LG L246WP-BN power-saving mode problem fix and shopping experience :)

[pooman]

Issue

It doesn't matter if the resolution is 1024x768 or 1920x1200. Anything out the DVI -> HDMI to the display causes the monitor to get stuck in power saving mode after 10 to 15 seconds of powers off. The monitor's blue light will turn orange. Count to 15 seconds then move your mouse or press a key, the monitor won't turn on if you have this issue. The menus will work but HDMI just won't acquire any video signal. To get out of this mode for the time being just power off and power on the monitor.

Fix

To everyone who is afflicted with power saving mode not coming out of the LG L246WP-BN LCD monitor, you need to set the reduced blanking mode from your video card driver.

The reduced blanking was hard to find in Nvidia drivers. In newer drivers, you can go to the Nvidia control panel then to Manage custom resolutions. Create a new entry and go into advanced settings. There is a drop down list. Select CVT reduced blank. Click on the Test button, accept, and click on OK. Before closing the control panel make sure to click on apply.

I also found some information from http://www.playtool.com/pages/dvicompat/dvi.html.

The single-link DVI bandwidth should be sufficient for 1920x1200 but not for any higher. However, something else (beyond my expertise) is causing the monitor not to respond to finding video signal after powering on from power saving mode.

Edit: More problems. Seems reduced blanking mode did not truly fix the power-saving problem. This time it just takes a lot longer in power-saving mode before the monitor decides to take a permanent nap. Will continue to investigate this. I apologize for jumping the gun If anyone else has this experience please feel free to place those comments here. Thanks!

Edit: Problem hasn't appeared, see post #20.

Long story: The Shopping Experience

It took me 9 trips to two different Best Buy's to get this LG L246WP-BN. There were multiple subpixels and large pixel defects. Over time I gave up and stuck with a panel that had subpixels that are hard to see farther than 5" away or if seen from only a particular angle (as long as when viewed at center the subpixel, usually white, isn't seen).

Buying from Best Buy wasn't easy. I went in prepared to be accused as a criminal. Let's face it, Best Buy is the Walmart of computer stores. Returning items was pretty difficult when Geek Squad folks are less than helpful. On each return back I got a lot of hassle. One senior employee said I should stop picking the LG monitor after my 4th time. I did pick an Acer then, the colors were not good from an angle, and worse yet it had one fat white pixel too. I went back to the LG, but of course there were more bad pixels. Later a junior employee couldn't even see glittering white subpixels and pranced around to other employees like Peter Pan to say what a great customer I am. Just had to ignore that brat or I'd end up dealing with the police. Fortunately a pretty female coworker quite easily saw the defect and gave the green light for the return, everything was okay after.

I decided to go to another Best Buy then. Over there it took two more tries to finally arrive at an acceptable monitor. I had no troubles returning the monitor at the second Best Buy. The person there just took it back without any hassles. Later I found out I was even charged $50 lower than the first Best Buy store. This brings the price down from $599 to $549. I did go back and try to price match once I found the online sale price was $499 3 weeks later, but was denied because monitors have a 14-day price guaranty only. This was not shown anywhere on their policy except online in fine print. Caveat emptor. In the end I was willing to pay extra for the freedom to return. Always watch the date. Exchanges do not extend the 14-day return period regardless if the clerk tells you it's extended to 30 days.

In retrospect, I should have gone to Circuit City. They have 30 day returns which is much better than Best Buy's 14 day policy. I told a friend to go buy from Circuit City with price match at $499 before 10% discount on price matching. He saved $74 net and I learned a lesson.

Even after all this trouble I still would have done the same. It's not worth it to buy monitors online, even if BenQ was rated so high but could only be purchased online. The customer support and shipping and handling will kill you! I'd rather deal on returns face to face so that I don't get screwed. It would suck when someone on the phone hangs up on you or give you the shaft in e-mails. So another lesson learned is for high ticket items, do business face to face, and charge it to American Express to hit 'em back if they play games!

 

[conghelach]

sub pixel? large pixel defects? what do you mean?

I have to agree with best buy here, giving you a hassle after four returns? what did you expect? no store wants an endless return and a majority of such returns are user or hardware oriented/driver issues, not monitor issues so I dont see why you are miffed about them giving you a hard time.

if you had dead pixels then yes I could understand.

at some point returning an item OVER AND OVER AND OVER, any store would have to say enough is enough, that crap costs them money and it costs you and me too, lcd's go up in price.

 

[ToastyX]

at some point returning an item OVER AND OVER AND OVER, any store would have to say enough is enough, that crap costs them money and it costs you and me too, lcd's go up in price.

Then manufacturers should stop making crap.

 

[kmrivers]

Best Buy should add a limit to their return policy otherwise they should deal with it.

