Help with Dell monitor problem

[gianmatt]

Hi, first post here... I'm trying to help my sister debug a problem with her Dell monitor. It's a flat panel, maybe four years old. Three weird problems, and I'm not sure if it's the monitor or the video card.

1. Occasionally, her window bounces! I mean, if she's using her browser or her Outlook e-mail, parts of the display are bouncing up and down. I've never seen it.

2. Monitor occasionally goes into self-test mode. I've tightened the cables, but it still happens now and then. She now tells me that the floating colored box is also bouncing a little.

3. She noticed a blotch of broken color on a grey area when browsing a site.

Any clues? Thanks in advance.

 

[Fragrant Coit]

Easiest way to diagnose it is to plug in another monitor.

If it's still "Bouncy", it's the Card, if it's not, then time for a new monitor.

 

[gianmatt]

I'll do that. Meantime, here's a little more information. I asked my sister to describe the "bouncy" behavior. She said that her desktop is fine, but occasionally, when she opens up an application like Outlook or IE, the space below the title bar will bounce up and down; the title bar is fine. She also notices some fuzzy lines and some discolored patches. Does all of this sound more like a monitor issue or a card issue? I'll test for both, but I'm curious.