Samsung t260 and windows 7

[lynx50]

Got a new eMachines t1831 desktop with Windows 7 and there is some kind of a conflict between the machine and my monitor as the machine blinks (just goes black for a second or so) on a random basis. Say once every 2 or 3 minutes but sometimes its more frequent than that. It will blink if left to its own but seems to blink more as I do more mouse clicking with an open browser. Furthermore occasionally I get random browser/pane and image resizing (enlarging and the going back to a smaller frame). Just by clicking on it it gets larger and then smaller. I hooked up the desktop to a smaller Samsung Syncmaster 220wm monitor and there are no issues at all. It is fast and just as expected, so the issues are related to the t260 monitor. Does anyone have any insight into this problem? I have done searches and have not found anything specific that seems to definitively address the problem. Thanks in advance.
David

 

[Tews]

Are you sure that you have the latest driver for your monitor?

 

[lynx50]

I did the driver update deal through the computer. I also went on the Samsung site and the driver is dated 4/1/2008 and does not list Windows 7 support, only through Vista.

 

[Tews]

Use the vista driver, but install it in vista compatibility mode .... http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/316-compatibility-mode.html?ltr=C

 

[lynx50]

Thanks, I am going to give it a try. Do you know if I am running in analog or digital mode on my monitor. I have never done anything to it to make it go in either mode. Am running it via a VGA/SVGA cable. Sorry if it is a stupid question but I am given a choice when installing the drivers between analog and digital and I dont know. You would think that Samsung would have made a driver available by now for Windows 7 and this monitor by now.

 

[Jonathan_King]

VGA is analog, so that's what you'll be running in.

If your monitor supports DVI, I recommend using it.

DVI-D is digital, DVI-A is analog, and DVI-I is compatible with both.

 

[lynx50]

Well I followed your instructions and things got better but still not where they belong. I set the compatability to Vista SP2. The monitor has not stopped randomly blinking but it does so occasionally, more often when I click on the mouse. Total blinking has been cut down but it is still too much. And I am still having an issue with browsers/stuff resizing (getting large and then going small). Sigh, at first I thought I had this totally fixed and then came the blinks again.

 

[seekermeister]

I'll be interested in whether you can resolve this or not, because this is one of the monitors that I have been considering buying. When you updated the driver, was that only the monitor driver, or did you also update the video card driver?

 

[lynx50]

I did the general driver update through the system and did not go and specifically download a a driver for the video (I have aNvidia GeForce 7150). If that wont screw anything else I willl be more than happy to try that out. Its been a pretty good monitor, no dead pixels, etc.

 

[seekermeister]

Definitely install the driver directly from Nvidia, not Windows Updates. If you have any problem getting the driver installed, use Driver Sweeper in Safe Mode to remove the old driver before installing the new.

EDIT: The only thing to be careful about, is that you ONLY uninstalled the video driver and nothing else. I don't think that the current version of Driver Sweeper will do so, but in an older version, it also offered to uninstall the native VGA driver, which I was dumb enough to let it do, and I could not reboot to desktop at all, and had to reinstall the OS.

 

[lynx50]

So I went ahead and downloaded the suggested driver and I still have the blinking whats worse is that some programs will not respond, ie my stock charting software and the resizing might have gotten worse. One thing that I did not do as you said was to remove the old driver so that might be an issue, I am not used to messing around with drivers and such. Is there a way to remove the old drivers at this point or should that not be an issue.

 

[seekermeister]

Hmm, if the new driver installed okay, it should be okay, but sometimes reminants of the old driver will be left behind and cause problems. There should be no problem uninstalling and then reinstalling the same driver. Also, check in the Device Manager and under the View menu, select to Show Hidden Devices. I have not found it to be the case in W7, but in XP sometimes there would be hidden ghosts of devices left after updating hardware...couldn't hurt to check. If there is, uninstall it.

