Dying Monitor - Repairable?

[SirConfused]

So as the title says, I have a dying monitor. The symptoms are the screen doesn't turn on at all for a while and occasionally it looks like I can see the display but with no lighting on it at all.
The panel seems to spring to life after 5-10 mins of being turned on with no prompting and tends to flicker on/off very quickly for a few seconds followed by sometimes going off again and sometimes coming on.
Hitting the source change button a few times seems to prompt the monitor back into life at that point but not always.
I have tried the changing the cable, using the VGA port (instead of the DVI it's normally on)and also tried the other DVI out on my GPU and none made a difference. It's not the GPU because it drives another monitor at the same time with no problem.

I have one theory so far: is it possible that it's too cold for the panel to get going when it first turns on but once it warms up a bit everything is fine?
Other than that i'm all out of ideas, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks and happy new year!

 

[RussD]

Is it the 24" DGM by any chance...

 

[SirConfused]

Nope, a Samsung 226BW. Over 5 years old for the record.

 

[Crowort]

I'd guess it was a capacitor that can't hold its charge but it is only a guess going by some reading I've done in the past. Someone that knows more would have to tell you what it is most likely to be.

 

[SirConfused]

Thanks, i'll see if anyone has anything more specific for me to look at... other than for a hammer to put through the infuriating thing.

 

[d_brennen]

Probably a bad cap. You'd need to disassemble it and have a look at the PCBs inside - bad caps are almost always bulging and oozing their magic sauce. Repair is easy if you have a soldering iron and replacement caps are cheap and plentiful from ebay and the big component retailer beginning with M

 

[Nightglow]

SirConfused: Common problem, it's the capacitors that are shot, can replace them yourself.

I replaced them in my 226BW around 2011, there a thread on this forum about the problem.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18069187

 

[SirConfused]

Thanks a lot for the info and especially the thread link, it looks like i'm going to be taking this thing to pieces in the near future.

One final question though: With limited electronics experience how easy is it going to be for me to just do it myself and how easy is it to determine what capacitance the replacements need to be (they're all marked up like resistors aren't they?).

Thanks again.

 

[Nightglow]

One final question though: With limited electronics experience how easy is it going to be for me to just do it myself and how easy is it to determine what capacitance the replacements need to be (they're all marked up like resistors aren't they?).

There a list of replacement capacitors required listed & their location on the board, in the thread I linked to.

I find a 30w-40w soldering iron with fine tip enough to do the job,& soldering wick to desolder, or desoldering pump, if you never replaced caps before, you might struggle, & end up doing more harm than good.

Loads of guides on you Tube, for soldering & replacing 226BW caps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WdqU63tS4Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htrcZuK_ZsY

Where are you located, might be someone on here, who could do it for you for the price of a pint or two.

 

[moogle]

Nope, a Samsung 226BW. Over 5 years old for the record.

Same as mine that went bust (managed to fix it though).

Thanks a lot for the info and especially the thread link, it looks like i'm going to be taking this thing to pieces in the near future.

One final question though: With limited electronics experience how easy is it going to be for me to just do it myself and how easy is it to determine what capacitance the replacements need to be (they're all marked up like resistors aren't they?).

Thanks again.

The capacitors are marked with the details, or if you have the same power board (most likely) then from pictures of others boards you can figure out what values they are.

You could also search for a 226BW repair kit (usually sellers create kits with the needed caps that are the ones that are commonly found bulging or faulty) and buy the caps that comes in those kits by yourself saving money.

Also make sure you have a good soldering iron with a chisel tip preferably (2-3mm) to be able to transfer the heat quickly to the joint.

If you don't know about soldering then you should read these pages

http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/solder.htm

or

http://www.antex.co.uk/pages/paper1.htm
http://www.antex.co.uk/pages/paper2.htm
http://www.antex.co.uk/pages/paper3.htm

they will help you quickly get to grips with soldering that way you can fix the caps properly.

I had a crappy soldering iron and the tip was pretty oxidized so soldering was pretty hard because the solder didn't melt and I spent ages holding the iron wondering why it wasn't turning to liquid. After reading guides like that I learned about tinning the tip and making sure the soldering area is clean and it became much easier.

Managed to fix 2 monitors and a TV now all from having bad capacitors.

Hope this helps, I didn't have any help like this when I started and almost damaged the board I was working on due to getting frustrated and holding the iron for so long (minutes compared to seconds) so hopefully this will get you up to speed.

 

[SirConfused]

Thanks a lot for the links folks, i'm going to have a watch/read and give this a go myself. I had pretty much written the monitor off as dead before so if I kill it for some learning experience i'm not desperately bothered, and it's my secondary monitor currently anyway so not a desperate loss .

Given some of the things i'm now reading about capacitor issues i'm surprised mine has lasted this long!

Edit: I also love the bottom of the basic soldering info page... first aid for burns!