I have a Dell E770s CRT monitor purchased in 2000 with my Dell Dimension XPS T500 system, all of which have run well until recently. A few weeks ago one of my kids said the display went unstable, and after she shut everything down and restarted the computer system, the display shrunk with about 1.25" black bands on each side, although the actual display still show everything it should, it's just narrower than it should be. None of the monitor adjustments on the front are capable of making the display wider. I'm assuming that this a monitor mech. malfunction since I can not find anything wrong with either the Windows 98SE software or monitor driver. The Dimension XPS T500 system with the E770s monitor came new from Dell, set up with a Microsoft provided driver, as per the system Device Manager (which says the monitor set up OK) properties info. for: Display Adapter\32 MB Diamond Viper V770D UltraNVIDA\Driver\Drive Details, which indicates the existence of 3 driver files in the Windows\System folder (NVDISP.DRV, NVMINI.VXD, VMM32.VXD). The one reply I got from the Dell website Dimension monitors forum suggested it might be a corrupted monitor driver problem, but the reasons I think the monitor has a mech. problem, and the device driver is not the issue, are: - When I attach the E770s monitor to a Toshiba Satellite laptop external monitor connection (laptop with same Win98SE OS and set for same 800 x 600 screen resolution as the Dell), the E770s shows the same narrow Windows displays with the approx. 1.25" empty black areas on each side of the display, same as when it's attached to the Dell. - Just to check that the laptop is not causing the E770s problem same as on the Dell, I attached the laptop to a 17" CTX monitor, and the CTX show the normal full screen Windows displays as I would have expected. - During the computer system bootup process with either the Dell or the laptop, the E770s shows the narrow display, e.g. with Window splash screens or when booted to the DOS command line. My local TV/computer monitor repair shop, and I suspect others, want $40 just to examine the monitor (credited toward any repairs), but this is already ca. 1/3 the cost of purchasing a comparable used Dell monitor. Has anyone else had a similar problem with this particular monitor model, or a similar problem with some other CRT model, and if so is something like my problems fixable and if so, what a repair shop might charge to fix it. A handle on an approx. repair cost would allow me to make a repair or replace decision. Thanks to anyone who may be able to give some advice.

If you get the same results on another machine it certain its the monitor at fault. All it takes to produce these symptons is a resistor or capacitor to die. Small componants that cost a few pennies but a lot to replace, that's assuming the repair man can find it. Strangely, I have often bought TVs with circut diagrams but I have never seen a circuit diagram for a VDU. Without a circuit diagram the repair man could spend a lot of time searching for the faulty componant and thats what you end up paying for. So $40 up front is not unreasonable. Becasue of this it is often not echonomical to repair a faulty monitor and buying a new one is the only solution. Stuart

It' a horizontal sweep problem with the monitor. That's fairly common. Buy a new monitor. You can get a new one for about the same cost that a repair would cost.

One of the kids may have pushed the menu button on the front and changed the horz size. Have you checked this?

Thanks to all those who have replied to my inquiry. Yes, I've check the monitor adjustment controls and they do not have an effect on the problem. As several of you have noted, it's probably a mech. malfunction in one of the monitor components and replacement is mostly likely the most economical course of action as I suspected. Oh well, had to ask anyway to see if I was looking at the problem/resolution correctly or missing something easily done.