# Monitor and XFree

## atticus

I looked up my monitor's frequencies from the manufacturer's website. I put them in my XF86Config, and when I started X, I distinctly heard a very high-pitched whining sound.

This is bad, right?

I figured it was bad, so I killed the X server, and jacked down all the frequency settings by 10, i.e. changed them (both vertical and horizontal) from 50-120 to 40-110. Restarted X. It started fine, and without the whining noise.

Is this acceptable?

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## squanto

It is acceptable to turn your frequencies down some.

It is just that your monitor won't run at as high a refresh or resolution with them turned down. But making a sqweeling noise is not very safe, so I would say this was a good idea.

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## atticus

So you don't think an increment of 10 is too large or anything?

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## squanto

what type of monitor do you have?

but turning down your frequencies / refresh will not hurt your monitor.

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## masseya

 *atticus wrote:*   

> I looked up my monitor's frequencies from the manufacturer's website. I put them in my XF86Config, and when I started X, I distinctly heard a very high-pitched whining sound.
> 
> This is bad, right?

 

<sarcasm>No, absolutely not.  I try to vocalize some discordant harmony with my monitor.  Then I record the sound so I can play it back at extremely high volume the night my roommate has a big exam.</sarcasm>

I'm not sure what you mean by "an increment of 10."  If I were you I would start off with some very generic safe settings.  Try using xf86config to find some safer settings.  Make sure it's not larger than the range you are using.  Once you have that working without the noise you can start to expand out and find where the problem first manifests itself.  Have you googled to see if this is a common problem with your monitor type?

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## pjp

Moved from Installing Gentoo.

 *Forums front page wrote:*   

> Installing Gentoo
> 
> If you've finished the install guide, look somewhere else. But if you're still working your way through it, or just need some info before you start your install, this is the place.

 

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## atticus

 *Tristam29 wrote:*   

> 
> 
> <sarcasm>No, absolutely not.  I try to vocalize some discordant harmony with my monitor.  Then I record the sound so I can play it back at extremely high volume the night my roommate has a big exam.</sarcasm>

 

...

 *Tristam29 wrote:*   

> I'm not sure what you mean by "an increment of 10."  If I were you I would start off with some very generic safe settings.  Try using xf86config to find some safer settings.  Make sure it's not larger than the range you are using.  Once you have that working without the noise you can start to expand out and find where the problem first manifests itself.  Have you googled to see if this is a common problem with your monitor type?

 

 *atticus wrote:*   

>  i.e. changed them (both vertical and horizontal) from 50-120 to 40-110. 

 

Nope, haven't googled. It took me enough trouble to actually find the damn manufacturer's website. (And yeah, I even googled that!)

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## squanto

What kind of monitor do you have? A horiz input of 120kHz is pretty high, my  NEC 22" only goes to 115kHz horiz, this may be why you were over driving your monitor... as anything over 100kHz is pretty high as far as most monitors go.

But if it works well with the settings you have now, as in you like the res and refresh, I would say just keep it and don't go any higher now.

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## atticus

It's a Sampo AlphaScan 712

Here's the URL where I grabbed the technical specs from:

http://www.sampotech.com/KM712.htm

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## squanto

H-Freq. : 30 KHz ~ 72 KHz

V-Freq. : 50 Hz ~ 160 Hz

I think these would be the numbers you want to use, and not the 40-110 that you were using for both.

Try those out, and it shouldn't squeel and your monitor will last alot longer.

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## atticus

Interesting.

On that website, the specs differ. They're reported there as

H: 30-72

V: 50-160

In the PDF manual, they're reported as

H: 30-70

V: 50-120

No wonder my monitor was shrieking in pain. 120's a big difference from 160  :Razz: 

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## atticus

 *squanto wrote:*   

> H-Freq. : 30 KHz ~ 72 KHz
> 
> V-Freq. : 50 Hz ~ 160 Hz
> 
> I think these would be the numbers you want to use, and not the 40-110 that you were using for both.
> ...

 

Those were exactly what I did use, and those numbers caused the squealing. It stopped when I turned them down.

I replaced them with the ones in the manual, and I'll check those out as soon as KDE is done compiling.  :Smile: 

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## masseya

Wow, that's really wild.  You might want to email or otherwise contact someone at Sampotech to let them know of the descrepancy.

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## atticus

 *Tristam29 wrote:*   

> Wow, that's really wild.  You might want to email or otherwise contact someone at Sampotech to let them know of the descrepancy.

 

Sounds like a plan good sir.

I wonder if I'll get ridiculed for it though

HAHAHA WHO USES LUNIX WITH OUT MONITORS NOBODY CARES

oh

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## atticus

Okay, so I tried the modes in the PDF...

Still got squealing...

Changed res's to 1280x1024, squealing went away.

It's staying at 1280x1024.  :Razz: 

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