 

[Mastakill]

Then manufacturers should stop making crap.

word!

 

[emmett]

The best buy I went to gave me three different answers from three different employee's
on pixel return policy. ranging from I could return with one bad pixel if i purchased the
extended warranty to 5 or 6 is considered acceptable to one square inch of solid dead
pixels was acceptable.. I was not sure if I could get a monitor made the latest going by serial number or batch #'s on the labels outside the boxes. (yeah yeah, i know, not like picking CPU's) So I went with one that had a later batch # rather than serial #..

So mine was manufactured in january 2007.

Screen appears to have no dead pixels or other anomolies.

VERY happy with it for the price. (I came from a viewsonic VP191B)

By the way, did anyone elses come with the vga cable already attached the the monitor?
I assume they test them, and just leave the cable attached?

The box was in perfect shape. and no other contents appeared to be open.

Emmett

 

[pooman]

sub pixel? large pixel defects? what do you mean?

I have to agree with best buy here, giving you a hassle after four returns? what did you expect? no store wants an endless return and a majority of such returns are user or hardware oriented/driver issues, not monitor issues so I dont see why you are miffed about them giving you a hard time.

if you had dead pixels then yes I could understand.

at some point returning an item OVER AND OVER AND OVER, any store would have to say enough is enough, that crap costs them money and it costs you and me too, lcd's go up in price.

Did you know Samsung and LG offers 0 dead pixel policy within 30-days in Korea and Australia and that no where else in the world enjoys this benefit?

We've over 300 monitors in just one lab at work and not one has any defect of any kind. I find that very ironic, maybe consumers are getting the shaft. It should be fair to ask how would increasing quality control increase the cost of products? Would you mind sharing your sources?

A dead pixel is a fully defective pixel, either all white or all black for RGB.

A sub-pixel is when one or two colors fail, this happen very often and there are two degress that I've noticed. Sub-pixels are usually more noticible when it is white and when most of the background is black--just like how Hard Forum currently looks.
1. sub-pixel is visible at ARM's length
2. sub-pixel is visible at 5 inches

I could care less about problem #2 because no one is going to be oogling at screens that close in range unless working with photos. I sometimes do that but as long as the sub-pixel that's white is not directly visible when viewing from center of the screen that's fine.

#1 is what I find in many monitors. Even though this is not a full defective pixel, the leaking white pixel is something that people with sharp eyes see as glittering which is quite distracting. I gather some friends and family for a small experiment. I found that younger people typically in the 20-30's see glittering and older folks 40-80's cannot see any degree of pixel issues unless it's a full dead pixel. If you can't see it then you're quite fortunate.

It's my preference that high ticket items don't have any defects. If these items show defects repeatedly then there's a manufacturing quality control process not being followed. For instance the difference between a Japanese made Toyota and an American made Toyota is in their quality of work. A mechanic at Toyota dealer recently told me most American made Japanese cars he's seen simply have defects in workmanship that cost so much to repair that consumers should really buy the extended warranty before the first three years runs out. For instance driving at different temperatures could cause plastics to expand then causes squeaking noises. Spot weldings between frames were not done properly, makes noises at high speeds. CD decks creaking because it was not fit properly. Odometer rattling because of plastics bolts that were defective. You wouldn't notice until it happens. At least with the automotive industry there's manufacturer recalls for defects not necessary due to safety concerns. See http://www.alldata.com/products/online/ or your dealership for access to these reports.

Best Buy states consumer satisfaction. It is on their store policy. If they don't like returns then change the policy. We have standards yes, on the other hand we have consumer satisfaction reports like JD Powers that really show how successful business drive higher sales than those that share your opinion.

<comment>
Enough is enough depends on whether you are the consumer or just a commenter. Just like people I know they didn't give two cents and produced the most wonderful comments on how this is not worth their time until it happens to them. That's why I don't find these kind of comments worthy of being archived on the Internet. We're here to give solutions, so I'm calling on your cards. If you have a better solution I'm fully open to that, otherwise there's always a place on slashdot.org waiting for you.
</comment>

 

[dark_reign]

So mine was manufactured in january 2007.

Screen appears to have no dead pixels or other anomolies.

VERY happy with it for the price. (I came from a viewsonic VP191B)

By the way, did anyone elses come with the vga cable already attached the the monitor?
I assume they test them, and just leave the cable attached?

The box was in perfect shape. and no other contents appeared to be open.

Emmett

Mine was made in January as well and it has no dead or stuck pixels and no issue when coming out of standby mode. Mine came with the VGA cable attached but was packed well and didn't appear to have been opened.

To the OP: you can have Best Buy test for dead/stuck pixels on the LCD you are buying. This would have saved you a lot of trouble.