 

[lynx50]

I have found the device manager through a different route and downloaded 2 drivers a Samsung t260 specific driver (still got the blinks) and a Nvidia GeForce 7050 driver. This is what is listed under my Geforce drivers.
C:\Windows\system32\Drivers\nvlddmk.sys
C:\Windows\system32\nvd3dumx.dll
C:\Windows\system32\nvwgf2umx.dll
C:\Windows\SysWow64\nvd3dum.dll
C:\Windows\SysWow64\nvwgf2um.dll

I dont know if it matters but this is a 64 bit machine that I am using. Does something look out of line with regards to those drivers? Have left the driver file open in case any changes need to be made.

 

[seekermeister]

If you got those from the driver details button, I compared what I found, and the list of files i have is much longer than that, and I do have an x64 system also.

You seem hesitant to use Driver Sweeper as I advised, and I do understand that, but you need to get accustomed to handling drivers thoroughly, because they are what makes the gears turn.

I still recommend using Driver Sweeper in Safe Mode as described before. If the problem remains after doing so, I think that by process of elimination, that you could rule out the video card as a possible culprit, because it did work on a different monitor as you said previously. I shall also rule out the OS as the problem, because I have not known it to be the cause of such a problem previously.

That only leaves the monitor itself and the connection between it and the PC, The connection is not very likely, because it did work with the other monitor. The last step would be to try your monitor on another computer to see if the problem exists there. If so, then it would be clear that the monitor is defective and needs to be replaced or RMAed.

EDIT; Perhaps I went past the connection too quickly. What kind of connection is it...VGA, DVI, HDMI, etc.? Have you checked in the monitor's setting to see that it is set for the type of cable being used?

 

[lynx50]

its a vga cord the I bought at Wal Mart the other day. I am also running a ubuntu box and the monitor works fine on it as well as my old computer. I have swapped monitors around and the only time that there is a problem is when the t260 is hooked up to the new Emachines System 7 computer. You have mentioned the drive sweeper earlier, I am not familiar with it. I did a search on my system/computer and couldnt come up with, wait just searched the web and found it and downloaded it. Havent ever hear or used it but when I pressed the analyze button nothing happens.

 

[lynx50]

I got the program up and running. Assume just tell it to analyze the various driver set ups and go with there suggestion. Is there anything I should know before using this program.

 

[seekermeister]

I got the program up and running. Assume just tell it to analyze the various driver set ups and go with there suggestion. Is there anything I should know before using this program.

Nothing that I haven't said before.

EDIT: The one thing that bothers me is your use of the word "various". As I said before, only use it on the Nvidia display driver. Checkmark that and leave the others blank. Then push analyse followed by clean. Do this in Safe Mode, not from the regular desktop. You probably should include Nvidia - Physx, since it is part of the video system.

 

[seekermeister]

Why did you choose to connect via VGA, since either DVI or HDMI are superior? Does your video card only have VGA?

 

[seekermeister]

I just Googled your PC, and it appears that is all that you have...1 VGA port. Since the rig is new, it would take some thought, but I would either want to install a PCIe video card, or RMA the machine, because I would tend to suspect that it is at the root of the problem.

 

[lynx50]

Because VGA is the only option available, I have an Acer Desktop and an HP desktop that have all multiple video input options, that this machine lacks. It was a lot of computer for the money but evidently they scrimped on the video inputs. I ran the program but not in safe mode and the long and short of it was that when all was said and done I whacked out all of the existing Nvidia graphics drivers were removed. I then proceeded to have Microsoft install the appropriate drivers. There are a lot more drivers on the computer now than there were before. However I still get occasional monitor blinks. I went to the Nvidia site to compare their driver with what Microsoft installed and noticed that the Nvidia drivers available were dated 01/19/2010. I am not much of a tech oriented guy and apologize for being so slow, your help is very much appreciated. Would I be right in guessing that instead of upgrading my drivers from Microsoft I should have done so directly from Nvidia to get the more modern drivers?