Monitor or GPU

[thomer]

My new PC arrived at the end of last week and finally got round to setting up this weekend.

No issues except that when connected to my new Samsung 24 inch LED monitor I have intermitent flickering at the top and bottom of the screen.

Refresh rate and resolution are as they should be, and I don't have any flickering if I attach my laptop to the panel (not quite like for like, laptop runs win 7, new desktop is win 8, but close enough).

Anyone aware of any issues that could cause the GPU to give a flickery output through HDMI? It's a GTX770, drivers are up to date, it's not the cable (tried two).

I'll contact support but wanted to check if I was missing anything obvious. Thanks all.

 

[mantadog]

Could be a faulty card, but worth re checking the seating of the card first.

The below is just a copy and paste from advice I gave in a separate thread. Its how you change/reseat a GPU.

1. Open up the side of your chassis.
2. Ground yourself by touch a bare metal part of the case with the PSU plugged in but turned off.
3. grab a screwdriver and remove the screw(s) holding the GPU onto the rear of the chassis.
4. Reach under the card and depress the tab on the motherboard.
5. Gently pull the card out
6. Push the card back into place firmly so it locks into the slot.
7. re do the screw, replace the side and boot it up.

If that fails then I would guess you have a faulty card. PCS will send you out a new one in the post, you just follow the above steps but somewhere around step 6 connect the power connectors to the new card.

 

[thomer]

Thank you for the step by step, I appreciate that.

Exactly as you suggested I re-seated the card, still the flicker persists. Weird one, no doubt. I guess it could be a faulty card but odd that the only issue would be a flicker.

 

[mantadog]

GPU's are forever finding new and interesting ways to break. I thought for sure mine was broken as I had green squares flashing up all over the screen, re seated it and worked like a charm. So don't count on anything.

Well you are left with 2 choices.

1, the monitor is on its last legs. (unlikely as its working fine on the laptop)
2. the GPU is on it last legs

Possible 3rd is somehow the images are not synced between your monitor and the card. Have you had a fiddle with the options in the Nvidia control panel? Could be worth trying all the available refresh rates/any other resolutions. However doubt that will help in this case as the way you describe it isn't exactly pointing in that direction.

One more thing you could try before calling up is moving the card to a different PCIe slot if you have one available. It's not a long term solution but it will rule out the motherboard being broken in any way.

It could well be a faulty card, call up PCS and ask what they think. Explain we have tried re seating the card, a different slot on the motherboard and have all but ruled out the monitor. Drivers are up to date and that the only thing left seems to be the GPU.

 

[thomer]

Thanks again for the detailed reply.

Later today I should have another option to pursue, as I sent the monitor back (not to do with fault, just swapping out for a different model). I have a new one arriving this afternoon, so if the flickering is still there we can definitely rule out the monitor.

If I still have a problem I'll take the steps you suggest before contacting PCS. Thanks again.

 

[tom_gr7]

May i ask what you are using to connect to the monitor and the gpu together? HDMI or DVI cable?

Some monitors come with a cable, so if it does use that one. What monitor did you go for mate?

 

[thomer]

Connecting via HDMI... The previous monitor (now returned) was a Samsung 24" (this one to be exact http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-S24...id=1400013120&sr=8-2&keywords=samsung+monitor)... The new one is the Asus MX239h.

Although I switched the monitor out because the form factor of the Asus was a better fit, my flicker issue seems to have been resolved, for now.

So far, the Asus looks a great screen, understated but great image quality...

Thanks all for the input, looks like this one is solved for now.