GA-X79-UD3 + EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores Classified = monitor distortion

[Kain]

Sometimes, when my monitor wakes from a sleep, half of the screen will be distorted. I noticed, when I made this video, that if I open the Internet browser, the screen will be fine but only the parts of the screen exposing the desktop will be distorted (top most and bottom most of the browser window). But then, if I watch a video in full screen in the browser, half of the screen will be distorted again. If I turn off the monitor and then turn it back on, the distortion will be gone. Does this sound like a monitor issue, a graphics card issue, or something else?

UPDATE: I think I might have a reason for why the distortion disappeared when I opened the browser. I have hardware acceleration enabled in the browser and I think that might have something to do with the distortion disappearing. When I viewed the video in the browser in full screen, hardware acceleration was disabled and thus the distortion returned. Next time the distortion happens, I'll open up a game to see what happens. If it goes away, then I think I might have some problem with 2D. This would point to the graphics card, correct? Note, I've seen the same half-screen distortion during the BIOS post screen so I know it's not a driver issue.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJeBx1cB5m4

I am on the F8 BIOS.

[Kain]

Something new started happening today. When I lock the desktop screen by pressing Windows key and L, the screen is suppose to quickly change from what I am seeing on the desktop to the lock screen. Sometimes, when I lock the screen by pressing the Windows key and L, I will see a black screen for about a second or two and then I'll see the lock screen. What would this point to?

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

I would suggest trying a different graphics card and see if the problem still shows up. I think it probably won't but you need to test to make sure.

[Kain]

I will try another graphics card. By the way, what happens when you are in Windows and the monitor goes to sleep mode with the computer still on? Does the graphics card also go into a stand-by mode or something?

Secondly, I have an NVIDIA graphics card in my computer right now. The other graphics card will be from my brother's computer and it is an AMD/ATI graphics card. Can I just uninstall my NVIDIA drivers and install the AMD/ATI drivers or do I have to run a driver sweeper or something?

[Dark Mantis]

The monitor won't go into sleep mode whilst it receives an input from the graphics card.

I think it would be a good idea to uninstal the Nvidia drivers before installing the Radeon ones.

[Kain]

Distortion happened again today. This time it was really bad. The monitor woke from a sleep and there were just solid patches of colors over the screen and I couldn't read/see what was on the screen at all, expect for the bottom part of the screen (still distorted but could make out what was on the screen). I then pressed the menu button on the monitor and it was distorted as well but I could read it (probably because it was on the bottom part of the screen that could already be sort of read). If the menu was also distorted I would think this points to the monitor, correct? Turning off the monitor and back on fixed the distortion. Still have to try another graphics card though. By the way, I've noticed it happens nearly exactly every two weeks.

[Lsdmeasap]

Yes, it does sound like a monitor issue to me since the OSD menu is messing up!

It might be time to RMA the monitor!

[Dark Mantis]

Yes I would say that the monitor is most likely at fault too. If it is not even dispalying it's own menu system properly then it would seem to have something fairly bad wrong with it.

[Kain]

I have a question. When the monitor was displaying the distortion after waking up from sleep mode (just the monitor not the computer), instead of turning it off and then back on (which I knew would fix the problem), I unplugged the DVI cable from the monitor to see what would happen. When I unplugged it, the screen went black/blank and after a few seconds started displaying the no-signal message with no distortion on the screen. I don't think the monitor turned off or went to sleep mode (because if it did, it would be the same as turning it off and back on to fix the problem) between the time I disconnected the DVI cable to the time it started displaying the no-signal message. My question is, is disconnecting the DVI cable from the monitor equivalent to turning the monitor off and then back on? If distortion is fixed by turning the monitor off and then on, would disconnecting the DVI cable from the monitor do the same?

[Lsdmeasap]

I think disconnecting the cable is equivalent to shutting off the computer, not necessarily the monitor until after a certain set time.   Because when you turn off your computer the monitor also looses signal, then powers off after a set time.

Distortion being fixed by turning the monitor off then on, sounds to me like the monitor is gong bad.   Please try to test with another monitor for a few days, then you'll know if you need to RMA the monitor for sure or not, which I think you may need to do.

[Kain]

I still haven't gotten around to trying another monitor or graphics card, but I did do one thing. I connected the monitor to the DVI port 2 on the graphics card and used it for awhile. This resulted in a different distortion (just rainbow colored dots on the screen versus like running 16 colors on the right side of the screen on DVI port 1) but the circumstances where the same (i.e. only when the monitor wakes from a sleep) and was also fixed when I turned off the monitor and turned it back on. I also noticed that, depending on what kind of distortion I am getting, the monitor OSD is also effected. I don't think it is the graphics card because I can game just fine.

Would you agree that most signs point to the monitor? However, if it is the monitor, how come the distortion type changed when I connected it to DVI port 2?