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

I had a huge text clarity problem due to phase being way off. After adjusting phase to be correct everything else looks much better.

Also, Anyone have or had a problem with the DVI input squeezing horizontally a signal from a video card when at native res? If I run my Geforce 7800GT at native resolution on the DVI port its entirely squeezed horizontally until its un-readable and using only about 1/5th the width of the screen. I am trying to figure out if this is a video card or monitor problem.
 
Just picked up one of these a few days ago to replace my old 19" LCD.

The only issue mine seems to have is slightly uneven backlight on the left side of the screen. I've toyed around with the settings and it's not that bad anymore, enough to where I can slowly tell myself I can get used to this over time. I'm guessing these uneven backlights are going to be there to some degree because even my 32" Sharp LCD TV has a slightly uneven backlight that I notice while playing some video games. Who knows on this Gateway, maybe as the display ages the lighting will get better, at least thats what my previous PC LCD screen did. It had a pretty bad backlight bleed on the top of the screen and after a while the bleeding went all away. This Gateway has a very small amount of backlight bleeding that you can't even see unless you use the screen with the lights off in the room. I had a Apple widescreen for a while and it was the same way, no bleeding with the lights on, but with the lights off you could see slightly bright areas. That Apple LCD had a rather bad uneven backlight that was all over the place on the screen.

I gotta say it's nice to be back to a widescreen :D
 
just picked up one of these bad boys

my only problem is the backlighting is alittle uneven and their is a slight buzzing but i can only hear it when my computer is turned off

besides the little things this monitor is very nice :cool:

*note i have ver 1.11
 
Anybody got EZTune to work with DVI?

After formatting my computer, and installing everything again including EZTune, whenever I open it, the program automatically takes me to the screen with the update button. I cannot go to the adjust or wizard modes or anything so I am unable to tune the display. Is this the same for everyone?

My monitor is v1.1.1 btw.
 
vishank said:
Anybody got EZTune to work with DVI?

After formatting my computer, and installing everything again including EZTune, whenever I open it, the program automatically takes me to the screen with the update button. I cannot go to the adjust or wizard modes or anything so I am unable to tune the display. Is this the same for everyone?

My monitor is v1.1.1 btw.
Click to expand...

I have v.1.11 and am using a DVI-D single link cable, and the EZTune software works fine on my computer. What doesn't work always is the auto-pivot function; it's probably some conflict with the ATI Catalyst drivers, or maybe it's just really crummy software. Otherwise, everything else about the program is functional.
 
Hmm... Maybe its because I have the X1900? Anyone with this card have it working with EZtune? I may have to let Gateway know of this problem by reporting it via the Technical Support page.
 
ive read the eztune doesnt work with the x1900 on widescreengamingforum

unless you "need" eztune there is no reason to install it
 
Eztune+ garbage...DO NOT INSTALL hehe. I wish they would update the software with fixes.
 
I got a fast email response after my inquiry regarding my problem with EzTune:

"When the EzTune was released the ATI X1900 cards were not on the market. They are not currently supported by EzTune software. Our engineering team is currently working to add support for these newer cards. Future releases of EzTune should support the ATI X1900 cards."

They also mentioned that a beta version is in the works.
 
Had to return mine at Best Buy becuse it was buzzing pretty loud. The new one has the buzzing also, but it's not as loud. It goes away when the brightness is set to 95 and I can lower the brightness in the ATI control panel without hitting any quality of the picture. Guess that will work as a fix to the issue. Thought it's not a fix if I run a game system through it so now comes the fun of trying to get my brain to ignore it.

I guess this buzzing is just something we have to live with :( I'm sure over time you get used to it though. My old CRT TV used to buzz all the time from a transformer in it and after a while I didn't bother me.
 
vaxick said:
I guess this buzzing is just something we have to live with :(
Click to expand...

Don't settle bro. Take that hunk back to the store. NEC's got that wildly pricey, yet IQ lovable next gen IPS model out now. Dell's gonna be releasing there new models shortly. It's a good time to be an LCD lover...just give it a bit more time.

For now, I'm on a Viewsonic 2012, which FAR exceeds the Gateway IMO. MINIMAL screen door effect, decent viewing angles, NO BUZZING, NO color wash, NO funky gradients, NO extreme differences in dark details on various parts of the screen. Unlimited return policy from costco for 400 bucks...
 
Jodiuh said:
Don't settle bro. Take that hunk back to the store. NEC's got that wildly pricey, yet IQ lovable next gen IPS model out now. Dell's gonna be releasing there new models shortly. It's a good time to be an LCD lover...just give it a bit more time.

