves in the process.

I bought mine when 'high-end' meant P133. We didn't need cowardly safety features like that back then

oop, I believe that they do all do it, but sometimes it's ever-so-slight and you have to be closely watching the screen to notice it.

haha... 133.... really though, how many people that don't know that much about computers mess with the frequency?

Batman · Post by **Batman** » 2004-12-01 03:37pm

Isil`Zha wrote: haha... 133.... really though, how many people that don't know that much about computers mess with the frequency?

You'd be surprised, especially as it is pathetically easy to do.
They read somewhere that a low refresh rate is bad for the eyes (which is indeniably true), up theirs to a frequency the monitor doesn't really support, maybe up the resolution too because their gazillion icons won't fit on the screen otherwise and the combination goes beyond the monitors limit...
Admittedly monitors that allow you to do so may be extinct by now.

Isil`Zha · Post by **Isil`Zha** » 2004-12-01 03:43pm

Batman wrote:You'd be surprised, especially as it is pathetically easy to do.
They read somewhere that a low refresh rate is bad for the eyes (which is indeniably true), up theirs to a frequency the monitor doesn't really support, maybe up the resolution too because their gazillion icons won't fit on the screen otherwise and the combination goes beyond the monitors limit...
Admittedly monitors that allow you to do so may be extinct by now.

eh, it depends on the person. It's not that they're bad on the eyes, but some people can kind of "notice" the refresh rate, just like some people can notice florescent lights flashing at 60Hz (sometimes I can too... but not all the time.. weird.) You don't really need to go above 70 or 75Hz though and anyone should be fine.

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2004-12-01 06:46pm

As Viewsonic is my god, I generally don't run into a refresh rate problem

That's the benefit of getting Hardware That Does Not Suck. Y'get what you pay for.

Terr Fangbite · Post by **Terr Fangbite** » 2004-12-01 08:13pm

I ignored my monitor whining (it was a 29 incher I beleive) and after a week of it, as I was sitting at it, I heard something pop inside then everything went blank. Thats when I found out the company which made the monitor has abysmal tech support (unless you want help picking out a new one to buy). Don't just ignore it, something might be wrong, and unless you have enough to buy a new one, try to figure out what the problem is.

Zed Snardbody · Post by **Zed Snardbody** » 2004-12-04 09:11pm

I fixed it.

Its a 17 inch flat screen. When I got it I had it initialy set to 1024x768.

Well I wanted to change it so I bumped it up to 1152x864

Thats when the noise started, since I bumped it back down, no noise.

Keevan_Colton · Post by **Keevan_Colton** » 2004-12-05 06:36am

I've an old 14" that dates back to the days when a 486 SX25 was top of the line...AND I've been running it way over it's spec for 5 solid years and the poor thing has kept on going.

It's true that they dont make em like they used to.