I am burdened with a unique problem

[WnZCheranna]

Hello, I am Nick. Nice to meet all of you.



Around April of 2013, I logged onto my PC and noticed that the left side of the screen was slanted. As if something was pulling it in another direction. I thought my PC monitor or PC was on the blink. I upgraded to Win 7, bought new monitors (CRT and flatscreen). Nothing worked.

As the months went by, this problem got worse. The display on my PC then started to stretch on both sides, causing a puff of sorts, a curvature in the middle of the screen. STRANGELY ENOUGH. I also noticed this same glitch-effect on all of my televisions in the house. My flatscreen HDTV in one of the bedrooms is affected the least. My 30 inch standard tv's in the other rooms, affected the most.

That isn't the case with my PC's though. Text quality is bad on both CRT and flatscreen monitors. On the flatscreen, on one side of the screen it's blurred. On the CRT, text looks washed out and faded at times. Using Windows XP, the slanted screen is not THAT noticeable on my flatscreen LCD monitor.

Using Win7 though, it's VERY noticeable on a flatscreen. I've attached some photos to this topic to illustrate the problem further. It's been a year now and this problem doesn't seem to be going away. We've had everyone out here to investigate in the mean time. Our building Maintenance people, cable company, phone/ISP company, etc.

I have noticed lately that the t.v. picture has been improving. But then a few days later, it'll go back to being bad. The puff in the middle on both the t.v. and PC has not dissipated in the least though. I also noticed that during rain storms? The t.v. quality seems to try and improve somewhat.

Any theories from you good people on what this could be would be very helpful. I have added pics to this topic. More pics are available per request.

 

[Dauntae]

If all your screens not connected to each other are having this issue I would be weary of living there, sounds like some kind of magnetism or electrical wave going through the area.

 

[PP Mguire]

On your CRTs try using the degauss option. If that doesn't clear the picture up for at least a little bit then it isn't a magnetic field causing distortion.

 

[Joe C]

Take your LCD tv to another location away from that area (across town?) and if it looks good then you got some weird stuff going on over there. Contact your electric utility or an electrician

 

[Trotter]

On your CRTs try using the degauss option. If that doesn't clear the picture up for at least a little bit then it isn't a magnetic field causing distortion.

This.

 

[Joe C]

This.

That might explain the CRT but as far as I know, lcd's do not degauss

 

[PP Mguire]

They do not which is why I suggested what I did. I was already assuming it wouldn't be a magnetic field issue.

 

[WnZCheranna]

If all your screens not connected to each other are having this issue I would be weary of living there, sounds like some kind of magnetism or electrical wave going through the area.

No my t.v. and computers are not connected. Also My dsl service is verizon, and my cable service is Optimum. I have thought about Magnetism or EMI. I bought some ferrites for my wires, didn't work. I have also of course investigated the video card to my PC. Bought a new one long time ago, didn't work either.

If it were Magnetism or an Electrical Wave, wouldn't it be affecting everything in my apartment? My lights and landline phones work fine. My iPhone and cell phone's work fine. My MP3 players work fine also. Wouldn't they, too be affected by any such magnetism or electrical waves?

On your CRTs try using the degauss option. If that doesn't clear the picture up for at least a little bit then it isn't a magnetic field causing distortion.

I've used degauss, messed with the shape-settings (trapezoid, parallelogram, etc). None of that has worked. That's why I don't think or know if Magnetism is involved here.

 

[PP Mguire]

See above. Part of the troubleshooting procedure is knock off all the obvious. I didn't think it was magnetic field but wanted to be sure.

Other than that though I personally have no idea.

 

[WnZCheranna]

Take your LCD tv to another location away from that area (across town?) and if it looks good then you got some weird stuff going on over there. Contact your electric utility or an electrician

My RCA Tru Flat is a heavy gal, so transporting her is easier said than done. I have however taken my computer tower which is a micro-tower, and my LCD flat screen monitor to my uncles house in Queens. It worked fine there. The display was as it should be and everything. We also tested 3 different crt monitors. While there, and everything came up roses.

Back at my place though, the problem persisted. I've tested 3 different CRT's here just to be sure. And two different LCD's. One LCD Gateway Monitor, and another was a TFT/LCD Gateway Monitor. As for CRT's, I've tested an HP (seen in the photos), a Dell, and a Gateway. ALL show the same horrid anomaly.

I've had the building electricians out here twice. They checked the apartment and beyond the power readings being a bit high in the apartment, they can see nothing wrong. The wiring is fine. No issues with lights, microwaves, washer or dryer, dvd players, etc. We've had no blackouts or brown outs, no electrical storms of any high severity, no power surges. I have a MONSTER surge protector by the way which I purchased just to be on the safe side. To replace my old one.

They checked the circuit breaker downstairs as well and can find nothing wrong with it. The only theory I have is there was a digital fire alarm panel/system installed early last year in our building. It runs on an installation which shares the boiler room downstairs with all of the electrical equipment. It's a small red box mounted to the 1st floor wall, and it shows the building address and time on a matrix display.