Help - dying monitor? Can this patient be saved?

Oct 26 00:02 UTC 1993

Just in case someone has some ideas: the monitor on this system (an XT clone,
the monitor is Packard Bell mono, & it has a herc-compatible card) has
started to get really flaky.  This is still intermittent, but getting worse.
It's as if it starts shifting horizontally, shivering, really, very rapidly
& **very** violently.  Lately I'm even noticing some sort of noise as it
does it.  ("Static" doesn't seem quite right, but I can't think of a better
description.  Very faint.  From inside the monitor, I think.)

At first it seemed to be almost always shortly after powering up.  Now it
doesn't seem to have any pattern.

Any likely off-the-cuff diagnoses?  And what is the likelihood that this
can be fixed cheap (free) by a 10-thumbed hardware-know-nothing?

(It has started doing it as I've entered this - if my typing is bad, it's
because I'm doing this almost blind.  I can see where the lines are, more
or less, & sort of how long they are - and from time to time it snaps back
into focus briefly.  Long enough to do some correcting.)

response 2 of 25:

Oct 26 07:13 UTC 1993

REcognize that HV is well insulated, and open the thing. Get it
running and use a WOOD stick (not a pencil) to tap on various 
and sundry parts. Since this is an intermittant (the most damnable
problem) the shakey part should reveal itself with physical agitation.
  
Include wires in the tapping routine.
  
Same goes for aa8ij's monitor problem, btw.

response 4 of 25:

Mar 9 04:05 UTC 2000

Doubtful.  It sounds more like a hardware problem; loose connection or
some such.  This could actually be anywhere, in the computer, the cable,
or the monitor.  If you can swap monitors and cables, and see what the
problem follows, you should be able to narrow down the location.
Wiggling cables and connectors may also help in terms of locating the
problem.  Blowing the dust out of the monitor probably won't help (and
could make the problem worse) but taking the cover off and looking for
loose cables or connections could well help.  Blowing the dust off may
be helpful in terms of wiggling cables and looking for obviously crufty
solder joints and will certainly make the job more pleasant.

response 6 of 25:

Mar 9 12:18 UTC 2000

It sounds like an intermittent.  I'd pull out the PC board and re-do
several of the solder joints.  Especially those for heavy components
with thick leads.  Even a joint that looks good to the naked eye can
be bad. Also touch up all the joints to connectors on the board.

response 8 of 25:

Mar 9 16:32 UTC 2000

Point taken!

The way it now flashes back and forth between normal and blue is almost
entertaining. It spends about 50% of the time in each mode, but the
flashing seems rather random, at an average interval of about 10 seconds or
so. It should be possible to deduce something from this. Right - a poor
connection somewhere. 

response 10 of 25:

Mar 9 19:09 UTC 2000

Just tried "wacking", without effect. Between the flashes of blue there
are much less discernible rapid fluctuations in color sometimes, like
'static'.

response 12 of 25:

Mar 10 14:29 UTC 2000

re #3: Rane, this sound very much like a cable problem. try wiggling the cable
where it connects to the monitor or computer. if that doesn't help, try
replacing it with a known good cable. if it still doesn't help, try checking
that the plugs on the monitor and computer are working (no broken pins/blocked
pinholes, make sure it is soldered well to the graphic card and monitor
internals, etc.). if all else fails, try taking a look at the inside of the
monitor.

response 14 of 25:

Mar 10 20:22 UTC 2000

Breaking news....I substituted my other MultiScan 15 and while the
color came up OK, the problem I had had last October, of a wildly fluctuating
display, began. It was cured that time by reinstalling the ATI video
board software, so I uninstalled the old software and attempted to
reinstall it (with the monitor on the Apple CPU port). However the
installer said "No ATI retail hardware installed". I removed and
reseated the board, without success. It MAY be that the two problems, though
different in the different monitors, reflect a fault in the video board.
I have written ATI. (I have not yet tried the monitor with the bad red
on the CPU port....next test.)

response 16 of 25:

Mar 17 12:51 UTC 2000

I forget exactly but Apple likes to use little, locking, plastic taps.  You
have to get some skinny tool between the plastic halves and lever them apart.

response 18 of 25:

Mar 18 05:00 UTC 2000

A letter opener works well.

response 20 of 25:

Mar 20 12:54 UTC 2000

Those screws are just T-15 Torx screws.  I just got a Torx driver, cut the
shaft in half, and epoxied in a length of tubing to extend the tip.

response 22 of 25:

Dec 15 07:29 UTC 2001

Now you tell me.....  8^}  Well, that monitor was taken to recycle over
a year ago. But I'll keep that in mind. One thing that makes me
wonder about your diagnosis, however, is that this became a known
problem with that model of monitor, and *it was always the red gun*
that failed intermittently. I would think capacitors likely  to fail
would be going into all the drivers, not just the red  ones.

response 24 of 25:

Dec 15 17:30 UTC 2001

Very possible, or some other differences between the driver circuits.