# Horizontal lines flickering on the monitor



## T4l0n

windows 7 - 64bit
i5 - 2310
nvidia gtx 650
8gb ram
monitor led 21.5" asus VE228D (60hz vga)

Lately i noticed i have horizontal lines appearing on the screen when the image changes rapidly, these lines appear to be caused by the refresh but im not sure. When i have something moving fast (like a video of a person from a train looking outside) i have these lines appearing on the upper side of the monitor "cutting" it. This happens for example when i scroll fast a webpage or when i watch a fast paced video but it disappears as long as it's an executable on full-screen (like a videogame) but not a video on full-screen (i use vlc). I tried changing videocard, i connected the monitor to a gtx280 using a dvi adapter but the problem persist. I'm tempted to change monitor and get a bigger one with dvi and hdmi port but i d like to be sure it's a monitor problem, the fact that as soon as a program is on full-screen fixes the problem confuses me.


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## oscer1

hi, before you go out and buy another monitor test the monitor on another computer.


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## WereBo

Hi T410n :wave:

As above with testing the monitor on another PC, but also what power and make is the PSU?


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## T4l0n

i will test it on another monitor soon, psu is corsair cx500 500w


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## Tyree

Your 500W PSU, though not top quality, "should" be plenty for the GTX650 GPU.
Trying another monitor, as has been suggested, would be the first thing to try. Also, check your refresh rate, connections and cable.


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## Panther063

Try setting Motion Blur to OFF, in your Nvidia settings.


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## Panther063

A conclusion I have come to after reading the developers pages from here: GPU Motion Blur effect using DirectCompute - Plugin Developer's Central - Paint.NET Forum
is that your GPU's memory is heavily tasked and basically the more there is, the better it runs.


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## T4l0n

I unistalled all video drivers, tried another video card (280gtx), installed drivers and the problem persist. I tried another monitor with a hdmi port and the problem persist. At this point im starting to think it's a cpu problem but it's really unlikely :ermm:


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## gcavan

Am I missing something or is this not a classic example of screen tearing?

Try adjusting your monitor's refresh rate or enable vertical sync.


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## T4l0n

yes, it is screen tearing, but it's not monitor or gpu related, i already tested on another monitor and with another gpu, unistalling and reinstalling drivers, vsync is enabled on nvidia control panel


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## WereBo

Your GTX280 card needs a minimum of 550W PSU, (Ideally 600W-650W for quietness), so your Corsair 500W is being overworked to under-supply the card.


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## T4l0n

i have a 650 gtx installed at the moment


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## T4l0n

and i don't know if it's a related problem but i have to say my pc had some problem booting up lately, i had to remove and reinsert motherboard, cpu and psu plugs and then it booted up correctly


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## Tyree

Have you tried another monitor/cable?
Brand & Model of the Mobo?
If you have Onboard Graphics, try it.
Try your GPU in another PC or try another GPU in your PC.


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## T4l0n

i tried different cables, different monitors, another gpu in my pc, another psu and i tried onboard graphics and the problem persist.
mobo is msi z68a-g43(g3)


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## JimE

The issue occurring when you scroll in a browser, sounds like a video driver issue.


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## WereBo

Occasionally, new NVidia drivers are a bit 'buggy', try installing an older one for your card - You might need to go back 2-3 versions.


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## tomncar

Hi, I had the exact same problems - long story short - I had Aero turned off -switched it on and hey presto no tearing in VLC no lagging ,scrolling down web pages and I had forgotten about the lightening flashes -all fixed just by turning on Aero (apparently it turns on V synch) Hope this helps - it nearly drove me mad


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## peepmans

tyree has the just answer i think,the cable,95% sure.
try another cable ,analog or stereo input is the same,goes to same viddeocard
only a new plug (for the so called future),succes.


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## shafri

T4l0n said:


> I unistalled all video drivers, tried another video card (280gtx), installed drivers and the problem persist. I tried another monitor with a hdmi port and the problem persist. At this point im starting to think it's a cpu problem but it's really unlikely :ermm:


I have this issue before and luckily rolling back the nvidia driver helps, my suggestion try to remember when this issue start and what had you update. Checking the system restore might bring some lights?:hide:


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## ferdnyc

peepmans said:


> tyree has the just answer i think,the cable,95% sure.
> try another cable ,analog or stereo input is the same,goes to same viddeocard
> only a new plug (for the so called future),succes.


It _shouldn't_ be possible for the HDMI cable to introduce screen tearing. I'm not going to say it's "*IM-*possible" because I've long since learned that almost nothing is impossible... but it's an unlikely candidate for that sort of issue.

