Sam The Butcher,

LCD or CRT? Some LCD screens, if not all, have an auto adjust feature for such problems. It would be accessable through the menu button on the monitor itself. I would ensure the adjustments to the hardware were right before you attempt adjusting the software or video adapter.

J_

Its a CRT screen

To answer the last question first, YES! CRT monitors are just like light bulbs (as are most electronic devices) and just because they were working when you turned them off, does not guarantee that they will still work when turned back on. Before making any adjustments on the CRT monitor, I would check the display settings in the control panel. They may have defaulted to the wrong settings for your monitor when you re-installed Windows. Go to the control panel, select DISPLAY, and then SETTINGS. Take a look at both the COLOR, and SCREEN AREA settings. Color most probably should be set to 32-bit and the screen area is the resolution and should be set to the NATIVE RESOLUTION of your monitor (i.e., 1280 x 1024, 1024 x 768, etc.) Check your monitor's user manual "specifications" to find the NATIVE RESOLUTION. (You can try different settings to see if it helps, if you don't know the native resolution)

If all of this is correct, before you suspect a component failure, try adjusting the FOCUS CONTROL. In some cases this is available through a front panel control or an on-screen display menu. However, in most cases it will be located inside the monitor's case. It will be located inside adjuacent to the flyback transformer. (The flyback is easily located by visually - DON'T TOUCH - SHOCK HAZARD - by tracing the wire hooked to the back of the CRT's glass via a suction cup looking connector. That wire goes directly to the flyback. The FOCUS CONTROL should be located adjacent to the flyback on the circuit board. It should be adjusted with your contrast and brightness set to optimum image and looking at the display. (You may have to use a mirror to see the screen while making the adjustment from the rear of the monitor.)

If none of these work (and you have the correct drivers), then it is highly probable that the flyback transformer may be on it's way out. At this point, I would not attempt further repairs on the monitor unless you are electronics savvy. Do you notice any shrinkage in the picture size or bowing on the vertical edges? These can indicate High Voltage problems which comes from the flyback.