Help with LCD Display Problem (1/23/13 - Parallel Monitors Tested)

[CWorley]

Hey guys, I started putting some play time into my new cocktail cabinet and ran into some display problems.  While playing games in Mame and while looking in Mala, the screen will sometimes either flicker/distort for a few seconds or flicker/distort longer and go black.

I'm running Mame 0.145 and Mala

Monitor is Dell 20" 2007fp lcd

System specs:
WinXP
Sempron 140 2.7Ghz
4 GB RAM
Gigabyte GA-MA78LMT-S2 motherboard w/ ATI Radeon 3000 onboard graphics

Only playing classic 4-ways.

Any suggestions on what the issue might be?  Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[BobA]

What res are you running the screen at?    Is it set to native res?

[Blanka]

Use the DVI cable.

[CWorley]

What res are you running the screen at?    Is it set to native res?

I believe the screen is set to 1600 x 1200, which is the native res.  I won't be able to check for sure until this weekend.

Use the DVI cable.

I'll give that a shot as well, what difference will that make?

[jrose78]

Mala is the front end right? So your problem is not in mame or mala then if it is happening in both.   If it is just happening in mame I would say to try it without HLSL as that can cause problems. I would at the very least try it with just mame and see if it runs without problems.

EDIT: is it possible that the window is losing focus to something poping up in the background from the systray?

[Blanka]

Use the DVI cable.

I'll give that a shot as well, what difference will that make?

An LCD screen is digital. It only runs at say 1280x1024@60Hz. Feeding anything analogue into the screen takes processing-time (lag) and may cause misalignment of frames (for example if you play a 48hz game at 48hz over VGA, the LCD screen upscaler may get hiccups). So you get a clearer picture, no more errors, and less input-lag.

[CWorley]

jrose, I don't believe it's losing focus, but I'll definitely check that.

Blanka, I'll definitley try out a dvi cable and see if that fixes the issue.

Thanks!

[CWorley]

I checked on the resolution which is 1600x1200, the monitor's native res.

I also switched to a dvi cable.

There is still flickering with the screen.  It happens outside of Mame and Mala as well.

Any other ideas of what to try?  Really hoping the monitor is not failing.

[Blanka]

Maybe the backlight is going nuts.
Check if the on screen menu works without any input signal. If that flickers, you're in trouble.

[CWorley]

So the screen was fine for a while, then it started to flicker again. 

Here is a video of what it's doing:


Anybody have any ideas of what's wrong?

Thanks!

[CWorley]

It's strange because the problem disappeared for at least 10 hours of playtime.

[TOK]

The first thing I'd do is hook up a spare monitor and make sure its actually the LCD... That's a weird looking issue, and I'm having a tough time telling if its the video card or your monitor causing that.

[iserian]

Yep - hook up another display in parallel and see if it happens to both.  Easy way to rule out 1 or the other.

[CWorley]

Thanks guys!  I'll try the parallel monitors and see what happens.

[CWorley]

The first thing I'd do is hook up a spare monitor and make sure its actually the LCD... That's a weird looking issue, and I'm having a tough time telling if its the video card or your monitor causing that.

Yep - hook up another display in parallel and see if it happens to both.  Easy way to rule out 1 or the other.

I was finally able to find some time to hook up another monitor in parallel.  The problem only appeared on the original monitor.  It would appear then that I have a malfunctioning monitor.  Two questions:

First, is there anything I should do with the monitor to try and fix it or should I just replace it?

Second, does anyone know how close the Dell 2001fp and Dell 2007fp are physically?  The top of cabinet has a cutout for the 2007, but the 2001 would be cheaper to purchase.  It looks like they're very similar.

Cheers!

[stripe4]

If your monitor is not covered by warranty anymore, disassemble it and check for bulging or leaking capacitors on the inverter board:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
That is what I would start with.

[CWorley]

If your monitor is not covered by warranty anymore, disassemble it and check for bulging or leaking capacitors on the inverter board:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
That is what I would start with.

Thanks Stripe.  This might be a bit above my pay grade, but I'll take a look.

[PL1]

If your monitor is not covered by warranty anymore, disassemble it and check for bulging or leaking capacitors on the inverter board:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
That is what I would start with.

Thanks Stripe.  This might be a bit above my pay grade, but I'll take a look.

It's not that difficult.  Simple through-hole desoldering and re-soldering.

Jot down the specs on the caps that even remotely look bad.
-- Capacitance in uF
-- Voltage
-- Temperature (105 C or 85 C)
-- Height and diameter (usually in mm)
-- Lead spacing (probably not needed, but good to verify)

If you have trouble finding replacements, I'll help you.   


Scott