Howdy. I've got a couple of PC's all in close proximity to each other, and randomly the Monitors on these PC's will flicker to Purple and back to normal. I have replaced several of these monitors, and all are still doing this. I am almost positive that it has something to do with outside interference, as below these PC's , on the first floor, there is another pc doing the exact same thing, unless I move it more that 10ft away from the back wall. inside this back wall there is our Ventilation system. Does anyone know of anyone or anyway to test for outside interference? Or if anyone has any other ideas as to what this may be. So far all in all there has been about 6 monitors that have done the exact same thing when in that area. They do not continue to do that when away from that area. Space is an issue and cannot move these PC's to another area.
looking for any input.
Look around outside, are there any microwave or cellphone towers around? Does the monitor look like you are holding a magnet close to it, is that what you mean by going purple? Try this with you TV at home to see what I mean, Just dont do it too long.
Back to the towers, I've heard, though I have NO experience with this, that the signals generated from these towers will cause problems with networks if they are close enough. Just thought maybe this could be the monitor problem, too.
This is happens to a small portion of the office. There are about 45 pc's here and only a group of 5 are doing this...... they are all close together..
There isn't a cell tower that close to here, and I have heard of the disrupting things like wireless networks, stuff like that..
But thanks very much for the idea.
The only speakers are on those clock radios, which are on almost 45 other Desks. And I have tried removing these off their desks..
The only thing that is different about there is the Ventilation stuff.. in behind the walls in that area is the main blower motor for the ventilation system. Can anyone imagine that this would cause screens to flicker.,....?
[Twilight Zone theme song] You have now entered..the Twilight Zone...
LOL! For real though, it could be the ventilation. If it is noise interference (high frequencies taht are inaudible to humans can cause problems), then stick a huge piece of aluminum on the wall. This should deflect the waves.
Another test you could run would be for magnetic interference. Monitors are ferromagnetic (susceptible to magnetism) devices as with TVs and such. If there is any data corruption on these PCs, the chances of this are even higher. To test for magnetic interference, go buy one of those little cheap fifty cent compasses. Stand back a bit and let the pointer go to north. Then move closer to the area. Walk in circles (or half circles if against a wall) and check the compass. If it changes direction to point towards the wall, there is a magnetic field interfering with these monitors. An interesting thing about magnetism is that heavy voltage lines can cause this as well. Any wire with current flowing in it will produce a slight magnetic force. The more current flowing through the wire, the stronger the mag field becomes. Since a compass will arc and point exactly 90* at the flux lines of the magnet, this is how you can determine the exact location of the source. Do some triangular locating (noting position of compass from two points around the area to determine a common target). The only way to eliminate magnetic intereference is to purchase magnetic shields. It is possible to magnetically shield an entire wall, room, or even building. For more information you can look into EMP shielding because this is what is happening.
Another cause of a monitor to become purple is old age. My old gateway 17" monitor went purple right before it died. This is a sign that the yellow(I think) electron gun has died. Hope some of this info is useful. Keep us posted, I think this is pretty interesting and can make for some good knowledge.
Thank you very much for the Info. That was what I hoping to find out.
We are not noticing any data loss, I had thought of magnetnic interference, as well, but to be completely honest, I never thought of using a compass to test.
I will try that out, and hopefully can determine what it is.
I can almost gaurantee that it is not the monitors. I have had about 7 monitors go purple on me in the past 4 months. I find that an EXTREMEM coincidence that 7 monitors would do that in an area around 4 desks....
I have also tried turning off the flourescent lights above their desks. I have heard of Floursescent lights interfering with Monitors. But that didn't work.
I will try the compass first to see if there is a piont behind the wall that is causing some magentic interference...
If not then I will try placing some aluminum on the wall and see if the monitors still keep blinking.
Another cause of a monitor to become purple is old age. My old gateway 17" monitor went purple right before it died. This is a sign that the yellow(I think) electron gun has died...
Close, but it's the green gun dieing that will cause this. There are red, green, and blue phosphors (hence the term RGB) and one gun for each. Purple is red and blue.
Originally posted by Gomez Addams: Close, but it's the green gun dieing that will cause this. There are red, green, and blue phosphors (hence the term RGB) and one gun for each. Purple is red and blue.
OK, here is a long shot. Lets say you do the compass test and find out there isn't any abnormal magnetic fields.
If so I would guess you have a power quality problem in that area and one floor below. Since you mentioned it was in one corner of the office are these desks the furthest from the panelboard? If so, there might be a significant voltage drop by the time it gets to the monitor. If this is the case you will hurt the monitor in no time. Which could be why you might be losing the green gun all the time. Maybe the green gun in monitors requires more power than the others and can't tolerate voltage fluctuations.
I would be interested to know if you have had any computer power supplies go bad in the same area.
If voltage drop is the problem its easy to test. Get a decent AC voltmeter. Turn everything on like a normal business day and test the voltage in one of the spare receptacles located in the same power strip as the computers with the problems. Anything more than 5% below your nominal voltage is a problem.
It could also be a ground problem in the receptacle as well. But first do the magnetic test and then the voltage.
If all it is a mechanical shaft behind the wall I highly doubt sheetmetal will do it. Unless they also ran electrical feeders in the same chase.
I’m on my third in two years, all with the same purple flicker, with mine it’s not electro-magnetic but faulty signal cables, if you flex the cable behind the connector it goes purple, stretch it out and it is normal again.
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Hmmm...I never thought about voltage fluctuations, but yeah that could be the problem too. I bought my voltmeter for like $10 and its exact enough to use when modding my mobo and building circuits, so they're cheap if you don't have one!
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