 

[melijak]

I had the same problem with HDMI power save issue. I search the net and found that more people with LG monitors have this exact problem, even different models, so I don't think the HDMI is to blame here. The CS rep told me to use VGA cable or stop playing at such high resolutionWTF!!. BYE BYE LG, too bad because when the monitor was working it was perfect. Next in line- Dell on order from Costco 569$ shipped. Will see what happends...

 

[bootstrap]

It's my preference that high ticket items don't have any defects. If these items show defects repeatedly then there's a manufacturing quality control process not being followed. For instance the difference between a Japanese made Toyota and an American made Toyota is in their quality of work. A mechanic at Toyota dealer recently told me most American made Japanese cars he's seen simply have defects in workmanship that cost so much to repair that consumers should really buy the extended warranty before the first three years runs out. For instance driving at different temperatures could cause plastics to expand then causes squeaking noises. Spot weldings between frames were not done properly, makes noises at high speeds. CD decks creaking because it was not fit properly. Odometer rattling because of plastics bolts that were defective. You wouldn't notice until it happens. At least with the automotive industry there's manufacturer recalls for defects not necessary due to safety concerns. See http://www.alldata.com/products/online/ or your dealership for access to these reports.

Best Buy states consumer satisfaction. It is on their store policy. If they don't like returns then change the policy. We have standards yes, on the other hand we have consumer satisfaction reports like JD Powers that really show how successful business drive higher sales than those that share your opinion.

<comment>
Enough is enough depends on whether you are the consumer or just a commenter. Just like people I know they didn't give two cents and produced the most wonderful comments on how this is not worth their time until it happens to them. That's why I don't find these kind of comments worthy of being archived on the Internet. We're here to give solutions, so I'm calling on your cards. If you have a better solution I'm fully open to that, otherwise there's always a place on slashdot.org waiting for you.
</comment>

Very well said. I agree 100%. I'm amazed when I read these boards and there are people who actually defend stores for not honoring their own advertised return policies in situations like this. The store sells several defective monitors in a row, and they should have a right to get angry at the customer for inconveniencing the employees by attempting to return them? Give me a break. These monitors are expensive, and the customer has every right to refuse to accept anything less than what's being advertised.

If the store is getting lots of monitors returned, then they certainly should take action -- but they should do it against the manufacturer, by refusing to stock the product in the future, not against the customer. Treating customers like criminals when they try to return defective merchandise is just outrageous, and it's obvious that some of the people here have never experienced the agony of trying to return a defective product to an uncooperative store. If they had, there's no way that would attempt to defend the store in situations like this.

 

[kmrivers]

I think the power save problem is software based. I am a Mac user and I don't have problem coming out of power save mode. I would say there is hope for a software fix.

Also, have you tried a different cable? I got one from monoprice and I noticed a mild improvement over the bundled one.

 

[pooman]

Hello fellow members!

Just checking in to let you know I'm also tending to the previous poster's idea that this may be a software issue. I'm still trying to find how to get the current timing parameters off of the video card but this has not been a trivial feat. I've only come across tools that read from the registry. One of these days, if ever, I'll write one myself.

The most I ever got to was knowing at least the EDID information off my monitor with EDIDViewer V1.0.0 http://www.eldim.fr/products/display-controller/fpdlite/fpdlite-free-tools. This is where I found that in order for the monitor to display 1920x1200 on one single DVI cable (max of 165MHz bandwidth), LG had to fudge around with the timing parameters to slow it down to 154MHz so that a single DVI link, hence a single HDMI connection, would even display. (Did you know that LG slogan "Life is Good" is contrary to their name, "Lucky-Goldstar"?)

Currently I'm having trouble reproducing the power saving issue. Fortunately this is good news. The changes I made was I reverted back to using Nvidia's official drivers 162.18 instead of the Omega driver-set from DriverHeaven. Also I noticed on the menu there's an HDMI mode between TV and PC. I made sure PC was selected. From what I understand so far TV goes up to 1080p (1920x1080). There are surely timing parameter differences between 1080p and 1080i (interlaced) and many other modes. EDIDViewer shows what the monitor reports as the standard modes it supports and the preferred modes it likes.

Contrary to the reduced blanking mode I suggested to try earlier, it does not work. The power saving issue only appears much later, a minute to overnight. But for the past several days I've not been able to reproduce the issue with the standard Nvidia drivers overnight. Most likely it was a combination of bad driver or blanking mode parameter conflicting with the standard driver. The blanking mode would set the refresh rate to 59.95Hz instead of 60Hz like the monitor was configured to accept. Maybe for this reason once the monitor went to sleep its PLL couldn't lock-on to the 60Hz signal so it couldn't wake up, but that's just my 2-cent guess.

