LCD display problems

[minibubba]

talking to friend online and it seems he's got a problem with his 15" LCD Samsung.

I'm not too familar with LCD monitors, so i give it to you all to play with:

(15:07:05) ****: recently i started having trouble w/ my picture...the colors actually smear across the screen

(15:07:23) ****: what the heck is that about

(15:12:53) Minibubba: give me as much detail as you can

(15:13:28) ****: when i have a small windown up, the color taskbar can clearly be seen across the rest of the monitor...just the color, the taskbar doesnt actually extend

(15:13:51) ****: and its a lighter shade than the actual bar, but its definently there and in proportion w/ the bar

(15:16:04) ****: if the background is dark i can see the white from the background of this box across the rest of the monitor too
(15:16:12) ****: it doesnt distinguish btw colors

I realise these details are sketchy to say the least, but I'm looking for some input :)

*i'm walking him though updating drivers atm, apparently the last time it was done was well over a year ago

[zeradul]

First try plugging in a different monitor quick...

[Andy]

first do what zeradul suggested, if its the LCD and its still under warranty, get it RA'd

[minibubba]

no moitor to switch, sorry I should have mentioned that wasn't an option earlier.

AFAIK, warranty is out of the question too

BTW, the card is a Nvidia Vanta LT, which i had never heard of before now :eek: Apparently it's on par with a TNT...

[Yawgm0th]

What OS? Have him try using a different OS and (like a live CD Linux if he has a cd burner) and see if the problem exists there. If he it doesn't, it's almost certainly a driver problem; if it does, it's almost certainly a hardware problem.

[minibubba]

he's using win2k pro, updated drivers (finally)
service pack unkown (probably sp3, i'll have to check with him later)

he's 800 miles from here so I can't just walk over and have a look myslef, but I'm pretty sure it's not software at this point. He's a bit of a novice (although he wants to learn) so I'm not too sure I want to go with the bootable linux, although it is a good idea :)

Apparently this started suddenly. I played with this system over a year ago so I know it worked just fine then :shrug:

[Yawgm0th]

Why can't you walk 800 miles?:?: A little on the heavy side? No pain, no gain!:laugh: I guess it's time for new hardware of some sort. :( If he was being mean to his LCD (poking at it in anger :hammer: ) it could cause problems like this. I'd hate to think it were a vid card problem. :eek: Those tend to be a bit more expensive. Good luck with the drivers.:thumb: