[Discuss] Weird issue with my Sony Trinitron CRT monitor in console mode

[Murray Strome]

Alan W. Irwin wrote:
> My Sony Trinitron monitor has recently developed a strange symptom. I use
> the startx command to start X so it is straightforward for me to 
> switch from
> X to the Linux console and back with the ctrl-alt-F1/alt-F7 sequence. The
> weird symptom is that in console mode the screen is beginning to bounce
> around with an amplitude of roughly a tenth of a character size with a
> frequency of roughly 3 Hz or so, while in X it remains rock solid. I have
> the following questions/comments:
>
> * What kind of monitor hardware problems would only show up for the Linux
> console (I think that is a VGA mode), but not for X (at least not yet)?
> Could this be a software problem or video chipset (Intel G33 in this 
> case)
> problem instead?
I have seen something like this before. It seemed to be caused by a 
mismatch between the vertical frequency (usually somewhere between 50 
and 90Hz) from your video chipset and the monitor itself.  In my case I 
was able to cure the problem by tweaking the frequency setting on the 
monitor itself.  Since the Trinitron is old, you may be able to do this 
by adjusting the horizontal and/or vertical controls which should be 
somewhere on the back or below the screen on the front (if there are any).
>
> * When I do need to replace, what LCD monitor company has a good 
> reputation
> for long-term reliability?  I doubt I will get 12 (or even 7) years 
> out of
> an LCD monitor, but I prefer to minimize wasting my time taking things 
> back
> to the shop so long-term reliability is important to me.  Also, in the 
> old
> days I heard that LCD screens were sometimes sold even when they had 
> up to 5
> bad pixels.  Are a small number of bad pixels still the norm or are most
> LCD's that are sold now free of such defects?
>
> Alan
I haven't had too much experience with LCD screens. Aside from my 
laptop, the LCD one I have is a FujiPlus (NOT to be confused with 
Fuji!!! as I found out after I bought it). I think that if I were buying 
one today, all other things being equal, I would probably buy either 
Acer or Samsung. Mine has never shown any evidence of bad pixels. I 
bought it in September 2005 and it has been very reliable. Our Samsung 
CRT monitor has also been extremely reliable. It is a lot older, 
probably close to 10 years. If I were choosing a new LCD TV today, I 
would likely chose Samsung, as I think their image quality has been the 
best for the past few years, but it tends to be more expensive than 
other brands. I don't know how this carries over to LCD Monitors.

Good luck.

Murray