Unlike an analog VGA connection where your signal is a series of progressive scanlines coming down the wire one by one, and a wonky cable could cause dropouts or timing issues that lead to visible tearing-like issues, the digital data stream over an HDMI link just isn't in a form where it'd be affected in that manner. Kind of like how, if the bass sounds hollow streaming Internet radio on your Sonos, it's _probably_ not caused by a bad ethernet cable.

The data stream sent over the HDMI will get _decoded_ into a scanline-by-scanline video signal (well... sorta), which is why both ends of the link need to be on the same page with refresh timing and whatnot, and why things like V-Sync are so important. From the symptoms reported, it sure sounds like a sync/refresh issue to me. Somebody's not keeping time with the rest of the band.

@T4l0n, the fact that this goes away when a program enters fullscreen mode isn't necessarily that surprising. The entire _reason_ that games run in fullscreen mode under Windows — going back to the time _waaaay_ before technologies like V-sync, hardware-assisted decoding, and GPUs that could render 60fps 1080p video without breaking a sweat — is that it allowed them to take full control of the display, even adjusting things like resolution and refresh rate to fit their rendering capabilities. When their video output is composited into a window on the desktop, they're at the mercy of the possibly sub-optimal Windows settings.

If the tearing is happening even when you scroll in the web browser (IOW, not just on full-motion video), it sounds like it's the _compositor_/_decorator_ that's screwing up. So it's possible going fullscreen just pushes all that out of the way temporarily. Whereas VLC, OTOH, is still composited even when it's filling the entire screen — because that's how it overlays the playback control panel.

Windows 7's screen compositor/decorator is Aero, which is what makes tomncar's suggestion is an excellent one worth looking into.

Other things worth exploring:


Are you sure Windows is set to your screen's native dimensions and refresh rate? I mean, are you _really_ 110% sure? Check both the NVIDIA control panel and Windows' Display settings.
(I know, sorry... but it's one of those basic troubleshooting questions you have to ask, like "Are you sure it's plugged in?")
 
Is the display in question absolutely the *only* video output configured on the system? There aren't any secondary displays showing in any of the various control panels? Even if the other outputs are disabled, sometimes the system can be confused about which one to use for timing and sync. (That's another situation where it's not uncommon for the problem to disappear when fullscreened.)
Make sure you don't accidentally have deinterlacing turned on, in VLC.
Run that stupid Windows Experience evaluation on the system, and see what kind of results it gives you for the graphics subsystem. If it scores really poorly for either video or 3D, that'd be a sign that something isn't configured/communicating right between Windows and the GPU.


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## peepmans

i wasnt talking about a HDMI cable,but the one between your
pc and your screen.i didn't read your question good enough ,appearently.:facepalm: :huh:


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## ferdnyc

peepmans said:


> i wasnt talking about a HDMI cable,but the one between your
> pc and your screen.i didn't read your question good enough ,appearently.:facepalm: :huh:


Well, you were right about which cable! It's just that on T4l0n's computer, like a lot of computers today, the cable from his PC to his screen _is_ an HDMI cable! :thumb:


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## T4l0n

I tried different monitor, different cables, different psu, different video card and older drivers but the problem persist. It is screen tearing and i don't know what to do anymore


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## T4l0n

bumppp


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## JimE

What is the source of the video? Are you seeing this on the desktop, gaming, DVD viewing, etc.

You've eliminated the entire video path, so at this point, it sounds application related or you are using a resolution/refresh rate not supported by the monitor.


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## T4l0n

I see this on the desktop and more or less in any other application (less in isometric games, more in rapid image changing videos).
The monitor refresh rate is 60 and i have set 60hz everywhere, i also already tried another monitor but the problem remains.
The only things i didn't check are cpu and mobo.


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## JimE

I wouldn't suspect the motherboard/cpu. At least I've not seen or read of that being the problem. The only thing that I've seen to affect video, would be the power supply.


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## T4l0n

i have recently upgraded my psu to an enermax revolution xt 650w but the problem persist


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## JimE

Then you are down to the motherboard/cpu. CPU wouldn't matter. But all signals and voltages are supplied through the motherboard.


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## T4l0n

apparently i solved the issue simply by setting back the aero theme from the classic theme i was using, no idea why the classic theme causes this problem


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## WereBo

Mmmmmm, that is strange, I'd have though it would occur t'other way round, with 'Aero' being more resource-hungry'









Still, you got it fixed so well done and many thanks for posting back


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