Faulty cable skews color on monitor.

By Andy Walker

Question: I have a problem with my Sceptre P531 15-inch monitor, bought a year ago. Recently, it started to display a yellowish colour. I found that if I bent the monitor's signal cable a certain way, the monitor would display the proper colours. This problem is happening to my friend's 14-inch monitor, as well. What's wrong? How can I fix it and approximately how much would it cost? Is it better just to get a new monitor? - D.C.

Answer: There's nothing wrong with your monitor. It's the cable that's at fault and it should be easy to fix. No need to buy a new monitor.

Here's what's going on: "A loose or a pinched cable or (cable connector) pin will cause degradation of the signal, and that can cause colour loss or image defects," explained tech expert Mathew Fiszer of Logicorp Service Group in Edmonton. "I've seen this problem before on one of my own monitors. It used to scroll the image vertically until I replaced the cable and the problem went away."

If moving the cable around seems to solve the problem, then the repair won't be very expensive. A local electronics repair shop or your computer dealer should be able to install a new cable for under $100 but, before you go that route, check your warranty. If the monitor is still within the warranty period, the manufacturer should fix the problem for free. If not, try finding the correct monitor cables from Amazon.com.