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monitor goes *poof*... probably faulty capacitor?

t4paN
t4paN
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t4paN polycounter lvl 10
Ok, so my secondary monitor (19 inch samsung 940N) stopped working. The screen flickers a bit after the monitor is on for more than a couple of minutes, and then goes black with the light staying blue on the power button.

I'm betting it's a faulty capacitor, but I can't be sure, since... well, I can't even open the damn thing up. It's got only a couple of screws but I have the feeling the chasis may be glued on.

Any ideas?
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  • pyromania
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    pyromania polycounter lvl 18
    Could be the backlight inverter. When it goes black hold a flashlight up close to the screen and see if you can still see what should be on screen.
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  • t4paN
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    t4paN polycounter lvl 10
    Is this backlight inverter guy fixable if it is what's wrong with the screen?
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  • pyromania
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    pyromania polycounter lvl 18
    t4paN wrote: »
    Is this backlight inverter guy fixable if it is what's wrong with the screen?

    Fixable? maybe... Usually it is easier to just replace them though. They are a separate circuit board that just powers the lights. About the size of a large stick of gum. When you open the monitor you will be able to get a part number off of it and start doing some google seaching.
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  • t4paN
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    t4paN polycounter lvl 10
    pyromania wrote: »
    Fixable? maybe... Usually it is easier to just replace them though. They are a separate circuit board that just powers the lights. About the size of a large stick of gum. When you open the monitor you will be able to get a part number off of it and start doing some google seaching.

    If it's like an AA battery sized rectangle black thing, I saw it. I opened the monitor up, had a look around and didn't see any suspicious-looking capacitors.

    I somehow managed to put the monitor back together without needing any duct tape but even though it flickered for a moment after 5 minutes of use, it now seems perfectly fine.

    I'll try the flashlight thing if/when it goes black again, thanks for the tip mate.
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  • EarthQuake
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    EarthQuake mod
    Not to derail the thread, but i've also got a samsung 20" syncmaster 203b that sort of died on me recently. I've since gotten a new monitor to replace but it would be cool to know if its fixable.

    Heres what happened:
    After a while I had this problem where when i turned the monitor on, it would snap on for a short second, and then imediately back off. The power button would stay on, and if you looked very closely you could see the faint image of what should be on the screen. If i were to let it sit for a short time(like 30 seconds or a minute) and turn off and then back on, i could get it to work correclt again. This went on for maybe a month or so, and progressively got worse(i had to wait longer and longer for it to turn back on again), to the point where it just wouldn't turn back on.

    I'm not sure if this is similar to t4pan's problem, but it would be great to know anything about it, as its just sitting on the floor doing nothing.
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  • pyromania
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    pyromania polycounter lvl 18
    EarthQuake wrote: »
    Not to derail the thread, but i've also got a samsung 20" syncmaster 203b that sort of died on me recently. I've since gotten a new monitor to replace but it would be cool to know if its fixable.

    Heres what happened:
    After a while I had this problem where when i turned the monitor on, it would snap on for a short second, and then imediately back off. The power button would stay on, and if you looked very closely you could see the faint image of what should be on the screen. If i were to let it sit for a short time(like 30 seconds or a minute) and turn off and then back on, i could get it to work correclt again. This went on for maybe a month or so, and progressively got worse(i had to wait longer and longer for it to turn back on again), to the point where it just wouldn't turn back on.

    I'm not sure if this is similar to t4pan's problem, but it would be great to know anything about it, as its just sitting on the floor doing nothing.

    If you could still see stuff on the screen when it went black its definitely a backlight problem. Usually the backlight inverter is the part that fails. Worst case scenario is the power supply that powers the inverter has failed. A bad inverter can be replaced but a bad power supply requires professional repair.

    If you want to open the monitor you could find the part number for the inverter and see how much a new one will cost. The inverter is a separate circuit board. They have 2 small wires going to them for power then 1-2 plugs with larger white or pink wires that feed power to the lights behind the screen.
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  • t4paN
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    t4paN polycounter lvl 10
    pyro, is it possible that you post a pic or something of an inverter, and some info on where to get them? (Is ebay a viable solution?)

    I'm still waiting for my monitor to go *poof* again to check if it's there's anything on the screen at all, right now it seems to be lulling me into a false sense of security just to go black when I expect it the least. Bastard thing.
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  • pyromania
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    pyromania polycounter lvl 18
    t4paN wrote: »
    pyro, is it possible that you post a pic or something of an inverter, and some info on where to get them? (Is ebay a viable solution?)

    I'm still waiting for my monitor to go *poof* again to check if it's there's anything on the screen at all, right now it seems to be lulling me into a false sense of security just to go black when I expect it the least. Bastard thing.

    This site has a bunch of pictures of inverters. I wouldn't buy them from here though, the prices are really high. You can get them much cheaper on ebay or somewhere else. Once you get the part number from the inverter you can start searching.

    http://www.lcdparts.net/DesktopInverterDetail.aspx?InverterOriginal=K02I036.00MSS
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  • Thewiruz
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    Thewiruz polycounter lvl 16
    It should be possible to use a inverter that ships with cold cathode lights.You know the ridiculous lights you can put inside the computer case

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_cathode

    I drive my old laptop @1986 display with an inverter from a cold cathode light unit!
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  • t4paN
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    t4paN polycounter lvl 10
    The monitor just gave up again, this time I lowered the blinds on the windows, took a flashlight to it and voila, i could see my background pic on the screen. I'll reopen the mofo see the part number and then buy a new one. Thanks for the replies guys.
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  • t4paN
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    t4paN polycounter lvl 10
    OK, quick newb-ish question:

    Is this the inverter board? It's the circuit board that the power plugs in... I officially have no idea what i'm doing.

    2w3rty9.jpg

    Or it's probably this, but i haven't unscrewed it yet. Looks dangerous to do so. o_O

    1zlqao4.jpg

    scratch that, turns out the first one is the inverter thingy.
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