Monitor makes a high pitched noise when showing white.

Firstly, apologies for the vague thread title, I couldn't think of how else to describe it

Right, when the monitor (rather old 16" Sharp LCD monitor) is showing the colour white (such as a Google search results page, GMail inbox etc.) I can hear a rather audible high pitched buzzing sound, no matter what brightness the screen is on. Any ideas as to why? I'm sure there is a scientific/electronic reason as to why, it's just I'm not sure what that reason is

I have read that the condition can be caused by low quality capacitors.
And I understand the fix (workaround) is to lower the refresh rate as low as it will go.

Also could be the power inverter for the backlight (same reason: cheapness).
Some people say you can epoxy the edges of the inverter to fix this. Not advisable IMHO - just replace it.

And if the backlight is fluorescent, then you could be hearing that common buzz that fluorescent lights make when they are close to burning out.

TVeblen said:

I have read that the condition can be caused by low quality capacitors.
And I understand the fix (workaround) is to lower the refresh rate as low as it will go.

Also could be the power inverter for the backlight (same reason: cheapness).
Some people say you can epoxy the edges of the inverter to fix this. Not advisable IMHO - just replace it.

And if the backlight is fluorescent, then you could be hearing that common buzz that fluorescent lights make when they are close to burning out.

well, thank you very much for the in-depth information!
I managed to change the refresh rate down and the buzzing lessened greatly, so thanks for the tip .
It is an old screen, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was dying Hopefully I'll be buying a new monitor soon that actually compliments my new PC, but thanks for clearing up the high pitched buzzing noise and explaining reasons for it

also, Grim Fandango FTW!

Manny is the hombre .

TVeblen said:

Manny is the hombre .

yup, he definitely is It was an AWESOME game, especially considering it's from 1998. Sure, it was a fixed (but varying) viewpoint but it was so much fun