This is what the EDID information looks like for my monitor:

EDID ( Extendid Display Identification Data) Report


Vendor/Product Identification:

	Monitor Name : 	L246WP
	Monitor Serial Number : 	
	Manufacturer Name : 	LG Electronics Inc. (GoldStar Technology, Inc.)
	Product Id : 	563F
	Serial Number : 	57226
	Week Of Manufacture : 	3
	Year Of Manufacture : 	2007
	EDIDVersion : 	V1.3
	Number Of Extension Flag : 	1

Display parameters:

	Video Input Definition : 	Digital Signal
	DFP1X Compatible Interface : 	False
	Max Horizontal Image Size : 	520 mm
	Max Vertical Image Size : 	320 mm

Power Management and Features:

	Standby : 	Supported
	Suspend : 	Supported
	ActiveOff : 	Supported
	Video Input : 	1
	sRGB Default ColorSpace : 	False
	Default GTF : 	Not Supported
	Prefered Timing Mode : 	True

Gamma/Color and Etablished Timings:

	Display Gamma : 	2.2
	Red : 	x = 0.653 - y = 0.337
	Green : 	x = 0.295 - y = 0.607
	Blue : 	x = 0.144 - y = 0.075
	White : 	x = 0.313 - y = 0.329

	Etablished Timings : 	
		800 x 600 @ 60Hz (VESA)
		640 x 480 @ 75Hz (VESA)
		640 x 480 @ 60Hz (IBM, VGA)
		720 x 400 @ 70Hz (IBM, VGA)
		1280 x 1024 @ 75Hz (VESA)
		1024 x 768 @ 75Hz (VESA)
		1024 x 768 @ 60Hz (VESA)
		800 x 600 @ 75Hz (VESA)

	Display Type : 	RGB Color Display

Standard Timing:


	Standard Timings n°	1
	X Resolution : 	1600
	Y Resolution : 	1200
	Vertical Frequency : 	60

	Standard Timings n°	2
	X Resolution : 	1280
	Y Resolution : 	1024
	Vertical Frequency : 	75

	Standard Timings n°	4
	X Resolution : 	1280
	Y Resolution : 	960
	Vertical Frequency : 	75

	Standard Timings n°	5
	X Resolution : 	1280
	Y Resolution : 	1024
	Vertical Frequency : 	60

Preferred Detailed Timing:

	Pixel Clock : 	154 Mhz

	Horizontal Active : 	1920 pixels
	Horizontal Blanking : 	160 pixels
	Horizontal Sync Offset : 	48 pixels
	Horizontal Sync Pulse Width : 	32 pixels
	Horizontal Border : 	0 pixels
	Horizontal Size : 	432 mm

	Vertical Active : 	1200 lines
	Vertical Blanking : 	35 lines
	Vertical Sync Offset : 	3 lines
	Vertical Sync Pulse Width : 	6 lines
	Vertical Border : 	0 lines
	Vertical Size : 	68 mm

	Input Type : 	Digital Separate
	Interlaced : 	False
	VerticalPolarity : 	False
	HorizontalPolarity : 	True

Detailed Timing #2:

	Pixel Clock : 	162 Mhz

	Horizontal Active : 	1600 pixels
	Horizontal Blanking : 	560 pixels
	Horizontal Sync Offset : 	64 pixels
	Horizontal Sync Pulse Width : 	192 pixels
	Horizontal Border : 	0 pixels
	Horizontal Size : 	432 mm

	Vertical Active : 	1200 lines
	Vertical Blanking : 	50 lines
	Vertical Sync Offset : 	1 lines
	Vertical Sync Pulse Width : 	3 lines
	Vertical Border : 	0 lines
	Vertical Size : 	580 mm

	Input Type : 	Digital Separate
	Interlaced : 	False
	VerticalPolarity : 	True
	HorizontalPolarity : 	True

Monitor Range Limit:

	Maximum Vertical Frequency : 	75 Hz
	Minimum Vertical Frequency : 	56 Hz
	Maximum Horizontal Frequency : 	83 KHz
	Minimum Horizontal Frequency : 	30 KHz
	Maximum Pixel Clock : 	170 MHz

Stereo Display:

	Stereo Display : 	Normal display (no stereo)





EDID EXTENSION : EIA/CEA-861

Information:

	Version Number : 	3

DTV Monitor Support:

	Under Scan : 	Not Supported
	Basic Audio : 	Supported
	YCbCr 4:4:4 : 	Supported
	YCbCr 4:2:2 : 	Supported
	Number of native Formats : 	1

Video Short Description:

	Video Formats :	
		1920x1080p @ 59.94/60Hz (Native)
		1920x1080i @ 59.94/60Hz
		1280x720p @ 59.94/60Hz
		720x480p @ 59.94/60Hz-W
		640x480p @ 60Hz
		1920x1080p @ 50Hz
		1920x1080i @ 50Hz
		720x576p @ 50Hz-W
		1280x720p @ 50Hz

