My computer screen is freaking out! How do I fix it?

Question

Foreword: I know nothing about computers

We have a Samsung 'SyncMaster 793MB' monitor with an HP system and Internet Explorer. If it matters, the screen is hard (not one of those soft touch-screens), The picture has been messed up, with colored patterns appearing along straight horizontal and vertical lines- often times it is sort of like a blocky horizontal smear of the page I am viewing, twitching left and right. Other times the patterns switch about randomly, especially as the mouse moves. The cursor is typically obscured by a varying black block. At the best of times everything is normal. At the worst of times, the whole screen is covered by a mesh of blocks comprising of a random color like bright green, light blue, and magenta. The internetexplorer/windows blue color is very common on the random patterns. Everything onscreen is always moving 0_o The mess on the toolbar areas above and below the page window seem pretty static, though. Sometimes highlighting an area of text will make the stuff over that area clear up, or at least change.
We've checked for viruses, and found none.

What is this problem and, more importantly, how do we solve it?

Answer 1

Have you checked to make sure the cable is secure both in the back of the computer and on the monitor? It sounds like a loose connection. It could also be the video card going bad.

Answer 2

Lag in this case could be a number of things, your general computers health, for the most part you probably have alot of unwanted 'clutter' on you web browser like 3rd party tool bars and active x controllers. have you tried a different web browser IE 8 / 9 | Firefox | google chrome. the new Ie9 supports Gpu rendering if you card supports it, if your card is low end and supports it you may experience input lag in which case you can turn it off in the settings menu. Runescape lag, is most probably its own server which only jagex have control over. if you have tried the different browser and they all do the same thing, then its hardware related and most probably your graphics card. see if its too hot with a program like CPU fan check the manufacturers website, and see if there's a new driver available. i can't really help with screen freaking out as its not really specific enough.

Answer 3

Might need a new monitor. But first, I'd try updating your video card.



Go to start > all programs > accessories > system tools > system information ... to see what video card you have. Then go to their website for an update.

Answer 4

Try to update your video card to the latest version, you can check what kind of video card you have by going to Device Manager and find the driver online.