We have all seen a rainbow static screen in our lifetime, the bold stripes of color arranged vertically on display. It is mostly associated with something wrong because it is usually a sign of something wrong with the display hardware. It is not common to regularly see the rainbow static screen. If your monitor screen frequently turns rainbow without any particular reason, then chances are there’s something wrong with your system, either with the system software or with the hardware itself. Rainbows only look good in the sky, not on computer screens. Today we will have a look at the rainbow screen in some detail.
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Why do rainbow static screens appear?
The reasons for a rainbow static screen can be as arbitrary as possible. The most common reasons are the physical issues with the hardware. If the hardware is not attached correctly or is physically damaged or overheating, the screen can appear distorted and color striped. The problem was more common in the CRT monitors screens back in the old days but nowadays, LED panels are more common, and the rainbow color stripes appear less often.
Softwares can also be responsible for rainbow stripes and fixed with software or driver updates. Vertical stripes are more common in computer screens than horizontal ones. The horizontal stripes can be just as same as the vertical stripes.
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How to fix rainbow static screen
Here we provide you with some tricks and solutions that you could apply if your monitor screen has rainbow stripes. Some of these tricks are hardware-based, while others are software and drivers based. You could try permutations of these tricks to have your screen work back to normal.
Perform a manual hardware check
The first thing to do in the rainbow stripes situation is to check your hardware manually. The first thing to check is if your monitor is overheating, this is more common in the case of CRT monitors. If your monitor is overheating, turn your system off, let it cool, and start it again. Rainbow stripes should be removed now, but if they reappear or persist, then try other measures. Some monitors show rainbow static screens if no display signals are fed to them. Make sure that your monitor is receiving the display signals from the source.
Another thing to check is your cable management. If you are using an HDMI cable to connect your display to your computer, then try any other means and see if the rainbow still shows up or not. Most modern motherboards have more than one display output (HDMI, VGA); try switching between them. If you use interfaces other than HDMI, such as VGA or Display Port, make sure you plug them completely. These interfaces have grip screws at both ends, tighten the grip screw entirely at both ends of the cable.
Performing Drivers update
If you only get rainbow stripes after your operating system boots up, then there’s something wrong with your display drivers. The best way to get around this issue is to update the display drivers. follow the steps below to update your display drivers
- Right click on the start menu.
- Select Device Manager from the menu.
- Device Manger window would appear.
- Scan for Hardware Changes in the Device Manger.
- Look Under Display Adapters.
- right click on the Unknow/uninstalled drivers to be updated or intalled.
- Select update/install drivers.
- A device driver installer window would open.
- click on ‘ Search Automatically for updated driver software.’
- The process would take some time and would find and install compatible drivers.
Ensure that you have an active internet connection when performing the above steps. The Installation process looks across the web for compatible drivers so. It is essential to have an active link to the repositories. If the Device Manager couldn’t find the compatible driver for some reason, you could look across the web to find the driver and install it manually. But always download drivers from a reliable and trusted source as malicious drivers can cause severe damage.
GPU overheating
Another possible reason for the rainbow static screen can be GPU overheating. GPUs are power-hungry devices and require a lot of power to run, but not only do they consume a lot of energy, but they also dissipate it in the form of heat. The dissipated heat increases its temperature, which eventually leads to an increase in the resistance, which again causes more heat, and the cycle continues. If the GPU temps get too high, it may behave abnormally, and a rainbow static screen may appear.
In this scenario, the best thing to do is to use an appropriate cooling mechanism for your GPU, such as a bigger cooling fan or water cooling the GPU if necessary. You could also use a real-time GPU temperature monitoring tool to reduce the GPU load when the temperature crosses a certain threshold.
Rainbow static screen MAC
Apple’s MacBooks are one of the best-selling laptops in the market, known for their reliable performance and durability. But, users have reported having a rainbow static screen before the login screen on MacBook 2017 edition. This issue was caused by a software bug in the macOS and was fixed in a later OSX update, and there was nothing wrong with the hardware. If you are facing the same issue on your Mac, try updating the macOS to the latest supported release, and it should fix the problem automatically.
Rainbow static screen on samsung and android phones
Most Samsung and Android phone uses an IPS display panel, and some of the premium ones have AMOLED screens. It is not common to see a static rainbow screen on mobile phones unless they are broken or strained heavily. Almost nothing could be done at the software side of things. The best and probably only way to fix this issue on phones is to replace its display. If your phone has static rainbow stripes and distorted color pixels, then take your phone to the support center and get it fixed.
FAQS Related to Rainbow Static Screen
Do rainbow static screens always have colored stripes?
Most of the time, it is stripped, but there can be other forms of distortions as well, such as a rainbow pixeled screen.
Which one provides better picture quality among HDMI, DP, and VGA?
It can depend on the version of the technology used, but generally, HDMI and DP provide better picture quality than VGA.
What does CRT mean?
CRT stands for Cathode Ray Tube, a widely used technology for TVs and monitors before LCDs and LEDs.
Conclusion
Rainbows on computer screens can be problematic and annoying and can happen due to any random reason due to both software and hardware issue. Today, in this article, we provided you with enough information and tricks that you could employ to resolve your rainbow static screen problems.