Dell monitor 24" - flickering issues?

Hello everyone,

A few days ago, I picked up a Dell monitor 24, and I've been noticing a couple of "glitches" with it.

1. Every day when I boot up my computer, the screen goes completely black after just a few minutes of use—the monitor keeps flashing its logo every few seconds, and there’s nothing I can do except restart the PC. Once I reboot, it seems to work perfectly fine for the rest of the day. I suppose I'm wondering if anyone knows why this might be happening?

2. The monitor is running at a resolution of 1680x1050 with a 60Hz refresh rate. To the naked eye, you can clearly see constant flickering. If I drop the resolution down to somewhere around 1200xX, the issue seems to disappear. I don't have a dedicated graphics card—just an Intel Core i5 4460, so the system is relying on the integrated graphics. I guess it makes me wonder: is this issue strictly tied to the graphics?

Thanks for any insight!

The best way to figure out what's actually going on with your monitor is to just plug it into a different computer—if you can swing that, of course. If everything looks fine on another machine, then you know the screen itself isn't the issue. In that case, I'd suggest reinstalling those Intel HD graphics drivers on your own setup and double-checking whatever connection you're using—whether it's VGA, DVI, or HDMI—since the port on your motherboard might be the culprit here.

Look, you're dealing with a television here, not a dedicated computer monitor.
What kind of cable are you even using to hook this thing up?
And why on earth is your resolution set to 1680x1050? That's a completely wrong aspect ratio, which might just be the whole reason you're seeing that flickering. You really ought to switch it over to 1920x1080.
Why don't you try toggling the picture mode to Entertainment and setting it to 16:9 at 1080p?

Larry Ortiz5 said:The most effective way to diagnose the situation—assuming you have the means—would be to test the monitor by connecting it to a different computer. If the display functions perfectly on a second machine, then the issue likely lies within your own setup. In that case, I would suggest reinstalling your Intel Core i5 4460 HD graphics drivers—it might help—and also double-checking whatever connection you're using, whether it’s VGA, DVI, or HDMI. It is possible that the port on the motherboard itself is being a bit problematic.

I suppose I'll give it a shot tomorrow morning. Thanks for the advice.

Bradley Lewis59 said:That’s actually a television—not a monitor.
Which cable are you using to connect it?
I wonder why you have your resolution set to 1680x1050—it’s an unusual aspect ratio, which might actually be contributing to that flickering issue you're seeing. It might be worth trying to switch it over to 1920x1080 instead.
You might want to try setting the picture mode to Entertainment—if that's even an option—and then adjusting the aspect ratio to 16:9 at 1080p. That seems like it would be the best way to go, I guess.

It was set to 1920x1008—which, if anything, only seemed to make the flickering more pronounced—so I gave it a shot at the suggested resolution. I switched the setting over to "Entertainment," then toggled it back to 16:9 1080p just like you advised, but the flickering is still clearly visible to the naked eye. I guess I'm just stumped as to why this is happening. 🙂

By the way—it’s currently hooked up via a VGA cable.

If your motherboard actually has an HDMI port, why don't you try plugging it in there? And while you're at it, could you double-check your display settings to see if your refresh rate is genuinely set to 60 Hz?

Bradley Lewis59 said:If there's an HDMI port on your motherboard, maybe try connecting via an HDMI cable. You should also double-check your settings to see if the refresh rate is actually set to 60 Hz.

http://www.newegg.com/msi-mainboard...M-P33/product/

It looks like I don't have one—at least not for this setup. I checked the display settings, and the refresh rate is stuck at 60Hz; it won't go any higher than that, I guess.

So, if you're still seeing nothing, why not try plugging it into a different computer using a VGA cable? And hey, if you can get your hands on a DVI to HDMI adapter or just a decent cable, give that a shot on your current setup too.

VGA tends to pick up all kinds of interference since it's analog, so you should probably give a DVI/HDMI converter and cable a shot. Plus, there's always a chance the cable itself is just junk.