BenQ monitor problems

Question

BenQ monitor problems

I just upgraded my monitor for my mini from a 17" CRT to a new 19" LCD made by Benq (903T). I have been having some problems with the display on the lcd with green and purple "noise" while I was running this over a vga cable. I finally got my DVI cable in, and with that the noise has reduced but is not gone. I have been trying to figure out if I can do anything about this on the mini, and was checking the system profiler and noticed that it had the monitor detected, but it was listed as a CRT monitor instead of LCD.

Could that make a difference and how would this be fixed? I tried reseting my PRAM and this didn't seem to change anything once it rebooted.

I have posted images of the noise on my flicker account at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaycyn/

Posted on Jul 28, 2005 4:06 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 28, 2005 4:23 PM in response to Jason Daniels2

Sorry, the Mac mini has a defect in the design, it's port is underpowered, and some monitors have this.

I have a temp solution, though not a free one sadly, and I wished Apple would have a fix, because this is becoming a pain.

I am using DisplayConfigX, and override my refresh rates, and changed them to 58 Hz.

Though, you said you had the noise on VGA, which is odd...

If you don't know how to use DisplayConfigX, then I recommend you not using it, as you can damage your monitor.

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Answer 2

Jul 28, 2005 4:40 PM in response to Transgenic X5-655

I have done some reading on the low power problem, but I don't think this is it, unless it messed up the monitor. I have hooked the monitor up to my laptop and it has the same noise problems. I am thinking the monitor may be bad. I was very curious why system profiler was listing this as a CRT monitor, though. Does Apple pull this information from a common location, or is it supplied from the monitor itself. I am wondering if it has some legacy information still from my old CRT that I was using (and didn't have a dim video problem with).

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Answer 3

Jul 28, 2005 4:47 PM in response to Jason Daniels2

Apple's System Profiler tells if it's CRT or LCD by a guess.

If it's VGA, it assumes it is a CRT. If it's DVI it assumes it is a LCD.

But trust me, the Mac mini's VGA port is underpowered, and the DVI signal is either weak, or corrupted.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v395/Evilweredragon/dvierror.jpg

That's my LCD connected via DVI with it's problems before I changed it to 58 Hz.

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Answer 4

Jul 28, 2005 4:48 PM in response to Jason Daniels2

But your problem after looking at the pics, is your LCD itself, that has a problem...

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Answer 5

Jul 28, 2005 5:55 PM in response to Transgenic X5-655

that's what I am thinking. I have opened a service request with BenQ (almost a week ago) with no response yet. I figure it needs replaced.

Heck, I got it on clearance unopened for $146 last week. I can be patient with it while I get it fixed.

So, no idea's about system profiler and it showing it as a CRT?

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Answer 6

Jul 28, 2005 6:58 PM in response to Jason Daniels2

I told you why it shows up as a CRT, read upward.

"If it's VGA, it assumes it is a CRT. If it's DVI it assumes it is a LCD."

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Answer 7

Jul 28, 2005 9:02 PM in response to Transgenic X5-655

that's why this is strange. I moved it from vga to dvi and it still shows CRT

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Answer 8

Jul 28, 2005 9:05 PM in response to Jason Daniels2

oh, sorry, i didnt understand you..

I just ckecked mine, and it says i have a CRT too, even though the monitors name is obvious...

Ventiken Technologies - D/V LCD 17":
Display Type: CRT
Resolution: 1280 x 1024 @ 58 Hz
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Not Supported
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Rotation: Supported

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Answer 9

Jul 28, 2005 9:15 PM in response to Transgenic X5-655

I'm not to worried about it. I just got off the phone with BenQ and they are replacing it. They are OOS with the 903, so they are going to the next higher one up. Actually gives me a 12ms response time and higher contrast rate.

It hasn't been a good hardware week for me. My external Plextor DVD burner kicked the bucket this morning....

Thanks for the help!

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Answer 10

Jul 28, 2005 9:42 PM in response to Jason Daniels2

good that you will be getting a replacement LCD..

though, I wonder why my LCD shows up as a CRT also.. and mine is DVI, but is also VGA..

but I did remember Panther showing it as LCD, but now Tiger says CRT...

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Answer 11

Jul 28, 2005 10:03 PM in response to Transgenic X5-655

Did you switch connectors since the last reinstall of OSX? I am wondering if a reinstall would detect mine correctly since I just switched from vga to dvi. I'm curious what others are seeing with this now, since I'm not the only one with this showing up. I would assume (hope) that this is nothing more than a mis-label on apples part, and isn't related to the other video problems the mini's have been having....

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Answer 12

Jul 28, 2005 10:24 PM in response to Jason Daniels2

Yeah, I had been using VGA before I found out a temp fix to the DVI problem...

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Answer 13

Jul 29, 2005 2:15 PM in response to Transgenic X5-655

No one knows definitively why their is a problem
with the MINI and LCD monitors.Also no one knows
how may folks are having this problem.
Those are the non facts!

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Answer 14

Jul 29, 2005 2:32 PM in response to GENE GOLDENSTEIN

I wish Apple would admit there is a problem, as I used DisplayConfigX to now succesfully (almost) work at 60 Hz, but trimming out the "Porch", but too low corrupts my screen (placement of pixels is all wrong)...

C'mon Apple, do somthing about this NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Answer 15

Sep 12, 2005 5:59 AM in response to Transgenic X5-655

I have a 17" BenQ FP737s Flat screen. Any ideas if they will work ok with it? I have noticed that a few apple specialist are selling bundled minis with this screen so hopefully it will be ok.

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