Gateway's FPD2185W: a 21in widescreen 2005fpw killer!

auto is NOT intended to work on DVI, only VGA. there is no reason for auto to work because of the digital communication between the card and the monitor. "auto" setup doesn't work on any DVI LCD i've had, and I've had 4 of them, all with auto buttons.
 
This is the first DVI LCD I have had....come to think of it, since using the DVI, I have not had the need to adjust! Pretty sweet eh? :D
 
My brother got this display 3 days ago. Between the two of us, this is our first LCD. I work with LCDs in the office, but I've never tried to game on one, and I've heard the ghosting stories, etc. He's a gamer (I am too..well sorta), and we were both impressed with the way it performed in games like FEAR and HL2. There are no problems with ghosting, and the colors look pretty darn good.

He's coming from a 21" Viewsonic CRT (as am I) and maybe we're just not as sensitive to the differences between a good CRT and a good LCD, but it looks fine to us.

Well, that was 3 days ago....

Now, he's having problems. First off, I should say that he's using an XFX factory overclocked 7800GT using a DVI-D (single-link I think) cable, and everything is running at the optimal 1680x1050 resolution at 60Hz.

The problem occurs most noticeably when running a 3D screensaver. If he uses something like the 3D text screensaver, it looks fine for the first 5 - 10 seconds, but then, every 10 seconds or so, there's a "flash" of colors that kinda streak across the screen. Sometimes it colorful; sometimes it's mostly white, and it only appears for a split second, but it's annoying.

That's not the worst of it. Sometimes right away, sometimes after 10-15 seconds, the 3D text will leave a trail. I'm not talking about ghosting, I mean a real trail that doesn't disappear. If left to run, eventually, the whole screen would be filled with staggered images of the text.

The flashing bit I described earlier is also evident in games now. If he plays FEAR, he gets that flashing streak across the screen at random times, but it doesn't seem to happen as often as it does in a 3D screensaver. It's just as annoying though.

I can testify to the fact that these problems WERE NOT evident 3 days ago. A 3D screensaver could be running for 10 minutes without a problem, and games had no hiccups at all. According to my brother (and he's been known to be a computer killer), the only thing he changed was the image sharpening in the nVidia color correction section. He turned it up, then turned it back down. He's "not sure" if the problems started before or after he did this.

I've tried turning on vsync, but that didn't help. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate it. It's a beatiful monitor, and it would be a shame if he had to return it. The only time the problems occur is with a 3D screensaver running or in a game. Browsing the web and working with office apps looks beautiful as always.

Some other facts: He's running an Athlon 64 3700+, 500W Antec Truepower PS, 6.14.0010.8185 drivers for the video card.

I've been getting valuable information from these forums for a while now, but this is my first (of probably many) posts. Thanks.

Edit: As is often the case with my brother, I have to interrogate him to get the whole story. Apparently, after a reboot, the problems "go away" for a while, but they always come back. I'm going to test this as soon as a download finishes.
 
Sounds like something bad.....mine certainly does not exhibit this behavior....I can run 3d Matrix screensaver for hours with no issues....
 
reminds me of the "hall of mirrors" effect from monster truck madness 2, which was due to video card drivers not being able to flush the z-buffer.. so in effect as your turned in an area where there was no "sky" you would see the preceeding image and it would "smear" as you turned..

Try the LCD on a different system.. maybe the video card, drivers, or DVI cable are messed?
 
5tharrow said:
My brother got this display 3 days ago. Between the two of us, this is our first LCD. I work with LCDs in the office, but I've never tried to game on one, and I've heard the ghosting stories, etc. He's a gamer (I am too..well sorta), and we were both impressed with the way it performed in games like FEAR and HL2. There are no problems with ghosting, and the colors look pretty darn good.

He's coming from a 21" Viewsonic CRT (as am I) and maybe we're just not as sensitive to the differences between a good CRT and a good LCD, but it looks fine to us.

Well, that was 3 days ago....

Now, he's having problems. First off, I should say that he's using an XFX factory overclocked 7800GT using a DVI-D (single-link I think) cable, and everything is running at the optimal 1680x1050 resolution at 60Hz.

The problem occurs most noticeably when running a 3D screensaver. If he uses something like the 3D text screensaver, it looks fine for the first 5 - 10 seconds, but then, every 10 seconds or so, there's a "flash" of colors that kinda streak across the screen. Sometimes it colorful; sometimes it's mostly white, and it only appears for a split second, but it's annoying.

That's not the worst of it. Sometimes right away, sometimes after 10-15 seconds, the 3D text will leave a trail. I'm not talking about ghosting, I mean a real trail that doesn't disappear. If left to run, eventually, the whole screen would be filled with staggered images of the text.