Detailed Timing #1:

	Pixel Clock : 	148.5 Mhz

	Horizontal Active : 	1920 pixels
	Horizontal Blanking : 	280 pixels
	Horizontal Sync Offset : 	88 pixels
	Horizontal Sync Pulse Width : 	44 pixels
	Horizontal Border : 	0 pixels
	Horizontal Size : 	518 mm

	Vertical Active : 	1080 lines
	Vertical Blanking : 	45 lines
	Vertical Sync Offset : 	4 lines
	Vertical Sync Pulse Width : 	5 lines
	Vertical Border : 	0 lines
	Vertical Size : 	324 mm

	Input Type : 	Digital Separate
	Interlaced : 	False
	VerticalPolarity : 	True
	HorizontalPolarity : 	True

Detailed Timing #2:

	Pixel Clock : 	74.25 Mhz

	Horizontal Active : 	1920 pixels
	Horizontal Blanking : 	280 pixels
	Horizontal Sync Offset : 	88 pixels
	Horizontal Sync Pulse Width : 	44 pixels
	Horizontal Border : 	0 pixels
	Horizontal Size : 	518 mm

	Vertical Active : 	540 lines
	Vertical Blanking : 	22 lines
	Vertical Sync Offset : 	2 lines
	Vertical Sync Pulse Width : 	5 lines
	Vertical Border : 	0 lines
	Vertical Size : 	324 mm

	Input Type : 	Digital Separate
	Interlaced : 	True
	VerticalPolarity : 	True
	HorizontalPolarity : 	True

Detailed Timing #3:

	Pixel Clock : 	74.25 Mhz

	Horizontal Active : 	1280 pixels
	Horizontal Blanking : 	370 pixels
	Horizontal Sync Offset : 	110 pixels
	Horizontal Sync Pulse Width : 	40 pixels
	Horizontal Border : 	0 pixels
	Horizontal Size : 	518 mm

	Vertical Active : 	720 lines
	Vertical Blanking : 	30 lines
	Vertical Sync Offset : 	5 lines
	Vertical Sync Pulse Width : 	5 lines
	Vertical Border : 	0 lines
	Vertical Size : 	324 mm

	Input Type : 	Digital Separate
	Interlaced : 	False
	VerticalPolarity : 	True
	HorizontalPolarity : 	True

Detailed Timing #4:

	Pixel Clock : 	27 Mhz

	Horizontal Active : 	720 pixels
	Horizontal Blanking : 	138 pixels
	Horizontal Sync Offset : 	16 pixels
	Horizontal Sync Pulse Width : 	62 pixels
	Horizontal Border : 	0 pixels
	Horizontal Size : 	518 mm

	Vertical Active : 	480 lines
	Vertical Blanking : 	45 lines
	Vertical Sync Offset : 	9 lines
	Vertical Sync Pulse Width : 	6 lines
	Vertical Border : 	0 lines
	Vertical Size : 	68 mm

	Input Type : 	Digital Separate
	Interlaced : 	False
	VerticalPolarity : 	True
	HorizontalPolarity : 	True

Detailed Timing #5:

	Pixel Clock : 	148.5 Mhz

	Horizontal Active : 	1920 pixels
	Horizontal Blanking : 	720 pixels
	Horizontal Sync Offset : 	16 pixels
	Horizontal Sync Pulse Width : 	556 pixels
	Horizontal Border : 	0 pixels
	Horizontal Size : 	518 mm

	Vertical Active : 	1080 lines
	Vertical Blanking : 	45 lines
	Vertical Sync Offset : 	4 lines
	Vertical Sync Pulse Width : 	5 lines
	Vertical Border : 	0 lines
	Vertical Size : 	580 mm

	Input Type : 	Digital Separate
	Interlaced : 	False
	VerticalPolarity : 	True
	HorizontalPolarity : 	True

Vendor Specific Data Block (VSDB):

	24-bit IEEE Registration Indentifier :	0xC03
	Physical address :	1.0.0.0
	Support_Al (ACP & ISRx packets) :	False

For reference, the horizontal and vertical sync offsets are also known as the front porch. Offset = front porch, go figure. Everyone went to college to better communicate right?

Since I can't reproduce the issue with the standard Nvidia drivers, I'm on WinXP SP2 x86 btw, I'll report back when the problem happens. Otherwise you could assume all is well with non-hacked drivers.

 

[pooman]

Mine was made in January as well and it has no dead or stuck pixels and no issue when coming out of standby mode. Mine came with the VGA cable attached but was packed well and didn't appear to have been opened.

To the OP: you can have Best Buy test for dead/stuck pixels on the LCD you are buying. This would have saved you a lot of trouble.

