Wobbly screen

[kr2]

Do you have any problems with screen wobble on YOUR system? Is there any way that you could temporarily try your system at your friend's house (or try your friend's system at your house)?

negative: no wobbles here thanks but the other system is too far away, sorry - good suggestion but in this case impractical :-|

 

[kr2]

has your set up got a graphics card or are the graphics supplied by onboard chips on the MOBO?
wobbly graphics are some times caused by a poorly seated graphics card or dirty contacts or possibly a failing graphics card (if one is present)

when you upgraded did you upgrade the power supply?
generally power supplies just meet the minimum requirments for an off the shelf PC adding higher spec components will draw more power and this could potentially be the cause if the problem is when the system is under duress.

hm, the new system was installed by a pro technician, it wasn't an upgrade of an old system, so i wouldn't have thought insufficient power supply would have been an issue. I think it's a Dell Inspiron 545 if this helps? I haven't heard that this model has a graphics issue but i could be wrong.

thanks

R

 

[neo101]

Military/Civ microwave transmission interference

How old is house wiring?
Dodgy house wiring/earth-grounding?

Have they tried the system in another room? Then ask a neighbour, help to plug in and test.

 

[kr2]

Military/Civ microwave transmission interference

How old is house wiring?
Dodgy house wiring/earth-grounding?

Have they tried the system in another room? Then ask a neighbour, help to plug in and test.

could be the military playing with a new frequency i suppose - the property's about 30 years old so wiring should be ok. moving the pc is a no-no, it is 'set in stone' where it is as they say. even had to use gentle persuasion to allow for a healthy air circulation around the tower. It is surprising - you walk into some people's homes and they have their pc's in bits spread out all arond the room, other people think the tower belongs like a book in a bookcase. the only neighbour i know of with a pc is about to go wireless so that will probably open an entirely new can of worms

many thanks

 

[sheppitydawg]

giving this some more thought i think it is highly unlikely that other than power fluctuations that anything would create this problem .
if the monitor was a CRT monitor then electro magneitc fields etc would affect the the tube and create fluctuations in the signal/screen... LCD /Led sceens should ot really be affected (when did you see interference on a flat panel other than the the actual signal )

it might be worth updating the graphics drivers and or playing with the refresh rates ..or trying an old CRT monitor if you have one to see if you have the same problem.
have you changed the lead? sometimes the simplest options are the least considered imo.

BTW i misunderstood your first post beleiving that the new PC was an upgrade rather than a new unit.

 

[sheppitydawg]

so when you say it was installed by a pro technician you mean you had it delivered and set up?
i asume you bought the product new from DELL?

if so i would (if applicable ) contact DELL under warranty ... set up will not account for faulty hardware ..

i would still

 

[mitchell65]

I think this could go on like a guessing game for ever and a day. I really think, now, that the quickest way to determine the cause would be to take the Tower and monitors to another location be it your house, the local PC engineer or similar and try it there. If you don't get the problem then it is local to the house. The electrics are 30 years old so there could very easily be a fault there. At least have the earthing system cheked, Sounds a bit like fluctuating electrical power to me but only guessing. But then if you get the problem at a different location then it means it is the PC. You said earlier "the new system was installed by a pro technician, it wasn't an upgrade of an old system, so i wouldn't have thought insufficient power supply would have been an issue."
Does that mean it was a new Dell PC set up in the house by a technician, or did the technician actually build the PC? I guess this has been asked earlier in this thread but if the PC is a new Dell has it always had this problem? If not when did it start and can you do a system restore to a date before it happened. All this providing you establish it is the PC and not the location that is causing the problem!

 

[sheppitydawg]

i have now looked at the spec of your PC and if you have the ATI Mobility RADEON HD 3450 card in your system there are some posted jitter problems with the ATI drivers and windows 7.
AMD Support Search

there must be a graphics card sticky on this site to refer too if you have never done this before prior to updating.

 

[kr2]

power surge

many thanks to all for helpful suggestions. think i have a large segment of this jigsaw practically at my left elbow. when the new Dell computer arrived i took the old one off their hands. besides the trembling graphics it had a suspect o/s on it which i removed and replaced with the genuine article. since removing this system from the household in question the screen hasn't trembled once, and that includes when it still had the old o/s on board. so it's something in the household, the central heating turning on and off, or something like that? because this issue is affecting two totally different systems in exactly the same way it must be local to the gaff. i reckon the surge protector will fix it, if this is something which also regulates power flow?

 

[neo101]

What sort of light bulbs in the room?

I read yonks ago (whilst looking for a cause of another peeps problem) that certain brands of eco-bulbs fekk up PC/TV/Screens and are even known to be able to switch TV's/laptops/PVRs on and off too!

The mulder/scully 'ghost' effect!

Another one from my 'X' files!

 

[kr2]

light bulbs

wouldn't mind a couple of those

 

[kr2]

seriously though, the room light bulbs i would describe as 'soft pearl' or something and hidden away behind semi-opaque lamp shades so i don't think the bulbs are going to be upsetting the pc screen ... plus the fact the plasma tv is in the same area and that is quite steady viewing.

 

[mitchell65]

I still think your friend should have the earthing system in his house checked. Has he got an RCD system (If you are not elec. techie an RCD is the fuse box that has switches that flick up (for off) when then is a short anywhere on the circuit!
Re your post #32 above. It really doesn't matter what color the bulbs are or that they are behing a shade, you can have a fluorescent tube in the next room with an iffy starter and that can cause problems. It's the elec supply not the line of sight of the objects that matters.

 

[sheppitydawg]

if your problem is with power fluctuations you can buy powerline conditioners but these can be quite expensive.
surge protecters will only protect against spikes and surges,you problem is more persistent so an unlikely to resolve the issue.

out of interest what wattage is the PSU in your PC's if your supply is "dirty" then a good quality PSU which clearly exceeds your minimum requirments may help to balance the supply.

if the problem is due to fluctuations in the supply have you ever turned off every feasible socket lets say on the ground floor (assuming this is where your PC is ) and only having the PC on ?
then one by one turn each item on connected to that ring main to se if the problem occurs at a specific point?

i cannot see anything in your house affecting the monitor but not affecting your TV etc.
In fact plug the PC into your widescreen TV this will tell you whether its the PC or the monitor being affected.