# Distorted image on a PCW 8256 **URL:** \ **Category:** NC100, NC200, PCW, PDA600 etc\ **Created:** [October 16, 2026, 3:10pm UTC](https://forum.cpcwiki.eu/t/distorted-image-on-a-pcw-8256/885 "2026-10-16T15:10:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![eto](https://forum.cpcwiki.eu/user_avatar/forum.cpcwiki.eu/eto/32/24_2.png) [@eto](https://forum.cpcwiki.eu/u/eto)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 3:10pm UTC](https://forum.cpcwiki.eu/t/distorted-image-on-a-pcw-8256/885/1 "2026-10-16T15:10:31Z")
This is the first time I have a PCW. Everything seems to work including the printer but the monitor display is distorted in the upper part. It starts barely noticeable but after a few minutes the first three lines are bent - looks like the effect in some demos. Is that something that can easily be fixed in a PCW? I prefer not to deal with the high voltages though… ![image](https://forum.cpcwiki.eu/uploads/default/original/2X/2/212a71abad94f15e77f57afe7be2e575c05fc146.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![JTN](https://forum.cpcwiki.eu/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/f08c70/32.png) [@JTN](https://forum.cpcwiki.eu/u/JTN)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 12:14pm UTC](https://forum.cpcwiki.eu/t/distorted-image-on-a-pcw-8256/885/2 "2026-10-18T12:14:06Z")
This was a fairly common failure mode – I’ve seen it myself. (Disclaimer for what follows: I’m not a competent electrical person; I did often open up PCWs as a kid, taking care to let high voltages dissipate, and didn’t electrocute myself; but that may have been luck…) I have a vague recollection of someone suggesting a remedy of degaussing a metal frame near the CRT, or something like that; I thought I had that from 8000 / PCW Plus magazine, but I didn’t find it in a quick look through the magazines’ own indexes. I haven’t tried a full-text search. So maybe this notion came from somewhere else (such as a guess from my family?) Certainly I haven’t seen it tried. So take this with an enormous pinch of salt. What I did find via the magazine index was rather more vague (and I suspect fiddling with the knobs won’t help): - “Screen ‘bending’”, [issue #40, Jan 90, p70](https://archive.org/details/8000_Plus_Issue_040_1990-01_Future_Publishing_GB/page/n69/mode/1up) - “My PCW8256 – which only cost me £50 second hand – works fine when it is first switched on but as the monitor warms up the top quarter of the screen gradually bends further and further to the left. What can I do? _Lora Colver, Ilford, Essex_” - “ **_8000_ PLUS:** Hmm. Try fiddling with the ‘Sincro horiz’ knob at the back of the machine – it might make a difference. Otherwise you’ll have to find a friendly TV engineer who can have a look at it.” - “Correcting sloping screen displays”, [issue #37, Oct 89, p77](https://archive.org/details/8000_Plus_Issue_037_1989-10_Future_Publishing_GB/page/n76/mode/1up) - “Whilst I am entirely happy with the workings of my machine, there is one peculiarity which I find somewhat annoying. The screen display is off centre and slopes downwards quite considerably to the left, and is more apparent at the top of the screen where the management section is shown. Perhaps you can advise me whether there is a simple solution. _G Lewis, Nazeing, Essex_” - “ **_8000_ PLUS:** You may remember the days when televisions had a whole row of little knobs at the back to adjust every aspect of the screen. They’re still there of course but now they’re inside the circuit boards. Computer screens have all the same adjustments (near enough) but only two are available from outside; the horizontal and vertical hold, accessible from the back. Try these, they may do some good. If they don’t you need a television engineer to open it up and work on it. Don’t do it yourself as the voltages are extremely high and very dangerous.” ---
**Author:** ![eto](https://forum.cpcwiki.eu/user_avatar/forum.cpcwiki.eu/eto/32/24_2.png) [@eto](https://forum.cpcwiki.eu/u/eto)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 4:36pm UTC](https://forum.cpcwiki.eu/t/distorted-image-on-a-pcw-8256/885/3 "2026-10-19T16:36:55Z")
> [@JTN](#): > > What I did find via the magazine index was rather more vague (and I suspect fiddling with the knobs won’t help): Thanks for having a look. Unfortunately both cases recommend to visit a TV engineer - which is no longer an option these days. ---
**Author:** ![robcfg](https://forum.cpcwiki.eu/user_avatar/forum.cpcwiki.eu/robcfg/32/43_2.png) [@robcfg](https://forum.cpcwiki.eu/u/robcfg)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 4:43pm UTC](https://forum.cpcwiki.eu/t/distorted-image-on-a-pcw-8256/885/4 "2026-10-19T16:43:10Z")
Also take a look at the service manuals as they usually contain detail information about faults and how to fix them: > **[en:manuals:service \[\]](https://pcwwiki2.com/doku.php?id=en:manuals:service)** ---
**Author:** ![JTN](https://forum.cpcwiki.eu/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/f08c70/32.png) [@JTN](https://forum.cpcwiki.eu/u/JTN)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 7:35pm UTC](https://forum.cpcwiki.eu/t/distorted-image-on-a-pcw-8256/885/5 "2026-10-19T19:35:24Z")
> [@JTN](#): > > I have a vague recollection of someone suggesting a remedy of degaussing a metal frame near the CRT, or something like that; I thought I had that from 8000 / PCW Plus magazine Ah, I found what I was thinking of (thanks to archive.org’s full-text search)! [Issue #27, December 1988, p89](https://archive.org/details/8000_Plus_Issue_027_1988-12_Future_Publishing_GB/page/n88/mode/1up): - “ **Listing to starboard:** My Fat Joyce was one of the first available, so I will leave it to you to work out just how old she (he,it) is. She has had probably average use, certainly not heavy. I enclose some rather poor haemorrhoid shots of the screen (I call them that because, like Polaroids, they develop quickly), which illustrate the problem. The top of the display is very wonky. Screen dumps are fine. This is not confined to LocoScript, but happens a little later when I switch on with any program. Any ideas please? _John Nash, Watchet_” - “ **_8000_ PLUS:** The commonest reason for this is the metal surrounding the screen (whose purpose is to shield it from magnetic fields) itself becoming magnetised. You have to demagnetise it (when it’s switched off!) with degaussing apparatus – try your local television engineer. It’s all a problem with the display, not with the software of course; your text files and programs are still OK. Other less pleasant causes can be defects of the coils inside in which case you’d need a specialist computer repairer.” Mentions TV engineers again, but at least it gives you some other search terms. “crt degaussing wand” and “degaussing coil” seem like they might give relevant results for the kind of tool needed (although most of the hits are talking about a more subtle kind of degaussing for colour displays, I think). (Surely there are folks with TV engineering experience hanging around the retro scene, anyway…)