Actually I politely asked for this. One of the junior employees opened the box but a senior employee took him out back to berate him. Then, no test. I'm a pretty reasonable person. When it comes to reasoning with difficult people it's takes a set of entirely different personalities to do that.

 

[dark_reign]

Actually I politely asked for this. One of the junior employees opened the box but a senior employee took him out back to berate him. Then, no test. I'm a pretty reasonable person. When it comes to reasoning with difficult people it's takes a set of entirely different personalities to do that.

Well then buy it from somewhere else if possible or get something different. My rule of thumb is 2 times. If the second one has issues I buy something different or get a full refund. And if the BB you shop at has that kind of customer service I wouldn't shop there ever again.

 

[10e]

Yep,

I think that manufacturing tends to "hedge bets" on whether or not consumers will be dumb enough to accept defects. I don't have a problem with the reduced pixel clock LG uses for the L246WP to work with HDMI with 1920x1080/1200, but I do have a problem with defects of any kind.

I have a sub pixel defect on my L246WP so it's going back. What a drag. I go and buy three monitors to test, and now I have to return all three. I might still get the L246WP again (exchange/replacement) as it's a great monitor, and I've not had any power saving/HDMI/Xbox 360/component issues with it either.

But either way, I agree that manufacturing standards should be better. It would actually cost them less in the long run.

10e

 

[10e]

I replaced my L246WP with the one bad sub pixel and the new unit had two bad subpixels so it's going back.

Too bad. I like this monitor, but don't need the hassle. I also used dead pixel buddy on an FP241VW and it showed me two bad subpixels as well. Maybe it's this set of panels or I'm cursed.

I am strongly thinking about going with a 27". Maybe the larger transistors (due to the larger transistors/bigger pixel pitch) will be more reliable. I can't see paying $600.00 for a screen with bad pixels out of the box.

My 2005FPW was perfect out of the box, so now after seeing three monitors with bad sub pixels I think I'm going to give up on the 24" dream for now.

BTW, Pooman, the 154mhz pixel clock on the LG is fine with 1920x1200 as long as reduced blanking is used. It's only without reduced blanking (like for a CRT) that you need the 190 mhz + pixel clock.

Regards,

10e

 

[pooman]

Thanks n00bie.

Recently I discovered that this power saving thing is not related to video card drivers.

(1) shut down windows
(2) powered off the PC but left monitor on
(3) monitor went into power saving mode for a few minutes
(4) powered on the PC
(5) monitor would not power on until I hit the power button off then on

It looks like a variant of monitor issues mentioned all over Google.

I'll need to acquire a different video card to see if this issue will show up.

 

[lt_wentoncha]

Thanks n00bie.

Recently I discovered that this power saving thing is not related to video card drivers.

(1) shut down windows
(2) powered off the PC but left monitor on
(3) monitor went into power saving mode for a few minutes
(4) powered on the PC
(5) monitor would not power on until I hit the power button off then on

It looks like a variant of monitor issues mentioned all over Google.

I'll need to acquire a different video card to see if this issue will show up.

That's what I did. It seems you only need to do this once, subsequent times it's no problem getting it to power on.

 

[bill_mcgonigle]

Macs aren't immune - I've got a MacBook Pro (Late 2006) 2.16GHz C2D 15" with the Radeon X1600 graphics and I'm seeing the same problem. It happens every time it sleeps the display.

Does anybody know what the root cause is? I've only tried Tiger so far - when I get something newer on the machine I can see if it's fixed there. But it's not clear to me if this is a monitor hardware problem or if it can be fixed with software settings. It's somewhat surprising that they let these out of the factory with this problem - I thought sleep was solved 10 years ago. I'll keep the box in case she needs to go back to Best Buy.

 

[pooman]

After three weeks of testing with Nvidia 163.18 and 163.75 driver-sets I've not seen the problem come back yet. I used the middle DVI port instead of the bottom one.

A friend of mine has the same setup as me. He mentioned that he's been getting problems using the bottom DVI port so that's what prompted me to use the middle one.

This is definitely some problem with the video card, I've the Gigabyte Silent-pipe 8600GTS. A this point the conclusion that could be drawn is that the problem is not the monitor but the video card. The power saving never happens in VGA mode so something screwy is happening. As mentioned earlier the power savings also caused the monitor not to come out on boot-up so the video driver can be ruled out.

Try another port and see if the problem goes away. Please report your results.

Thanks all!

EDIT - Coming back to let everyone know it's been a couple months now and the monitor problem has not resurfaced once since using the middle DVI port. This ought to save some of you from some headaches.

 

[kuyawil]

Please delete... wrong thread...

