{"id":5009,"date":"2020-04-25T01:24:56","date_gmt":"2020-04-25T01:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/notsealed.com\/?p=5009"},"modified":"2023-07-25T12:31:50","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T12:31:50","slug":"how-to-fix-monitor-ghosting-lines-and-artefacts-dell-lcd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/notsealed.com\/how-to-fix-monitor-ghosting-lines-and-artefacts-dell-lcd.html","title":{"rendered":"How to Fix Monitor Ghosting, Lines, and Artefacts on a Dell LCD."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of my clients recently came to me with an interesting problem. Their Dell computer monitor had ghosting images, strange lines, purple areas, and blurry text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I initially thought it was a bad monitor. This had been ruled out with the client using a spare LCD screen to check. So an update of all the display drivers was done in order to check that there was no corruption caused by old computer drivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The computer monitor ghosting problem was still there. This problem was very noticeable on a black background. Computer icons would show up in the top left corner of the black screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Monitor Ghosting?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Monitor ghosting is an incorrect image on the screen. It can be a corruption artifact or a delay in the refresh of the image. Often ghosting can be fixed by a software update or by moving an offending electron magnetic field further away from the LCD monitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often it is an image that was previously displayed that continues to remain on the screen even though part of the display has changed. As a result, you will have two images, one is an old ghost. Luckily ghosting images can be fixed easily. So don’t throw away your monitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can make a ghosting image by placing a strong magnet close to an LCD screen, it will make the colors go funny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Check if ghosting is a software or hardware fault.<\/h2>\n\n\n
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\"How<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

A quick way to check if it is a hardware or software problem is to take a screenshot of the problem. Pressing the Print Screen<\/em> button on the keyboard will take a screenshot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The above image is of the Dell monitor in question. You can see how the image has some old corrupt files and ghosting images shown in purple. This should be completely blank or black.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now find where the screenshot is saved on your computer. In my case, it was in OneDrive, in the screenshot folder. Open this picture and use your mouse to move the picture around to see if the ghosting moves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was able to find that the artifacts shown on the screenshot disappeared when moving around the dark photo. This proved that it was not a software problem but hardware. The photo only showed ghosting artifacts on the left side of the monitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since we ruled out the monitor with a swap out, the next step was to check out the graphics card. A quick blowout of the graphics card fan with compressed air proved no help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also reinserted the graphics card just to make sure it had a good solid connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Easy Solution to Monitor Ghosting<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Don’t have messy PC cables it can cause monitor ghosting. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The final check was the monitor display cable. This proved to be quite difficult due to the cable being routed between 2 desks and secured in cable tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We separated the DVI display cable away from power cables, an uninterruptable power supply, a large subwoofer, and some stray USB cables. We then checked out the LCD monitor. It looked perfect. SUCCESS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The monitor artifacts stemmed from corruption interference from a power cord and magnets from a subwoofer speaker. I suspect since the batteries had been replaced on the smart UPS<\/a> the cables had been moved too close to the DVI monitor cable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who would have thought that running a display cable close to computer speakers and a power cord would cause such a problem?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once we routed the monitor cable in its own cable track and away from the speakers we were able to get a crisp clean image. Free from ghosting and image memory artifacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other possible peripherals cause ghosting and interference. Basically, any electrical device that emits an electrical field<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n