# Monitor flickering when the screen is dark! Help!



## icelandia (Aug 1, 2017)

Hello my people. T'is I, bearing a new issue to be tackled. This time, with less poems and bush-beating.

See, I have this barely-used 32' LED monitor, and it has a very simple, very strange, very annoying problem:
*It flickers slightly whenever the screen is mostly dark.*
When I say "mostly dark", I mean, dark or cold colors - or even, if I lower the brightness/gamma/contrast to the point of darkening what is in the screen, it starts flickering again. And, strangely, this only happens on dark backgrounds. Testing using this very forum - mostly white - as background, it was irrelevant how much I lowered the color settings to darken it, it would not flicker, whilst the same settings - and even higher, would still flicker in my dark-and-red desktop background.

Now, I know it's not the cables, because I tried two different VGA cables. And I know it's not the computer or the video card, since I did try in two different computers. And neither should be the age, since it two years bought, and it was used... rarely.

I tried different resolutions. I tried different frequencies. I tried reinstalling the drivers, taking out and plugging the video card again. I tried to take away all the electrical equipment, which in the case it was just the computer itself and a phone...

Oh, and the integrated light detector. I disabled that one too.

I'm fresh out of ideas. Suggestions?

EDIT 1:
I lowered the resolution to 1024x8xx, and the flicker disappears entirely. I'll keep testing on this...
EDIT 2: The moment I raise it any higher than 1024, the flicker returns. Yet, my anger only increases.


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## FreedomEclipse (Aug 1, 2017)

How bad is the flicker?? It could be one or two things... Either the inverter or light tube is dying or its just the panel itself thats made with technology that just flickers.

My Nvidia Shield tablet flickers all the time, I just have to get on with it or toss it and get another one.


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## icelandia (Aug 1, 2017)

It is a very slight flicker, but it is constant and very, very annoying. 
It -should not- be dying since this monitor saw very little use. 

Testing more, in a full or mostly full black screen I can notice the flicker - even in 1024.


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## FreedomEclipse (Aug 1, 2017)

icelandia said:


> It -should not- be dying since this monitor saw very little use.



Sometimes it doesnt matter about usage - if a product is defective, its defective. Simple as


What brand is the monitor? Do you have a brand and model number?


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## icelandia (Aug 1, 2017)

It's Hisense, which I don't really know how well known it may be out of this country.
Still! Model should be... ah... HLE3215E.


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## Frick (Aug 1, 2017)

Does it have DVI? If yes, use that. I have had the same problems with anything VGA across a number of monitors, GPUs and cables and I have no idea what the problem is. It does not happen over DVI.


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## Vya Domus (Aug 1, 2017)

Could also be a grounding issue.


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## R00kie (Aug 1, 2017)

Looks like a common VGA Problem, I had that with several VGA monitors that I used, some of them had ridiculous horizontal scan lines while on the dark backgrounds, Switching to DVI completely fixed it.


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## Liviu Cojocaru (Aug 1, 2017)

icelandia said:


> It's Hisense, which I don't really know how well known it may be out of this country.
> Still! Model should be... ah... HLE3215E.


Hisense is not the best company in the world but not the worst either so why not send an email to their support team and inform them about this issue...


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## qubit (Aug 1, 2017)

Sounds like a faulty monitor.


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## DeathtoGnomes (Aug 1, 2017)

When using VGA anything above native resolution will always cause some problem or another. You could use gold plated cords and any top of the line graphic card, VGA resolutions are the best you can hope for. Switch plugs to anything else.


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## icelandia (Aug 1, 2017)

It doesn't seem to support DVI, though HDMI is an option.
And while I have the HDMI cables, I don't have any HDMI output from my computer, but my video card has the good DVI and I have a VGA adapter. 
Mm, let's see if there's such thing as an HDMI adapter from DVI...


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## R00kie (Aug 1, 2017)

You should be able to use the DVI to HDMI adapter with your 560 Ti


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## icelandia (Aug 1, 2017)

Actually, yeah. I noticed that...
The 560 has HDMI support, but I didn't see it as first.

This, NATURALLY, brought new problems.
I have an HDMI cable, but OF COURSE it doesn't fit the HDMI port of the video card - because it is MINI HDMI.
Excuse me while I foam by the mouth and buy a mini-to-standard adapter.

Actually, a question:
Having the option to use the HDMI or DVI ports, which one should I choose? 
My bard levels tell me that HDMI is better because Reasons.