 

[Majed]

After three weeks of testing with Nvidia 163.18 and 163.75 driver-sets I've not seen the problem come back yet. I used the middle DVI port instead of the bottom one.

A friend of mine has the same setup as me. He mentioned that he's been getting problems using the bottom DVI port so that's what prompted me to use the middle one.

This is definitely some problem with the video card, I've the Gigabyte Silent-pipe 8600GTS. A this point the conclusion that could be drawn is that the problem is not the monitor but the video card. The power saving never happens in VGA mode so something screwy is happening. As mentioned earlier the power savings also caused the monitor not to come out on boot-up so the video driver can be ruled out.

Try another port and see if the problem goes away. Please report your results.

Thanks all!

i made some test...but to be sure i replug it to the bottom one.
sometimes if i hit Sleep button in my keyboard the monitor will back from sleeping and sometimes doesn't!.
but then if i hit another key such as spacebar the monitor will resume from sleeping mode!.
originally my monitor back if it goes to sleep and my pc is on but not if pc in sleeping mode.
that's wired!.
------
Now i hit "Sleep button" and then hit anykey..the monitor back from sleep mode!.
---
for the record my card is xfx 7600gt "vista 163.75"

 

[Battl3fr0nt]

Issue

It doesn't matter if the resolution is 1024x768 or 1920x1200. Anything out the DVI -> HDMI to the display causes the monitor to get stuck in power saving mode after 10 to 15 seconds of powers off. The monitor's blue light will turn orange. Count to 15 seconds then move your mouse or press a key, the monitor won't turn on if you have this issue. The menus will work but HDMI just won't acquire any video signal. To get out of this mode for the time being just power off and power on the monitor.

Fix

To everyone who is afflicted with power saving mode not coming out of the LG L246WP-BN LCD monitor, you need to set the reduced blanking mode from your video card driver.

The reduced blanking was hard to find in Nvidia drivers. In newer drivers, you can go to the Nvidia control panel then to Manage custom resolutions. Create a new entry and go into advanced settings. There is a drop down list. Select CVT reduced blank. Click on the Test button, accept, and click on OK. Before closing the control panel make sure to click on apply.

I also found some information from http://www.playtool.com/pages/dvicompat/dvi.html.

The single-link DVI bandwidth should be sufficient for 1920x1200 but not for any higher. However, something else (beyond my expertise) is causing the monitor not to respond to finding video signal after powering on from power saving mode.

Edit: More problems. Seems reduced blanking mode did not truly fix the power-saving problem. This time it just takes a lot longer in power-saving mode before the monitor decides to take a permanent nap. Will continue to investigate this. I apologize for jumping the gun If anyone else has this experience please feel free to place those comments here. Thanks!

Edit: Problem hasn't appeared, see post #20.

Long story: The Shopping Experience

It took me 9 trips to two different Best Buy's to get this LG L246WP-BN. There were multiple subpixels and large pixel defects. Over time I gave up and stuck with a panel that had subpixels that are hard to see farther than 5" away or if seen from only a particular angle (as long as when viewed at center the subpixel, usually white, isn't seen).

Buying from Best Buy wasn't easy. I went in prepared to be accused as a criminal. Let's face it, Best Buy is the Walmart of computer stores. Returning items was pretty difficult when Geek Squad folks are less than helpful. On each return back I got a lot of hassle. One senior employee said I should stop picking the LG monitor after my 4th time. I did pick an Acer then, the colors were not good from an angle, and worse yet it had one fat white pixel too. I went back to the LG, but of course there were more bad pixels. Later a junior employee couldn't even see glittering white subpixels and pranced around to other employees like Peter Pan to say what a great customer I am. Just had to ignore that brat or I'd end up dealing with the police. Fortunately a pretty female coworker quite easily saw the defect and gave the green light for the return, everything was okay after.

I decided to go to another Best Buy then. Over there it took two more tries to finally arrive at an acceptable monitor. I had no troubles returning the monitor at the second Best Buy. The person there just took it back without any hassles. Later I found out I was even charged $50 lower than the first Best Buy store. This brings the price down from $599 to $549. I did go back and try to price match once I found the online sale price was $499 3 weeks later, but was denied because monitors have a 14-day price guaranty only. This was not shown anywhere on their policy except online in fine print. Caveat emptor. In the end I was willing to pay extra for the freedom to return. Always watch the date. Exchanges do not extend the 14-day return period regardless if the clerk tells you it's extended to 30 days.

In retrospect, I should have gone to Circuit City. They have 30 day returns which is much better than Best Buy's 14 day policy. I told a friend to go buy from Circuit City with price match at $499 before 10% discount on price matching. He saved $74 net and I learned a lesson.