For now, I'm on a Viewsonic 2012, which FAR exceeds the Gateway IMO. MINIMAL screen door effect, decent viewing angles, NO BUZZING, NO color wash, NO funky gradients, NO extreme differences in dark details on various parts of the screen. Unlimited return policy from costco for 400 bucks...
Click to expand...

You know what, after reading what you said I am going to take it back to Best Buy tonight and request a full refund. The more I sit here, the more I can hear it buzz and it's getting annoying. That and the uneven backlight is just not something I'm any bit happy with. Looks like I'm going to join the wait to order a new Dell LCD once they come out.
 
Thought I'd post my story, hehe
Ok, so I bought the Gateway FPD2185W monitor to upgrade from my 17" Sony LCD. First impression of wow, big monitor. Like many, my gripe is that it didn't come with a DVI cable. Good thing I happen to have one laying around. Connected it via DVI and powered this sucker up. 30 minutes later, the DVI blew. googled a search for this problem to see if i was the only one but found out that i wasn't the only one which is good thing? i guess? Took it back to circuitcity and got it exchanged for another one. So now, i'm on my 2nd one. Been using it for a few days now. Everything seem great except for this one little problem. I decided to play CS on this thing to see how it would look. Everything looks great but after i'm done playing and exit the game and go back to the windows screen, it resets the resolution to like 640 x 480 or something like that and i have to set it back to 1680 x 1050. It gets annoying after each time i play. Anyone have this problem or know how to fix it?
 
Woohoo! Gayway suxx0rs! Let's start a glan! [GAY]Jod for the wi...wait :(

Seriously tho, I'm getting pretty darn impatient waiting for the next round of lcds. I've been through about 5 in the past month alone. Ah well, at least we can let other's know of our experiences on God's greatest gift to geeks...forums. ;)
 
Skandaluz, I had the same exact problem with catalyst 5.12 (and higher and presume). I use a 9600xt and do not use CCC. I went back to 5.11 and it stopped happening. And yes, VERY ANNOYING.
 
FitzRoy - So you think its more or less a driver issue? And when you say CCC, whats that?

If it helps anyone, I'm running a 6600GT with Nvidia 81.95 drivers. If it is a driver issue, can anyone recommend me a driver that would fix this problem?
 
I had a similar problem to the post a couple above. I bought a 1.10 version monior, straight out of the box dvi didnt work. The monitor would go black after a few seconds and i would have to turn it off and then back on for the picture to work for only a few seconds and then happen again. I took it back to where i bought it and got a newer one. The second one i had was version 1.11 and i havent had a single problem. When i went back to to the store i bought it at, their display was version 1.10 and was doing the same exact thing over DVI and VGA. Lesson to the story, If you have a version 1.10 RETURN IT IMMEDIATELY.....MAKE SURE YOU GET 1.11.
 
where do you find this version number at anyway?

Mine was made in Jan 2006 so I'm hoping it is good (DVI wise) . I notice a little backlight bleed in the corners - -but I have the brightness MAXED out and I also upped the contrast ( I like my eyes to bleed) so some of that is probaly my fault. I noticed one dead pixel off to the right but I went through soo much crap to end up with this monitor that it's not worth doing anything about. Besides it's dead not stuck... if it were constantly lit than this baby would be sitting in the return department at Circuit City. And besides I have about 2 million other pixels that are doing just fine...

And I don't want to switch it out because it's the best picture I've seen .

Since Sat This is my seventh monitor..

Had 3 Viewsonics VA912b's - all with constantly lit pixels (all bright blue)
Had 1 sony HT-95 nice but extreme backlight bleeding and picture paled in comparison to VA912b
Had Viewsonic VA924 EXTREME which was an extreme peice of crap. ( I literally threw this monitor in the back seat as hard as I could when I was loading in the car to go back yet again to CompUSA.

Then decided to go to Circuit City

Had Samsung 204b which after 20 minutes flickered and became half as bright as it was when I first hooked it up and never returned to normal. And to top that off it started smoking OMG ( I had already slit one wrist at this point)

Then I beleive it must have been god who lead my eyes over to the Gateway...

So needless to say I'm sticking to this Gateway(and a 4 year Circuit City Warranty)- I have flaws so it can too...

The picture quality is the BEST!!!

The Second best I've seen is the Viewsonic VA912b - it's really good just got to get one without a lit pixel...

-drone
 
The DVI advanced settings (under the on-screen setup menu) offer 2 options: RGB and YUV.

From what I have read, the RGB is recommended for video card output, and YUV is recommended for other devices such as set top boxes outputs etc.

I connected the digital output from my HD Tivo (1080i) to the DVI input on the monitor, and the YUV setting shows a totally green picture (not greenish, totally green), I can see people moving but that's about it. Unwatchable.

The RGB setting shows a decent picture. I am wondering if there is something wrong with the DVI? Has anybody experienced this?
 
