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

Hey guys,

I hope this thread is still alive. I purchased my Gateway FPD2185W a couple of months ago in March. A couple weeks ago, I was just surfing the internet, and everything (Internet Explorer, Windows, everything on screen) had a greyish sort of tint, and was sort of granulated. Imagine just your desktop, except all grey and granulated. I turned off my monitor, turned it back on, but was still grey. Cycled through the input buttons and still grey. Then after a couple minutes with this problem, everything went back to normal.

Then again TODAY, it occurred again. It flashed grey and normal and grey again, but currently it's back to normal.

Here's my current setup, fyi.

I'm using the Monitor as an external display through VGA on my Dell Inspiron 6000. At first I thought it was a video card problem, but then why would it be all grey when you turn on the monitor and it displays the "Gateway" icon. Am I justified in ruling out the video card problem?

Thanks in advance for any help, gateway phone help was basically useless.

Ps. Next time this problem occurs, I will try to pick up a camera and quickly flash some pics.
 
rek981 said:
-HD-ready via DVI with HDCP and component inputs
Click to expand...

The library I used to work at got a few of these. They are really awesome displays, but that HDCP thing doesn't sound good. Anything to do with copyright protection usually never works the way it is supposed to, and ends up being a burden on many honest people, and un-honest people alike.

Just read some more about HDCP on wikipedia (didn't read the whole thing, I'm way to lazy to do that) and it is definitely NOT a good thing.


grrr...well I see that this thread is almost a year old. I should have guessed it was, but I was just too busy writing about how much I disapprove of HDCP. Well, never mind :p
 
bigdogn12 said:
Hey guys,

I hope this thread is still alive. I purchased my Gateway FPD2185W a couple of months ago in March. A couple weeks ago, I was just surfing the internet, and everything (Internet Explorer, Windows, everything on screen) had a greyish sort of tint, and was sort of granulated. Imagine just your desktop, except all grey and granulated. I turned off my monitor, turned it back on, but was still grey. Cycled through the input buttons and still grey. Then after a couple minutes with this problem, everything went back to normal.

Then again TODAY, it occurred again. It flashed grey and normal and grey again, but currently it's back to normal.

Here's my current setup, fyi.

I'm using the Monitor as an external display through VGA on my Dell Inspiron 6000. At first I thought it was a video card problem, but then why would it be all grey when you turn on the monitor and it displays the "Gateway" icon. Am I justified in ruling out the video card problem?

Thanks in advance for any help, gateway phone help was basically useless.

Ps. Next time this problem occurs, I will try to pick up a camera and quickly flash some pics.
Click to expand...


My laptop, normal screen colors, beside the monitor with gray tint hooked up to my DESKTOP

The monitor with grayish color tint, hooked up to my LAPTOP

Close up of monitor with gray tint and hooked up to my laptop

Monitor not pluged up to anything, clearly not a video card problem?

Monitor not plugged into anything, Gateway Emblem in gray tint. :(

Thanks in advance for any help you guys! :)
 
Yea, your monitor is definitely dying. RMA time.

I got EZTune from this site:
http://www.portrait.com/dtune/gwy/enu/upgrade.html
Just put in any name and email address and it lets you download 1.1.

By the way I emailed them (Portrait Displays) with an issue and they were quick to reply.

For the past while my monitor has been working as intented, with auto-pivot and everything else working fine, including games.
 
Folks,

When I feed this monitor a 16:9 picture over DVI (say a movie from my DVR), the picture is vertically stretched. I guess because the monitor is 16:10. Is there a way around this? I dont know why the monitor doesn't just add bars, rather than screwing the picture.

appreciate any feedback

thanks
 
if i buy this monitor do i also need to purchase an hdtv tuner to recieve hd signals??? would a normal tv tuner work since the monitor is hd??? im confused help thanks!
 
standard141 said:
if i buy this monitor do i also need to purchase an hdtv tuner to recieve hd signals??? would a normal tv tuner work since the monitor is hd??? im confused help thanks!
Click to expand...

In order for you to view an HD signal you would first need an HD reciever. So yes, you would need to purchase an hdtv tuner.
 
standard141 said:
who makes good hdtv tuners?? i cant find any up to date info on them anywhere.
Click to expand...

I have a Viewsonic HD12, which until a few weeks ago I have been using as an analog tuner, but now I've moved into an area that has 5 HD broadcast channels, and I love it.

It's a bit pricey, but definitely worth it if you really want HDTV. And since the DVI uses HDCP, the Gateway monitor is perfect.

