LCD Monitors

LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display and is a technology used in display products such as LCD TVs and LCD computer monitors. LCD has become the most popular form of display on the market today due to their small form factor when compared to traditional CRT displays. Recently LCD manufacturers have been able to create displays capable of 120hz or 240hz refresh rates making them very useful in computing applications.

Common problems that arise from missing LCD monitor drivers, or incorrectly installed LCD monitor drivers are things such as flickering screen, colors that are washed out or too bright, difficulty reading items displayed on the monitor, cropping of the monitor’s image, or damage to the computer’s graphics card or LCD monitor. To ensure that these common problems do not occur, follow this simple troubleshooting guide.

1.)In order for your driver to work properly, your graphics card must be installed properly. If using the LCD monitor with an aftermarket graphics card ensure that the graphics card is inserted firmly into the PCI or AGP slot depending on the model of the graphics card and computer motherboard. If are unsure of your ability to perform this, have a qualified computer service technician examine the graphics card. If using an integrated (built-in) graphics card, continue to step 2.

2.) Ensure your LCD monitor driver is set to the right input in your display settings. This could be DVI, VGA, or HDMI. If your card has an input that does not show up, you are using the wrong driver.

3.) In your graphics card’s display settings, ensure that the refresh rate from your graphics card matches your monitor’s refresh rate. A good place to start is 60hz as this is the most common refresh rate. Using the wrong refresh rate will cause the display to flicker. If there is no option for this, this could indicate a missing or improperly installed driver.

4.) In your graphics card’s display settings, ensure the right resolution is selected. To do this first select the lowest resolution available and then increase the resolution one at a time until your monitor stops displaying. The resolution that was the last working resolution should be your display’s maximum resolution. If there is not the correct maximum resolution for your LCD monitor available, this could indicate a missing or improperly installed driver.

5.) Click your computer’s Start Menu. Navigate to the Control Panel, then navigate to Device Manager. Under “Monitors” your display’s model should show. If it does not, right click on the device and select “Update Driver”. This will allow your computer to connect to windows update to find a suitable driver for your hardware.

6.) If no suitable driver can be found, contact your display’s manufacturer, as they will be able to further instruct you based on your hardware’s specifications.