Well, YUV seems ok for 480i/p. High Definition (720p/1080i) appears to require RGB. I am guessing it's supposed to work that way.

bigcat said:
The DVI advanced settings (under the on-screen setup menu) offer 2 options: RGB and YUV.

From what I have read, the RGB is recommended for video card output, and YUV is recommended for other devices such as set top boxes outputs etc.

I connected the digital output from my HD Tivo (1080i) to the DVI input on the monitor, and the YUV setting shows a totally green picture (not greenish, totally green), I can see people moving but that's about it. Unwatchable.

The RGB setting shows a decent picture. I am wondering if there is something wrong with the DVI? Has anybody experienced this?
Click to expand...
 
where do you find this version number at anyway
Click to expand...
Menu-> Advanced-> Information. It's the OSD Vers:#

My monitor is 1.11, its week 53, 2005


Well I read this whole monster thread and bought one! I love it so far. Gaming is great too, maybe not perfect but I haven't been playing on my 19" Samsung CRT since I bought this.

Backlighting is good at all brightness levels. No visible bleeding on an all black screen, unless the room is dark. And then it is only the faint X pattern barely visible in the corners. No buzzing even at level 40, which is where I like it.

If I turn the monitor sideways and listen within 2" of the backside I can here a light buzz, But it is not audible from the front even with my ears pressed up near the power button.

I have 1 dead red pixel which is in the upper left area, it does not bother me. But I have a stuck pixel only noticeable on dark backgrounds, it looks like it's flashing green or something. I've tried DPB and rubbing, but its still there. This stuck pixel is about 1/2" down from the top and a little off center. If viewed with my eye's level to the center of the screen it looks dimmer than looking at it dead on.

Should I take this monitor back to Bestbuy for exchange because of the stuck pixel?
Would I get another 14 days to return on an exchange monitor?
 
antijoy said:
Should I take this monitor back to Bestbuy for exchange because of the stuck pixel?
Would I get another 14 days to return on an exchange monitor?
Click to expand...


Yes! You should take it back. They will return it. You don't even have to prove anything is wrong with it. And the return policy is 30 days ( LCD moniters are not considered part of computers - which have a 14 day policy ). You will atleast get the 14 days (if I am mistaken about the 30 day thingy). Also take it to Geeksquad. Have them open it up and plug it into one of their machines and have them test it out for you. They will do it. That way you don't have to come home if it isn't perfect.

I
 
antijoy said:
Menu-> Advanced-> Information. It's the OSD Vers:#

My monitor is 1.11, its week 53, 2005


Well I read this whole monster thread and bought one! I love it so far. Gaming is great too, maybe not perfect but I haven't been playing on my 19" Samsung CRT since I bought this.

Backlighting is good at all brightness levels. No visible bleeding on an all black screen, unless the room is dark. And then it is only the faint X pattern barely visible in the corners. No buzzing even at level 40, which is where I like it.

If I turn the monitor sideways and listen within 2" of the backside I can here a light buzz, But it is not audible from the front even with my ears pressed up near the power button.

I have 1 dead red pixel which is in the upper left area, it does not bother me. But I have a stuck pixel only noticeable on dark backgrounds, it looks like it's flashing green or something. I've tried DPB and rubbing, but its still there. This stuck pixel is about 1/2" down from the top and a little off center. If viewed with my eye's level to the center of the screen it looks dimmer than looking at it dead on.

Should I take this monitor back to Bestbuy for exchange because of the stuck pixel?
Would I get another 14 days to return on an exchange monitor?
Click to expand...

I just tried this on mine that I got a week ago and it only said OSD version 1.0. No week number or anything. Does that mean I have the first version? Is that bad? I have no dead pixels or stuck pixels and the backlight is remarkably uniform. The buzzing only happens below 85 brightness.
 
I just got this monitor and when i try to force refresh rate to 75 the picture gets horrible. So bad i cannot even read anything. am i doing something wrong? Im using the advanced timing with a 6800gt
 
Kasher_Khan said:
Yes! You should take it back. They will return it. You don't even have to prove anything is wrong with it. And the return policy is 30 days ( LCD moniters are not considered part of computers - which have a 14 day policy ). You will atleast get the 14 days (if I am mistaken about the 30 day thingy). Also take it to Geeksquad. Have them open it up and plug it into one of their machines and have them test it out for you. They will do it. That way you don't have to come home if it isn't perfect.

I
Click to expand...
Monitors are covered as computers, 14 days. As for having them open it and test first, I did that and they damaged it repackaging so I had to make yet another trip back to get a replacement.
 