The flashing bit I described earlier is also evident in games now. If he plays FEAR, he gets that flashing streak across the screen at random times, but it doesn't seem to happen as often as it does in a 3D screensaver. It's just as annoying though.

I can testify to the fact that these problems WERE NOT evident 3 days ago. A 3D screensaver could be running for 10 minutes without a problem, and games had no hiccups at all. According to my brother (and he's been known to be a computer killer), the only thing he changed was the image sharpening in the nVidia color correction section. He turned it up, then turned it back down. He's "not sure" if the problems started before or after he did this.

I've tried turning on vsync, but that didn't help. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate it. It's a beatiful monitor, and it would be a shame if he had to return it. The only time the problems occur is with a 3D screensaver running or in a game. Browsing the web and working with office apps looks beautiful as always.

Some other facts: He's running an Athlon 64 3700+, 500W Antec Truepower PS, 6.14.0010.8185 drivers for the video card.

I've been getting valuable information from these forums for a while now, but this is my first (of probably many) posts. Thanks.

Edit: As is often the case with my brother, I have to interrogate him to get the whole story. Apparently, after a reboot, the problems "go away" for a while, but they always come back. I'm going to test this as soon as a download finishes.
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This sounds more like a videocard problem than a monitor problem to me. Tell u what. Take a screenshot when you see the streaks in the screensaver. (printscrn) go to MS paint and hit edit paste. Print that document and see if the steaks appear in the printed text. If they do appear it's a videocard problem. If they dont it's the monitor.
 
This sounds more like a videocard problem than a monitor problem to me. Tell u what. Take a screenshot when you see the streaks in the screensaver. (printscrn) go to MS paint and hit edit paste. Print that document and see if the steaks appear in the printed text. If they do appear it's a videocard problem. If they dont it's the monitor.
Click to expand...

This sounds like a good idea. I'll try it if it starts again. Yep, I said again because it's not happening at the moment. This is what I've done:

I uninstalled the EZTune software. Why? because it wasn't installed when it was working properly; that's the only reason. Then, I rebooted the PC because I was told that rebooting made the problem go away, at least for a little while.

I thought that perhaps the power save was messing things up somehow, so I let the monitor got into the 3D screensaver, then shut itself off via the power save feature normally. I let it remain that way for a few minutes, then moved the mouse to wake it back up.

Then, I tested the screensaver...it worked just fine. I tried some games...all worked fine. I left it alone for about an hour and came back to test it again...still fine.

It's been about 4 hours since the PC was rebooted and the problem hasn't come back. I can't say for sure that the EZTune software was causing the problem; I don't see why it would because I've not seen anyone else complain. Perhaps my dear brother did something that he didn't deem important enough to mention, but I won't be convinced the problem is gone until it's been up-and-running for a few days without incident.

I'll keep you posted, and If the problem comes back, I try the screenshot idea. So nobody else has had this problem eh? Weird.
 
Go to safe mode and do the following;

Go to start, run type msconfig, go to the startup tab on the top right and remove everything under tune or eztune. Click apply, close, exit without restart

Got to start, run, type in services.msc. Look for the eztune service. I think it's called tune or something to the jist of that. Right click it and go to it's properties. Stop the service and disable it from starting at all by changing startup type to disable.

Go to device manager by right clicking my computer, clicking manage then device manager I don't remember where exactly but there is a device listed in the dev manager that pertains to the ez tune software, right click it and choose uninstall.

EZ tune is very finnicky, many people in this thread have complained about the unbelievable prolems it causes including myself.
 
I know i asked this before, but im still unsure:

What kind of DVI cable do i need?

I have an nvidia 6800...

Do i need a DVI-I or a DVI-D? Do i need single link or dual link?

And are any brands better than others?
 
hmm.. DVI-D is the computer standard, afaik. Though I think the difference between DVI-I and DVI-D is in the signal, not the cable...

As for whether one cable is "better" than another, I suspect that because it carries a digital signal, as long as it isn't too long for the application it'll work fine. IE if your computer is 5ft from your monitor, don't buy a 20ft cord.

Though the helpful people at Future Shop were convinced that $100 for a Monster 6ft DVI cord was reasonable. lol Myself not so much, found a regular old 6ft DVI cable at a computer store for 1/2 that... still overpriced imo tho.
 
Logan321 said:
Though the helpful people at Future Shop were convinced that $100 for a Monster 6ft DVI cord was reasonable. lol Myself not so much, found a regular old 6ft DVI cable at a computer store for 1/2 that... still overpriced imo tho.
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A $15 cable DVI-D male-->DVI-D male, 6ft, from newegg, is just as good as that $50 cable....period.
 
