Problems with flat screen monitor

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Does anyone know what makes a monitor screen flicker? I have a Gateway LCD flat screen monitor, and lately it's been flickering, and changing colors in a maddening way. I have checked all connections and they seem tight and secure, but the flickering is driving me insane. Any suggestions as to what could be wrong?

check your screen refresh rate. If it's too slow, that can drive you batty. Of course, if it's too fast, you don't get a display. Anything over 60hz should work.

Try right clicking on desktop -> Properties
From the screen that comes up go to the settings tab and click the advanced button.
Then go to the monitor tab and under Monitor Settings there should be a setting for screen refresh rate. (This is if you are using XP. Should you be using Vista I can try to figure it out on my laptop if you want)

I had this problem and I took the monitor back. It didn't flicker.

Got a new one, it did.

anyway I moved it to a different power point and all was fine.

Quality of power greatly affects these monitors.

I checked the refresh rate, and it is 75. I believe that the problem might lie in the power cord, or the fact that this monitor is a used one, and came with missing screws on the part that attaches to the computer. I may have to replace the cord, since the loose fit might be causing the problem.

Thanks for all the pointers!

change in color is a sure sign of wear and tear on the monitor cable. either on the back of the monitor or on the back of the PC where it plugs into.

The flickering can be the monitor losing and re-acquiring the signal from the interference/shortcircuit happening inside the cable.

I second the cable suggestion. If it's a LCD monitor, LCD monitors very rarely have trouble with such things as changing colors since internally each color pixel is entirely distinct from each other. If your cable looks like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vga and the color problems happen uniformly across the whole screen then I'd suggest that the cabling or a broken/bent pin is the problem.

Alternatively flickering can also be caused by a problematic bulb. Most LCD monitors use a fluorescent or cold-cathode bulb as the backlight. It may be that this bulb is failing and causing this problem (though unlikely considering the associated color problems). In that case, there is not much you can do unless you're willing to muck with the electronics inside the monitor, so you'd be best served trying out the warranty on the monitor or else getting a new one. Though as mentioned poor quality power can cause issues like this.

The final theory is that it's nothing to do with monitor or cable but possibly with the computer - either software/configuration or else hardware problems with the graphics. I can't really say more on this, though.

Good luck!

You guys are awesome! Thanks. I am convinced, by the responses, that the problem lies in the cable cord. I will definitely have to replace it.