Even after all this trouble I still would have done the same. It's not worth it to buy monitors online, even if BenQ was rated so high but could only be purchased online. The customer support and shipping and handling will kill you! I'd rather deal on returns face to face so that I don't get screwed. It would suck when someone on the phone hangs up on you or give you the shaft in e-mails. So another lesson learned is for high ticket items, do business face to face, and charge it to American Express to hit 'em back if they play games!

I agree you should be able to return with out any prob's.. I just don't care anymore when I return stuff if it is now what I wanted... I will just sit there and not say anything if they start to give me crap.. But I buy from compusa.. and I know most of the people there so it is not bad..

 

[eweiss]

The best buy I went to gave me three different answers from three different employee's
on pixel return policy. ranging from I could return with one bad pixel if i purchased the
extended warranty to 5 or 6 is considered acceptable to one square inch of solid dead
pixels was acceptable.. I was not sure if I could get a monitor made the latest going by serial number or batch #'s on the labels outside the boxes. (yeah yeah, i know, not like picking CPU's) So I went with one that had a later batch # rather than serial #..

So mine was manufactured in january 2007.

Screen appears to have no dead pixels or other anomolies.

VERY happy with it for the price. (I came from a viewsonic VP191B)

By the way, did anyone elses come with the vga cable already attached the the monitor?
I assume they test them, and just leave the cable attached?

The box was in perfect shape. and no other contents appeared to be open.

Emmett

Both my LG L246WP-BN monitors had the VGA cable attached. They were both new in the box (one had a torn side with INSPECTED BY BEST BUY tape over the torn section of the cardboard).

I bought them this week, so I have until January 31, 2008 to return them. Never had a hassle returning either my line-of-dead-pixels Gateway FHD2400 or my second FHD2400 because I though the viewing angle was too narrow, nor did I have a problem returning my first L246WP-BN due to a bright green pixel. So far, so good re: Best Buy.

As I mentioned in the regular L246WP thread, mine is a February 2007 low serial number one, even though I just got it yesterday. I don't have anything to hook it up to via DVI, so if that's the only problem with a low serial number, I may never see the problem.

This week they are $449 at Best Buy.

 

[Outrigger]

is anyone else still having this issue? I can't be the only one. I'm using 8800gts (G92) 512MB and regardless of which connector I use, it just doesn't wake up from sleep.

If I try to use the earlier version of the video driver, it says its not compatible with my card.

Anyone have a solution? I'm using DVI - HDMI cable that came with it btw.

 

[bird2jet]

I got mine NIB circuit city's last one for 340 including tax.

The first one I bought was from Fry's and had multiple stuck pixels and they charged me 570. Returning it to Fry's was a staggeringly horrible and tragic experience. First I had to take it back and have them verify the problem with the tech area, then I brought it back to the front and witnessed the senior returns guy shred my box in apparent madness over me trying to get my money back for the monitor, he said he had to confirm the model number even though tech support just opened it, so he literally (with glaring eyes at me), tore open the cardboard, and the styrofoam the monitors encased in. That styrofoam looked like a bunch of snow as he literally obliterated the packaging when opening it. Im surprised he wasnt fired, I was just awestruck at how horrible they treated that monitor. They even grabbed it by the front screen and placed it face down on an uneven surface and scratched the screen. It made me so pissed off at the lack of respect for the technology that I wanted to f******* kill that guy. I doubt seriously I'll ever shop there again.

This new one saved me over 200 bucks and is exactly the same without any defects in the backlight or pixels.

 

[bongoyoyo]

After three weeks of testing with Nvidia 163.18 and 163.75 driver-sets I've not seen the problem come back yet. I used the middle DVI port instead of the bottom one.

A friend of mine has the same setup as me. He mentioned that he's been getting problems using the bottom DVI port so that's what prompted me to use the middle one.

This is definitely some problem with the video card, I've the Gigabyte Silent-pipe 8600GTS. A this point the conclusion that could be drawn is that the problem is not the monitor but the video card. The power saving never happens in VGA mode so something screwy is happening. As mentioned earlier the power savings also caused the monitor not to come out on boot-up so the video driver can be ruled out.

Try another port and see if the problem goes away. Please report your results.

Thanks all!

EDIT - Coming back to let everyone know it's been a couple months now and the monitor problem has not resurfaced once since using the middle DVI port. This ought to save some of you from some headaches.

Thank you Pooman for updating this issue... Just another question, have you tried the onboard video to check if you get signal from it? (assumed that you've been testing on a gaming graphic card)

 

[vikbz]

hi guys i need a replacement for a STP12NK80Z transistor that's found on the power supply. P.S. anybody would know where i could order an entire new power supply if i can't get the old one to fire up? thanks!!!

 

[Corvette]

Radio Shack? I think that's where most people buy LG .. wait, transistor or capacitor?

Did you check out this thread for tips http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1167222&highlight=246?