Logan321 said:
hmm.. DVI-D is the computer standard, afaik. Though I think the difference between DVI-I and DVI-D is in the signal, not the cable...

As for whether one cable is "better" than another, I suspect that because it carries a digital signal, as long as it isn't too long for the application it'll work fine. IE if your computer is 5ft from your monitor, don't buy a 20ft cord.

Though the helpful people at Future Shop were convinced that $100 for a Monster 6ft DVI cord was reasonable. lol Myself not so much, found a regular old 6ft DVI cable at a computer store for 1/2 that... still overpriced imo tho.
Click to expand...


Whats the difference between a DVI-D and a DVI-I? And do i need single link or dual link?
 
SystemERRor said:
Whats the difference between a DVI-D and a DVI-I? And do i need single link or dual link?
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I have a "dual link DVI-D male to male" cable.....
 
Guys.... you can use the DVD Player Software to scale down DVDs when watching them... I usually watch with no black bars on either side (e.g Lost DVD) and it looks sweet.

I still am not sure which video card to buy. Both 7800GT and 1800XL look good. It may have to be a flip of a coin to decide. Futureshop has the ATI branded 1800xl (not sapphire or asus) for 499.99 this week which is interesting...
 
vishank said:
Guys.... you can use the DVD Player Software to scale down DVDs when watching them... I usually watch with no black bars on either side (e.g Lost DVD) and it looks sweet.

I still am not sure which video card to buy. Both 7800GT and 1800XL look good. It may have to be a flip of a coin to decide. Futureshop has the ATI branded 1800xl (not sapphire or asus) for 499.99 this week which is interesting...
Click to expand...

Vishank, without overclocking beyond the out of box speed, the 7800GT is a faster card for the $$$ and it's cheaper, hell it even comes will COD 2 I think unless that just finished.

Now if you plan on overclocking and custom bios flashing the cards when pushed to the most stable limit theoretically the X1800XL is the better bet. Even a GT @ 510/1.3 isn't as fast as a X1800XL at Near X1800XT speeds 620/1.5. The problem I have heard is that your mileage may vary on those X1800s as there are 2 core revisions or more. Some OC almost to X1800XT speeds and some don't oc worth a crap.

It depends on what you do with your videocards.

I hope you find this advise helpful in making your decision.
 
I see everyone talking about needed the latest vid cards to run this. My 6800gt should be able to run games at 1680 x 1050 at medium settings right?
 
Taking the monitor back today for replacement. I'll report how it goes when I get back tonight.

vishank said:
Guys.... you can use the DVD Player Software to scale down DVDs when watching them... I usually watch with no black bars on either side (e.g Lost DVD) and it looks sweet.

I still am not sure which video card to buy. Both 7800GT and 1800XL look good. It may have to be a flip of a coin to decide. Futureshop has the ATI branded 1800xl (not sapphire or asus) for 499.99 this week which is interesting...
Click to expand...
You can grab a eVGA 7800 GT CO from NCIX for $430. I ordered mine last week, can't wait for it to arrive. Comes overclocked to 470/1100 stock.
 
IWKUA said:
I see everyone talking about needed the latest vid cards to run this. My 6800gt should be able to run games at 1680 x 1050 at medium settings right?
Click to expand...


Depends on what game.....
 
Just got mine and I was amazed to be unable to spot a single dead pixel. Zero ghosting problems as well.

However, the monitor does have one major problem. It has terrible banding. I first noticed this on my background and when I made a wallpaper sized gradient in photoshop it was extremely obvious. My DVI cable is not here yet and I'm hoping that will fix the problem. Otherwise, I may need to return it.
 
To all those who are having issues with EzTune...

You should submit the techincal support request via EzTune to Portrait Displays. This can be done by right clicking on the EzTune icon in the system tray and clicking Technical Support. I wouldn't bother calling Gateway Technical Support for EzTune issues. It appears that Portrait is doing the tech support for EzTune. People should report their issues so Portrait can identify them and issue software updates. I have no problems with EzTune and it's a shame that others are having issues and uninstalling. You are missing out on some cool features built into the software. Most importantly the Auto-Rotation feature.

Tim-in-CA
 
I have 6800gt agp and my eztunes works flawlessly, btw I want to play ps2 on my gateway. It has RGB component input and the ps2 has RYW. I tried to hook up the console, but I got black and white picture, and it is very bad quality. What kind of cable should I buy to convert the signal into the RGB one and also where can I buy it?
 