I did a review of the HD12 for MarnsCDA a while back. I probably should update it now that I'm able to actually receive HD signals.
Link here: http://www.marnscda.com/review02_24_05.htm
 
standard141 said:
what about hdtv tuner cards?? any good ones out there??
Click to expand...
ATI makes one, look for it on their website. You need to make sure you have HTDV broadcasts in your area though. I get my HDTV through cable.
 
Granted I have not read every page of this thread, but is there not a driver for this 2185w?
 
Yeah, I don't think there is a driver. Just install the eztunes software and that should add the resolution option to your display settings.
 
God I hate long threads like this, however I did read it. Just wanted to add that I have had this monitor since Dec and I love it. It's stellar for both my PC games and 360 games, and besides some very minor light bleeding (common with all LCD monitors) I have not experienced any of the problems in this thread.

No buzzing, colors are beautiful and uniform, images really aren't too dark to me. I have been happy since day 1 and would recommend it to anyone looking for a stellar widescreen LCD.
 
I picked one up yesterday from Futureshop for $600 CDN, which is not bad. It says regular $800. Anyway, i've read a lot about it on here and it seem s like you either have problems or you don't.

The only thing I can see with mine is that it's a bit darker on the right side of the screen than on the left. I don't know the term for this as this is my first LCD.

It's not that big of a deal, and the rest of the screen looks great. I guess the only concern would be if the side gets even darker.
 
I have a question on the revisions. I just received my FPD2185W and after reading the part number it is revision R0. On Gateways website there is an R1 versio. Any difference? Is it worth getting rid of the monitor I received?

I know its mainly luck of the draw with these things.

Thanks
 
bigdogn12 said:
No, but my whole monitor stopped working. (Note Post #1083) :)
Click to expand...

yeah, thats bad, but that quite normal, there is not a single product out there that all of the units are 100% perfect.

i had a problem with USB twice, it works perfectly, and all of sudden, it shows up as unknow device in device manager, and re-plugging won't help.

i fixed it twice, by shutting off the computer, unplugging all cables from teh monitor (usb, power and DVI etc..) hold power button for 20 seconds, and re-plug everything and USB works again.

this happen twice in 4 months period.

note: if you don't unplug DVI, it won't work, small current is going across DVI cable from PC (even when its off) monitor won't reset.
 
Is there any way to change the channel if you're just using a cable cord (like I have in my college dorm). Is there a way to get a remote control for the monitor or something like that. Sorry if this isn't clear. The point is that I wont have a cable box, so there will be no remote control. How do I change channels?
 
There is no tuner built in. It is just a monitor, not a TV. You need to buy an LCD TV that includes a NTSC tuner then you will have a remote with it.
 
rygy said:
There is no tuner built in. It is just a monitor, not a TV. You need to buy an LCD TV that includes a NTSC tuner then you will have a remote with it.
Click to expand...

Or just get a tv tuner for your pc.
 
nekrosoft13 said:
i had a problem with USB twice, it works perfectly, and all of sudden, it shows up as unknow device in device manager, and re-plugging won't help.

i fixed it twice, by shutting off the computer, unplugging all cables from teh monitor (usb, power and DVI etc..) hold power button for 20 seconds, and re-plug everything and USB works again.
.
Click to expand...



I had my usb hub "fail" and I thought it was dead, same error "unknown device", I never tried your fix, but when I reinstalled windows as part of a freshen up, it works again. USB can indeed be finicky sometimes. Next time it happens I will try your fix, sounds plausible.
 
TheRapture said:
I had my usb hub "fail" and I thought it was dead, same error "unknown device", I never tried your fix, but when I reinstalled windows as part of a freshen up, it works again. USB can indeed be finicky sometimes. Next time it happens I will try your fix, sounds plausible.
Click to expand...

make sue you unplug all the cables, because even DVI, supplies a current to the monitor, its every weak current.
 
Bump for a great monitor from a long time owner who has no problems with it.Purchased last year around Nov-Dec with version 1.0..I still love this monitor.No issues,dead pixels,burnout etc..It does take a little tweaking to get a great picture but most displays do unless you like the garish overbright factory settings..Havent looked at other LCD's since I got this one but Im not looking to replace it either..Very happy!!
 
g1xx3r said:
Bump for a great monitor from a long time owner who has no problems with it.Purchased last year around Nov-Dec with version 1.0..I still love this monitor.No issues,dead pixels,burnout etc..It does take a little tweaking to get a great picture but most displays do unless you like the garish overbright factory settings..Havent looked at other LCD's since I got this one but Im not looking to replace it either..Very happy!!
Click to expand...



