U2713HM - Image noise when moving items / flickering / thin diagonal lines

Hi Dom,

I thought I could live with it, but I couldn't in the end. I sent it back to Amazon yesterday for a refund. I don't know what they will do with it - whether they will pass it on to Dell to evaluate, or if indeed I will get a refund, but Amazon are usually very good, so I'm hopeful.

Then I'm going to do what I should have done in the first place, just bite the bullet and get the Apple 27 inch display. It's a lot more money, but at least it won't be a gamble in terms of quality. I also like the idea of using it as a Thunderbolt hub.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do with yours.

PS: I knew I wasn't crazy, I knew it!

I was hoping you wouldn't say that! I was hoping you were going to say that Dell had sorted it out and all is well!

I cant really afford a Cinema Display right now, and think they are still overpriced. Thats Apple for you though.

I have experienced some image retention too although Ive seen that on the Apple screens too, so watch out for that one!

Anyway, cheers for your replies!

One more thing I forgot to mention - the thing that pushed me over the edge was when it started exhibiting image retention/burn-in (if I was working on a contrasting black and white graphic, when I switched to a grey background I could  still see the graphic as a ghost).

I decided I was happier not having it than keeping it and trying to ignore the problems. That would have driven me crazy for sure!!

Cheers, Barney.

So - I ordered a replacement monitor from Amazon a couple of days ago, and it has arrived. Very impressed by Amazon by the way, they made the process very easy and have arranged for collection of the old monitor the same day.

I did try talking to DELL tech support, but in going through security they asked me which company was the screen registered to ie which reseller purchased the product from DELL. I answered Amazon. They said this wasnt what they had on record. I couldnt pass security until I answered this question correctly. I rang Amazon and they told me it should be registered to them. Very frustrating! Amazon offered to replace it there and then so I took that option over trying to argue with DELL.

Anyway, that was the good news...heres the bad.

The new monitor (which Ive had on for approx 20 mins now) is still exhibiting some of the same problems as before.

The diagonal lines are still present, not only while connected to my Mac but also in the monitors own colour test mode, verifying that it is definitely the monitor and not my Mac.

The brightness flicker I mentioned before is still present. I was actually testing for the noise when I discovered it this time. I opened up an ordinary grey image from Google image search, and wiggled the browser window around the screen. I found this to be a good test for the noise in the past. When I took the browser window to the bottom of the screen, in certain places it made the whole screen flicker. Very very strange.

As for the image noise, I have done a couple of tests and have not yet seen it yet, so that issue (until I have spent more time with the new monitor) seems to  have been resolved.

Despite this, I think I am going to have send this monitor back. This time for a refund I think - dont think it can be coincidence at this stage, looks like its a dodgy batch or worse just a dodgy model. Problem is, there is no equivalent monitor sold by DELL at this price point, I would have to spend another £100 at least - not to mention all the hassle of having to send back and buy a new monitor.

Chris H - any further advice would be much appreciated. Do DELL offer any free upgrades when customers experience these sorts of problems?

Just found this in a review - confirming what I am seeing with the faint diagonal lines

" If you look carefully at particularly light shades such as white you can actually notice very faint and thin diagonal striations (cross hatching) towards the bottom of the screen running in both directions."

pcmonitors.info/.../dell-u2713hm

They are really annoying me now, will be sending the monitor back (Again!), but will not be ordering another as it is clearly a general fault with the panel.

Very disappointed in DELL on this one!

So...Im sure you guys are sick of me posting stuff about this, but just thought I would follow it up!

I got a second replacement of the DELL U2713HM which had the same exact problems. So I sent that back, this time replacing it with the DELL U2713H - the next model up from the HM. And I can report that the good news is there is no cross hatching (diagonal lines), no image noise, and so far no flickering either. Yey! There is some slight ghosting but its not hugely off putting and I think I can live with it.

The monitor also has more connectivity, and I quite like the touch sensitive controls on the side rather than the clunky buttons.

The only thing I had to sort out was the colour signal that my Macbook was sending to the screen. I had a look around and came across this very helpful article -

http://embdev.net/topic/284710

It basically instructs you how to force your mac to send an RGB signal instead of the default YPbPr signal. Basically, in YPbPr mode on a Mac, everything looks overly sharpened and slightly fuzzy at the same time. I thought I was gonna have to send it back, but downloading this simple override document sorted it straight away. Well done that man!

So, hopefully, this is the end of my rant!

Hi all, decided to piggy-back onto this thread.  I bought the U2713HM on May 2, 2013. The monitor is suffering from cross-hatch / diagonal lines on the lower half. This defect has been identified and discussed in this thread.

Here is a photo of the defect taken in the Self-Test Built-in Diagnostics with the white background color (no hardware connected)

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/62786/IMG_20130513_101604.jpg

This cross-hatch pattern is repeated throughout the bottom half of the screen and is evident against a light backgrounds.

I have tried changing the power cords, running the monitor tests, using DVI and DisplayPort connections, the defect remains.

What are the next steps to receive support? I cannot find a simple techincal support submission form, it's quite difficult navigating this site!

Hi - so, if you had read the whole thread you would know what the next steps are, or at least what I did. But to save you some time...

I had the same issue, I returned it for a replacement, and when the next one had the same problem and after reading reviews etc, I found that it seems to be just a problem with all the HMs.

So, my solution was to spend a little bit more cash and upgrade to a U2713H. Same size, and looks pretty identical except from a few more connections, card reader, touch sensitive menu buttons and best of all, NO CROSS HATCHING!

The only thing you may have to do (if using the screen with a Mac) is to copy a simple text doc to your system files which forces the colour mode to RGB. Details are here:

http://embdev.net/topic/284710

Anyway, believe me, I understand your frustration!

Hope that helps.

Thanks  domburgess. How can Dell sell the HM model with cross-hatching like it's an OK thing? It's clearly a defect with the screen, and if all models (sent to review sites, yours, mine, etc) have it, then clearly there's a big issue.

My experience in this matter: I've had two different U2713HM units and the first one had more diagonal lines than the second one. I was quite surprised there was a difference, but there really was. I have no idea whether it is a bad batch thing or what. (The second one was actually pretty decent, I have to say.)

See my forum Same problem here: 

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/peripherals/f/3529/t/19545427.aspx

See my forum Same problem here:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/peripherals/f/3529/t/19545427.aspx