LCD Monitor "washing out"???

[rescue161]

I got stuck using an LCD monitor in my cabinet.  It works great for the most part, but sometimes while switching games it will wash out.  What I mean by that is that the whole screen will look like "white paint" has spilled all over it and then it goes blank/black.  I've tried fumbling with the screen resolution in MAME, Windows 2000 and on the monitor itself, but nothing seems to help.  The monitor is mounted vertically.

Along these same lines, when some games are selected (some of the vertical games, but not all of them) The game screen will be halfway off the page.  Resolution setting have no affect on this either.

Temporary solution for both problems is to reach in, unplug-plug and plug back in the monitor.  Like I said, this is a temp solution, so if you guys know any better way to fix it, I'd be grateful.  BTW, regular CRTs do not have this problem.

Thanks!

[rdagger]

Are you using VGA or DVI?    Make sure your cable is good, your refresh rate is set  properly and you have downloaded the latest drivers for your video card.  I'm using dual LCD monitors with a 21 foot DVI cable off an Asus Nvidia card with no problems in MAME.  Although I have found that my video capture software can crash my video card if running during MAME. 

[StephenH]

LCD monitors have fixed resolution.  Sometimes when software "switches resolutions",  the LCD has to examine its input, and "scale" it to its native res.

You may want to force MAME to run at the LCDs native res (i.e. 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1600x1200, etc), enable hardware stretch, and enable keep aspect ratio.

Also, many LCDs that use DVI connections are even more picky about the video settings, and are not as friendly with the low res modes that MAME and other emus use.