Re: ~1 to 1.5 mm White Squares on PC Monitor

Hi Stan

My wife see them most of the time so I think it must be blood pressure related.

Back to reality. A while ago I had a w89 VGA based system running text screens all the time. It also suddenly had random dot size spots appearing. It happened when the machine became warmer. When I placed my thumb on the chip (acting as an heatsink) the spots disappeared.

I think the chip or one of the internal registers gave a occasional random short or bright white pixel when the normal temperature exceeded the error level.

The size of 1 - 1.5 mm is bigger than a pixel but JPEG for instance take the surrounding pixels into consideration and average the colour over a wider area.

I suggest you buy a tin of cooling spray and then dispense a squirt of cold on the suspect chip (use the tin tube). If it works you have your answer.

Cure

1) Replace screen card.

2) introduce or improve cooling.

You don't state which type of Monitor you have this trouble with.

• CRT
  
• LCD
• TFT
  
• Plasma

If you advise the monitor type, it may have a bearing on your problem.

What is the room temperature ?

You could try a Monitor testing software program for example:

http://tireal-tft-test.tireal-company.qarchive.org/

The screen is LCD and the white squares are all the same size appearing and disappearing randomly, but usually near the cursor. They disappear when cursor approaches.

Because the white dots move around, I'm thinking software corruption or virus. Did you do try good ol' SYSTEM RESTORE" yet ??

I agree with you on this one. With the dots moving around it definitely sounds as if he picked up a virus, although I havent had any problems with virus infection on my PC since I switched to Firefox ~2 1/2 years ago. I also installed AVG FREE at the same time to pick up any virus infiltration.

Because the white spots disappear at the approach of the cursor, it is almost certain your PC has become infected with malware.

If your PC is Internet connected on a 24/7 basis = ADSL, cable etc. then if the PC is unprotected, statistically the first malware arrives within 18 seconds - and that invites more in to its happy new home.

Try the excellent a-squared free scanner, from here:

http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/

If you like that, you may consider paying them for the more powerful "a-squared Personal" - check that website.

Remember no single security application gets them all, and Antivirus Software is not able to locate and remove some of the more sinister malware..

These days, with Scripts, Scanners, Rootkits, Viruses, Trojans, some persistent Cookies, Spyware, lingering Advertisements, Bugs, Gifbugs, Worms, Style Sheets, Pop-up advertisements, and more being released every day, it is extremely important to have proper Security measures in place.

There are various reasons for the the release of malware, a few being:

• To infect other Computers, and make them "Spam Zombies"
• To obtain personal information, which is sent back to the malware writer
• To make a "Name" for the malware writer, so he/she can boast about it
  

Here I run some 11+ Security Applications on a 24/7 basis,with extra scanning being done while I am asleep.

Running all that Security Software does slow the PC down, but it is better to have a slower uncorrupted system, than a fast corrupted one.

When using a Router to connect to the Internet, you have the facility to close all Ports other than the ones you need - ensure you have a strong password for the Administrator for your PC, as well as the Router password..

Let us know how you get on with your search for the solution....

Approach the situation logically. Try another monitor, preferably a CRT. If the other monitor displays the same symptom, it's something in the display circuitry of your computer. Moving the mouse, typing characters, etc. will cause the computer to re-draw the screen, and this is probably what makes the white spots disappear. Some computers have video circuitry built into the motherboard, and that could be bad. Some have separate video memory, and that could be bad. Some have video cards that plug into a PCI or AGP slot, and that card could be bad. If your computer is running XP it's too new to have an ISA bus, but some video cards even plugged into ISA slots years and years ago.

If you find that the computer is at fault, locate the video-related components, ground yourself (remember that static electricity is the enemy of low-voltage electronics) and make extremely judicious and careful use of cooling spray. Moisture condenses in cool places, so that could create a problem. You also need to determine that using this spray won't create static charges. The venerable Wimhurst machine could produce very impressive sparks just from the friction of air on those spinning glass disks, and dry gas moving at high velocity from a spray can is able to do the same.

If you decide to try your luck with the monitor, a service manual would be extremely useful. Time spent online to find one would be well spent. Dismantling an LCD is tricky, and the slip of a screwdriver can do irreversible damage. Good luck.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and helpful advice.

They are like fleas, "Adam hadem" and I still do, but will advise of cure if and when I find it [if I don't] forget about it by then.

I obtained a full featured trial version of A-4 Anti-Malware and found a large number of indications that I had been infested with a 'name' associated with an email and website of a "metriclay@Bellsoutn.net. I would suggest NOT opening it but trash it and throw out the trash too. He appears to have an ax to grind and refuses to stop emails, or remove my name from HIS mailing list. I did not subscribe to his site or email.

All of those indications were "quarantined" by A-4.

Squares still show up randomly.

I would recommend A-4 as it is the first and only program I have come across that provides full features for a trial period. All of the other programs run an analysis and require purchase to use the cleanup or final results feature. They could at least clean up or do ONE complete analysis and/or output.

Could be overheating causing memory corruption. Check if all the fans are heatsinks are clean. Dust is really good insulator.

Pineapple

This could be a graphics card issue, I've seen similar problems although not white squares specifically. See if there is an updated driver for your graphics card.