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## R00kie (Aug 1, 2017)

HDMI is digital only, whereas DVI still has some analog capabilities. HDMI can output sound, whereas DVI can not. Although I do like that DVI has some sort of locking features that HDMI does not have.


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## Vya Domus (Aug 1, 2017)

I find it strange that card doesn't have DVI-D or HDMI. If that is the case you would need an active converter , which are more expensive.


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## R00kie (Aug 1, 2017)

Vya Domus said:


> I find it strange that card doesn't have DVI-D or HDMI. If that is the case you would need an active converter , which are more expensive than.


400 and 500 series cards had mini-HDMI on them, so you still require an adapter for that. DVI isn't really an option for OP as his monitor doesn't have a DVI input. Better off with a DVI to HDMI adapter on the card itself, at least he'll get some sound out of that 
@icelandia would you be able to post what card you have, so that everyone knows what you use?


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## Vayra86 (Aug 1, 2017)

icelandia said:


> Actually, yeah. I noticed that...
> The 560 has HDMI support, but I didn't see it as first.
> 
> This, NATURALLY, brought new problems.
> ...



HDMI for me personally: if I can avoid it I will.

DVI > DP are the only two I consider with DP having preference due to great bandwidth.
I like DVI for being no-nonsense, quick to connect/detect (faster than DP) and splitting the sound out of the signal is also generally an advantage to me, especially in PCs because monitor speakers suck if they even exist on your desktop.

HDMI is like the ugly little commercial rat that was invented to enforce limitations that shouldn't be there - look at current HDMI spec and how often its updated, the whole idea is dead to me from the day it was released. We're now struggling with 4K capable hardware that lacks HDMI 2.0... ridiculous.


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## icelandia (Aug 1, 2017)

Let me leave it clear now:
The video card has DVI-I x2, and a mini-HDMI.
The monitor has HDMI and VGA, but no DVI.

My specs are just on the left!


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## Vayra86 (Aug 1, 2017)

icelandia said:


> Let me leave it clear now:
> The video card has DVI-I x2, and a mini-HDMI.
> The monitor has HDMI and VGA, but no DVI.



Consider mini-HDMI to HDMI. With that you've probably got a cable you might use for some exotic connection in the future when you replace the video card. DVI> HDMI is highly unlikely to have such purpose for anything new - although if you juggle old monitors, that has some use too.


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## Vya Domus (Aug 1, 2017)

Then it's simple , find a HDMI full to mini-HDMI cable. No way to guarantee that will solve your problem though, I am more inclined to think this has something to do with the monitor.


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## R00kie (Aug 1, 2017)

Having a mini-HDMI to HDMI cable is as useful as drinking coffee with a fork - no new cards use them.


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## icelandia (Aug 1, 2017)

I'm crossing my fingers with the cables and video output. Considering the cables and adapters themselves are like $3, I believe I can afford the try.


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## icelandia (Aug 1, 2017)

Okay. Enough. 
The steaming stack of issues that come with this monitor vastly outweigh any advantage that it may bring. 
Thank you all guys for the assistance, but I think I'm going back to my trusty 19'.


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## OneMoar (Aug 1, 2017)

its back-light flicker probably a failing back-light or inverter board 

hisense are like the lowest on the craptacular monitor scale

you get what you pay for


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## Frick (Aug 1, 2017)

OneMoar said:


> its back-light flicker probably a failing back-light or inverter board
> 
> hisense are like the lowest on the craptacular monitor scale
> 
> you get what you pay for



No, it's just a VGA failure. I have no idea why, but it seems to be common. I've had a bunch of 1680x1050 Sammies with the same problem; DVI worked flawless but VGA had weird flickering.



icelandia said:


> Okay. Enough.
> The steaming stack of issues that come with this monitor vastly outweigh any advantage that it may bring.
> Thank you all guys for the assistance, but I think I'm going back to my trusty 19'.



Or buy a HDMI cable + miniHDMI adapter. They come real cheap, could be worth it if it fixes the problem, which I'm quite sure it will.


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## OneMoar (Aug 1, 2017)

pretty sure
we are talking about backlight flicker here NOT noise/ghosting incuded signal flicker

there should't be ANY appreciable noise in the back-light from VGA of there is then its even more low-end then I give hisense credit for

these cheap monitors do not like to be run at low-brightness levels the backlight and driver doesn't do it well

when you run a led at low power and the power isn't perfectly filtered you get flicker as i said could be anything from a bad backlight led/inverter or a bad cap especially considering its affecting the color as well at low output tells me there is noise in the power


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