[syc0path]

I have a P4 machine at my computer desk, and a CRT TV on a nearby table. I'd say there's about 5' between the tower and the TV. Anyway, as soon as the computer starts booting up, static appears on the TV screen. The static looks like a band of dots in 5 rows, w/ the whole band being about 4" tall on a 27" TV. The band slowly moves to the top of the screen and then returns from the bottom. Turn the computer off and the TV picture instantly becomes very clear.

I've had this problem for quite a while, but lately it's gotten much worse. I've tried plugging the computer into a different outlet (which is even on a different circuit breaker) but that didn't do anything. I've tried rerouting the coax cable to the TV to get it further away from the computer, but that didn't help either. And turning the computer monitor off doesn't do anything -- it's the actual computer itself.

I found some info online suggesting something about the house's electrical ground being corroded, but it looks ok to me. I think the next thing I'm gonna try is to run a ground wire from the outside of the coax connector to the ground plug of an electrical outlet in an effort to "drain off" any induced current that might be causing the problem. Any other ideas??

[etaf]

if you move it away does it stop - it may be the maganetic field affecting the CRT
possible produced by the transformer in the power supply (although if that was the case i would expect the disk to be affected)

But anyway - if you move it away then you can establish if its airbourne interferance of through cables

[syc0path]

I should have done a better job explaining the setup... the cable comes in from the wall a few feet from the comp. It then goes to a VCR, which is on the bottom left shelf of the computer desk (the comp is on the bottom right). An RCA cable runs from the video card of the comp to the input of the VCR -- that allows images from the comp to go thru the VCR and be displayed on the TV.

Anyway, I played w/ it last night and narrowed it down to the VCR. If I take the VCR out of the signal path, the TV looks great. I also determined that the VCR is receiving both radiated (thru the air) and direct (thru the RCA cable) interference. I need to dig out some longer RCA cables and see what happens if I connect the computer directly to the TV -- if the VCR is just bad at rejecting interference, I can eliminate it (we don't really use it for taping anymore anyway) and that will fix the problem. But if the interference remains when the comp is connected directly to the TV, then I still have the same problem.