H-Money said:
the specs on the gateway manual say that it runs 1680x1050 at 60hz not 75
Click to expand...
Im looking at my manual right here and it says
"pixel resolution 1680 x 1050 (native) (75 Hz)
 
The USB ports only work for flash, not on external HD drive. It looks like the monitor doesn’t provide enough current. Does any one have this issue? :mad:
 
Never posted but look around alot. I got a ViewSonic n2750w for my bedroom wall as a hidef tv. Just for fun set it up on my computer. I don't know if it will make it on my wall as a tv. This thing aw-sum on Doom3... Not as much of a gamer as I was but this could change things. I just love it. Too cool

5GHz folding for the [h]orde
crewdog
 
Well I decided to exchange my monitor. BestBuy wouldn't do it because it was just past 14 days. So I called Gateway about my pixel and they cross shipped me a new one! (I have both sitting on my desk right now :eek: )

This new 2185 is week 9 and has OSD 1.1.1 vs. my old week 53 which had OSD 1.11

Using my DVI connection the newer 1.1.1 has the 'Video Scaling' options in the menu under 'Video Adjust'. On the older 1.11 'Video Adjust' is just grayed out. DVI has the scaling options of WIDE, ZOOM, or 1:1 but it does not have the PANORAMIC mode which is available with component input.

No stuck pixels with this one, but there are two dead pixels that are dead for all colors. One is in the upper right corner, not too noticeable. The other is in the mid-right area, slightly more noticeable?

Backlighting was about perfect with my first 2185. This new one has a tiny bit of bleeding in the bottom left, only visible with completely black screen. No buzzing problems.

The new 2185 has a brighter LED when in 'Nite Mode' (there spelling). I liked the dimmer one. And it is a orange-green color when on standby, the old one is just orange. It also has some kind of weird bump on the left top end where the carbon fiber pattern is, the old one was flat.

I may try to exchange again. I'm thinking about keeping it, there's nothing that truly bothers me about this one. But I payed a lot for this (retail price) and it should be PERFECT. If I had bought it discounted I probable could live with it just fine.
 
saltiness said:
I just tried this on mine that I got a week ago and it only said OSD version 1.0. No week number or anything. Does that mean I have the first version? Is that bad? I have no dead pixels or stuck pixels and the backlight is remarkably uniform. The buzzing only happens below 85 brightness.
Click to expand...

I got the week number from Ez-Tune, but you can look at the back label for the month.
 
I just got this LCD from my wife for an early birthday present. It has no dead pixels, and no buzzing at all. I have an issue when trying to use PiP when using DVI as my main display. All of the documentation states that component, composite, VGA and S-Video PiP is available when in DVI mode, but all I get is "PIP not available"

Anyone else have this issue? When I use either VGA or DVI as my main input no PIP is available. If I use Component, S-Video or Composite as my main display then I can display DVI, but that really doesn't do my any good.

Thanks in advance.
 
JesusFreak said:
I just got this LCD from my wife for an early birthday present. It has no dead pixels, and no buzzing at all. I have an issue when trying to use PiP when using DVI as my main display. All of the documentation states that component, composite, VGA and S-Video PiP is available when in DVI mode, but all I get is "PIP not available"

Anyone else have this issue? When I use either VGA or DVI as my main input no PIP is available. If I use Component, S-Video or Composite as my main display then I can display DVI, but that really doesn't do my any good.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Have you selected the 'PIP source', I don't think it works until you do. I've used PIP with component and composite while my computer is connected with DVI.
 
I'll double check, but I'm sure that I've selected every possible PiP source. No matter what source I choose it says that PIP isn't available. It doesn't say no signal. I'll look into this, but I'm 99.9% sure that I've set up the source.
 
I just picked one of these bad boys up. So far everything is great. No dead or stuck pixels that I can tell of. I do have the buzzing noise but it doesnt bother me.
 
antijoy said:
I may try to exchange again. I'm thinking about keeping it, there's nothing that truly bothers me about this one. But I payed a lot for this (retail price) and it should be PERFECT. If I had bought it discounted I probable could live with it just fine.
Click to expand...

I would take it back UNTIL it was perfect. That's $5-600 dollars spent on a NEW product and yet it has so many issues. I hate to admit, but it's been a recent trend for me. I've bought:

Stacker 810 - MAD scratching
ATI X1900XT - chipped pcb, busted up bracket, HSF holding screw popped off, finally died a horrible death
2 Gateway FPD2185W's - Both had SERIOUS dark area issues and horrible color washing
Viewsonic - VA2012wb - Screen door effect absolutely in FULL EFFECT
Hitachi 250GB - busted SATA link, still works...for now
Canon Powershot a610 - spots in the picture due to debris in the lens
APC UPS - didn't switch to battery fast enough, crashed pc


Seriously, wtf?!
 
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