Another happy owner. I love the veritude of inputs, since I can hook my HD cable box to the component inputs, my main PC to the DVI, and a second PC to the VGA.....the only bad thing about getting a big LCD is now I want to get a 24" widescreen...hahaha...I am spoiled...
 
How do you force 75hz refresh on a Radeon 9700 Pro?

I replaced my Catalyst drivers with the Omega set, and my display properties panel does allow me to set a 75hz setting, but the monitor is telling me that it is still running in 60hz.
 
Picked this up @ CC for $427. Sill going through the adjustment period right, setting colors, adjusting games, buyers remorse, etc. Do have some slight issues with banding and darkness at a head on angle but Im still tweaking it, have yet to force the 75refresh. Didnt install the software that can with it, just plugged it in and window$ recognized it.

But wow, comming from an almost 10yr old crt to this was like a swift kick in the ass.


Megalith: I dont own ATI but if you are forcing 75 with the drivers, its normal for the display to say different (according to what others have said in this topic).
 
So earlier today, After I got done playing a game and went back to the main windows screen, the resolution went back to default 640 x 480. This is not the first time that has happened. Tried to change resolution via EZTune and reg. display properties but neither way worked. So then restarted in hope of fixing the problem then but after restart, nothing showed up on the screen. I then thought it was the DVI port that went out again as this is my 2nd one after the DVI went out on the first one. Then switched back to regular 15-pin analog and that worked fine. Current version on the monitor is 1.1.1. Anyone else have this problem happen?
 
Tried changing to a different Nvidia Forceware driver but still same issue - no dvi connection but analog still works.
 
OK, time to revive this thread from the dead~

I picked up a 2185w this weekend at BB, and tried it out as a secondary monitor for watching fansubbed anime, playing ps2, and use as a primary if I decide to give my SyncMaster 712n away to my sister. It passed everything i threw at it with flying colors.

And then i hooked up my HD Box to it.

Trying to watch the Giants/Seahawks game this afternoon, and it looked like dogcrap. I can't really explain what I saw, but I think "image breakup" would be a good description or "tearing". Like in a PC game when you move too quickly and it looks like portions of the screen don't "update" as fast as others. Also, it was fairly jerky and I saw a strange line that would start about 1/4 of the way down from the top and scan upwards from time to time. This was via component. I thought it may be my cables, so i switched 'em and had no affect. I know its not my box, because it works like a charm on my 27" viewsonic n2750w. Anyone else have similar issues with this panel with HDTV via component? Or maybe I just got a bad panel? Regardless, its going back to best buy tommorrow. If it seems to be bad luck with the panel, i might just swap it out for another one.
 
hmm, so i exchanged my 2185 for another one today at BB...and it must have just been that panel. I hooked up my cable box and what do you know, the picture is awesome. This thing is absolutely perfect.
 
cfull said:
hmm, so i exchanged my 2185 for another one today at BB...and it must have just been that panel. I hooked up my cable box and what do you know, the picture is awesome. This thing is absolutely perfect.
Click to expand...


I watch HD channels on mine all the time via component, glad you found a good one, mine is thus far, flawless....
 
I purchased Gateway FPD2185W 21' LCD monitor 6 days ago at Circuit City. I'm happy with this monitor though I had to return the 1st one because it had one dead pixel. However, I'm keep loosing a connection to its built in USB HUB which is powered by the monitor. Windows XP professional sometimes does not recognize 4 USB ports on the monitor.

I have to disconnect power cord and DVI-D cable and reconnect them to gain an access to its USB HUB. This is really annoying. Does any one have this problem? Does any one able to fix this problem?

Thanks.
 
I e-mailed Gateway support and after a hour and a half they offered no suggestions of a fix and the tech decided to send me a new monitor, shipping and handling all on Gateway.
I then remembered this forum and low and behold the fix offered by some other users worked. I did exactly what was instructed. Turned off the computer Disconnected all the cables to the monitor pressed the on off button for the 20 seconds and after reconnecting everything worked. I then recontacted Gateway support and tried to explain to the tech of the fix and asked if this was a issue with this monitor. The new monitor is already on its way and that it would take care of the problem. so I am going to take it. However he said I do not get another year warranty on the new monitor. I will research that. because it seems that a new monitor should get another year.
Thanks for your time all.
Derekclemza
 
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