> It turns out that the color cycling screen was that old 17" 4x3 Dell lcd > monitors response to the synch drop that shuts most modern monitors off.
Someone has probably enabled burnin test mode on this monitor. The method to switch it on and off is pretty much the same on all Dell monitors. Switch the monitor off with the power button on the front panel, then hold the 'menu' and '+' buttons at the same time while you press 'power' to turn it on again. Keep holding both 'menu' and '+' while the screen is blank, letting go a few seconds later once the normal display appears. This brings the monitor up in service mode. When in service mode (depending on model) you can press the '+' or '-' buttons to bring up the service menu, or on older monitors you have to go into the normal menu (which now displays some additional model and firmware version numbers, confirming you're in service mode) and go to the 'factory reset' option. Normally the factory reset menu gives you a submenu with yes/no options, but with service mode active you get a third menu option that will take you to the service menu. In the service menu, look for the option called 'Burnin mode' or similar and switch it off. This will cause the monitor to actually go into powersaving mode when there is no signal, rather than go through the colour cycling test mode you're seeing. Once you've made your changes, exit the menu and switch the monitor off and on again with the front panel power button to exit service mode. Cheers, Adam. _______________________________________________ xorg@lists.x.org: X.Org support Archives: http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/xorg Info: https://lists.x.org/mailman/listinfo/xorg Your subscription address: %(user_address)s