flickering line on display - monitor or computer?

[Shortcake]

I know I am jumping the gun a little posting already, but I am wondering if any of you have ever experienced this. I am still trying to determine if it is my monitor or my computer causing this problem (need to get my hands on another display to test it - easier said than done).

I have a 1.5 year old Power Mac and a 1.5 year old LaCie electron19blueIV monitor.

Recently, I've started having a flickering line of light that starts about 1 inch from the bottom of the screen. It is intermittant. Seems to come along when I've been using the mouse (as opposed to typing) but that could be my imagination. It gets worse sometimes to the point of my screen jumping (but not flickering so much as hopping a few times).

I unplugged my speakers, my wacom tablet, and anything else I could think of. I changed my refresh rate. None of this affected it.

The only other change was a power outage a few weeks ago (but this didn't start till a few days ago, and of course I am on a surge protector!)

My monitor is under warranty but what a PITA to have to mail it in, especially if it's possibly the computer (video card perhaps??)

So I'm curious if this sounds familiar to anyone out there! Thanks in advance!

 

[Transeau]

Does the monitor have any type of Onscreen Menu that you can move into that area? if it's effected too, then it's the screen... if the line goes away or is covered up by the menu, then it's the video card.

 

[Shortcake]

Transeau Thanks! Do you mean the menu that controls brightness, contrast, etc? (I press buttons on the front of the monitor to get it to appear). There is one but I can't move it.

When the flickering is at its worst I may be able to "catch" it on that menu though. I will definitely try that - what a good trick!

 

[tyr2]

Could also be caused by a dodgy cable, if you can lay your hands on a spare try swapping it and see if things improve.

 

[Shortcake]

I will try the cable too, good idea. Of course this means I need to go buy a cable, since i don't have one around unfortunately.

 

[CanadaRAM]

o'course, pluggin it into another computer would be a good way to isolate where the problem is...

 

[Shortcake]

o'course, pluggin it into another computer would be a good way to isolate where the problem is...

Ah yes, so true. A couple obstacles though - I only have 1 computer. My husband does have a laptop for work, and we can try that, but 1) it's a PC _ not sure if it will work with the same cable etc and 2) since the problem is intermittant if I don't see it, it won't tell me much. And I can't leave it plugged in for more than the weekend or so.

 

[Shortcake]

I was able to try Transeau's test today, and it seems to be the monitor! That's good news as I can get it repaired (assuming they can reproduce it - never want to assume that.)

One more question - should I still try another cable? Could a faulty cable still cause the problem (even though it appears on the little onscreen menu that comes up when I press a button on the monitor)?

I found out my neighbor has a spare monitor so that is nice, I will probably double check by using her monitor for a while; I can also use that monitor while this one is being repaired.

 

[CanadaRAM]

I was able to try Transeau's test today, and it seems to be the monitor! That's good news as I can get it repaired (assuming they can reproduce it - never want to assume that.)

One more question - should I still try another cable? Could a faulty cable still cause the problem (even though it appears on the little onscreen menu that comes up when I press a button on the monitor)?

I found out my neighbor has a spare monitor so that is nice, I will probably double check by using her monitor for a while; I can also use that monitor while this one is being repaired.

No, the beauty of Transeau's method is that the on-screen menu is generated internally by the monitor itself, and does not come from the computer or travel down the cable. So if IT is messed, then the problem is in the monitor.

 

[Shortcake]

Sweet. Hurrah for isolating the problem! Now here's hoping the guys at LaCie can reproduce it. Thanks everyone!