OlIv0rIolI, question for you since you're also using a 6800gt. Do you have the same banding problem? It is extremely obvious on any color gradiant. In World of Warcraft I've got about 10 bands starting at a central blue dot and slowly brightening. This pic is a perfect example:

http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=357528

The monitor is totally perfect in every other way and this is driving me nuts.
 
chrislg, I don't play WoW. I play mostly rome total war, some doom, quake, and some civ. I am not exactly too sure what banding is, maybe u can elaborate. From the screenshot I saw, I guess u r talking about the fact that the transition of colors seems to be layered as in it's not a smooth color change. Am I right? Anyway, I don't think I saw any such problems in the games I play or maybe I am not paying enough attention. movies and everything else seems fine on my monitor. I will check on my games sometimes and give u a reply.
 
Thanks, I appreciate it. Where there should be a smooth color change you get hard lines seperating the colors. If you have Photoshop, a black-white gradiant will show the banding quite well.

It's a 24-bit monitor which one would think would not have these problems.
 
Got another one, couldn't see any banding in the store with their lights. Took it home and sure enough, awful banding. Worse yet, the stand seems to be broken and the monitor constantly tilts down 1cm+ to the right more than it should. Back to CRT I go it looks like.
 
How do u test for the color banding. I have photoshop, but I don't know how to use it, so what steps do I do to make the black to white color gradient?
 
To make a gradiant make a new image. A larger one makes it easier to tell so just make it 1680x1050 since you're not worried about saving it. The gradiant tool is available on the toolbar. It looks like a small bar which starts out light and gradually darkens. If you do not see it on the toolbar, rightclick on the paintbucket and choose it from the list that pops up. To use it click in the top left corner and drag to the bottom right. It should draw a smooth change from your main color to your BG color.

Alternatively, check the image linked:
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=357564
 
ok, I got the same banding results on photoshop as your picture. I don't understand why though, r u sure it is the monitor and not my 6800gt. anyone else with different video cards got similar results? anyone not have any banding issues?
edit:
I watched some final fantasy advent children and in the begining I realized that what I saw before wasn't bad quality of download, but rather the banding issue. Someone said that this panel acts like a 16 bit instead of 24 bit. I don't know what that means, so can someone explain to me how banding occurs? what causes it, etc?
 
Ah thanks for testing that. I'm using the 81.95 drivers and an analog cable. Can't think of any other variables that might effect it. Not even sure if either of them would. I'm leaning toward a monitor problem that a lot of people just haven't noticed. I didn't notice it at all while I was playing CoD2 and didn't notice it in WoW until I looked at the sky and cried at the ugliness on my new monitor. There are just some areas where it is extraordinarily bad.
 
The banding is due to the amount of colors used. If you're going from black to white and have 5 shades of grey, the step between each color will be extremely obvious. On the other hand if you have 256 shades of grey then the difference is much less obvious. On an 8-bit panel, you should have 256 shades of grey. On a 6-bit panel you have 64 and thus the color changes are much more obvious. The FPD2185W is supposed to be 8-bit, but to me it looks like we're alot closer to 64 than 256.
 
Are the people that are having trouble with EZtune have Nvidia cards by any chance?
Click to expand...

I "think" that my problems were caused by EZTune only because they were not there before it was installed or after it was uninstalled. 7800GT...

As far as the banding goes, I guess I can sorta see it in FEAR, but only when coming out of a completely pitch-black area into a lit area. The greys may be banding a bit. To me, though, it was one of those things I may have never noticed unless someone mentioned it and I had looked for it. It in no way takes away from my enjoyment of the monitor when playing games or anything else.

I like this Gateway better than my 21" P815 Viewsonic CRT. If games are a 10 on the Viewsonic, they're an 9.5 on the Gateway. Everything else about the Gateway is a 10 to me, and beats the CRT hands-down (except image editing that I don't do much of). Things like browsing the web, working with office applications, more desk space, nicer looking, less power, the fact that it's widescreen, etc. make it well worth the money over the CRT in my opinion.
 
the monitor spec says 16.7 million colors, so I m guessing 8bit. This is banding problem isn't usually noticeable, It is stronger with black to white transition, but not as much for other colors like red, so I guess I m somewhat ok with it, but for a $600 lcd, it shouldn't have this problem. Shame too, I had been using a acer 15" CRT for the past 7 years, It messed up my eyes, so I throw it off the fourth floor of my campus suite ( the moment was priceless ).
I will still keep this monitor though, just because I m very satisfied with everything else, but if the problem occurs alot in movies, I will return it and get dell.

p.s. We should email gateway about the problem
 
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