A dead LCD monitor

[konakona]

One day I woke up to find the monitor was not powering up. Tried different power cable and outlets in the room and the thing still didn't work. The sad thing is, the warranty just seem to have ran out like a month or two ago.

The monitor in question is Soyo Topaz 24''. Is there anything at all to gain from opening the sucker up?

 

[Onund]

it depends on the failure mode, might be a $2 fix if you have any soldering skills. When you say 'not powering up' you mean to say the power on LED doesn't even light? Or the on LED lights up but you don't see any backlight?

If the LED does come on but you don't see any backlight, try taking a flashlight and shining it directly at the screen when you know something should be there, ie computer on and monitor plugged in. It's possible the backlight failed but the monitor is fine. When you shine the light at a working monitor with a failed backlight you should faintly see what the monitor is displaying from the reflected light.

If the LED doesn't even come on it is probably a power supply problem and hopefully a capacitor problem. Even if the LED does come on but nothing shows up on screen it can still be a PSU problem. I just finished fixing 3 monitors with this problem, all free from work . What you'll need to do, if you're willing, is open up the monitor and dig into it until you can have a look at the PSU. If you see any capacitors that are bulging out the top or leaking stuff then you have bad caps. Make note of the cap specs printed on the side, go to your local electronics surplus shop, buy replacement caps (usually $0.50each or less) and replace the parts.

Usually there's a section on the PSU PCB with a number of caps clustered together. I just changed out all the caps in that section with new ones even if they weren't bulging. After doing that on my dead monitors, they all powered up fine.

Depending on your monitor, it can be a pain (literally) to open then. Only one of the monitors I had used screws to hold the bezel on, the other two, you have to push the front half of the bezel up to unlatch the plastic clips holding the front and back together. The manual I looked at said to start at the top of the monitor. If you're looking down at the monitor from the top you should see a seam where the two halves of the plastic casing come together. What you want to do is place the tips of your fingers on the inside edge of the bezel (the part that frames the screen) and your thumbs on the back side of the seam. Now you just push up on the bezel, so if you're still looking down from the top, you want the front half to come up towards you. I had to apply a lot of pressure to get it to start to separate. I did this about a month ago and my fingers are still recovering.

 

[Scottae]

Originally posted by: konakona
Is there anything at all to gain from opening the sucker up?

Well, the real question is what is to be lost.
'

 

[konakona]

true, nothing to lose really.

Onund, thanks for a very detailed info. I am not that great with a soldering iron, maybe I should invite someone who has steadier hands. The LED doesnt light up with the power cable plugged in, no visual or audible signs of the unit powering up at all to speak of.

I guess I will take a look inside after I move next week, hopefully take some pictures while at it

 

[Onund]

if you have no LED light then it sounds like a PSU issue. It could be something more mundane like a connected shook free but you'd see that when you pop it open.

No problem on the detailed info. I had a dead monitor sitting in my house for close to a year because I couldn't figure out how to get inside it. Just thought I'd share what I learnt.

Also, the capacitors you would be changing (if that is the problem) are through hole caps so they're easy to solder. You could be half blind, arthritic and on your 2nd pot of coffee and still get a decent solder joint. One final note about the caps, make sure your replacement caps are short enough to fit in the monitor when closed up. I made that mistake and had to get creative with my placement in one monitor.

 

[Scottae]

I dont want to sound like an idiot.. but could it just be the Inline PowerSupply is bad? if it has one. Might wanna look at that... if you can find an aftermarket one.


Also.. Just a note... from perosnal Exp. Did you try it on another PC? I had a DVI port flake out on me.. once... only once... switched to the other.. and Bang all fixed...


nm just saw section in first post... my bad...

 

[konakona]

Wow, never knew this happened so long ago... Just learned at hardforum that soyo was actually selling replacement PSUs back when they were still operational. I know it sounds like a last ditch effort, but does anyone happen to know where to buy spare power supplies for these? With soyo gone, maybe someone inherited all their junk? My monitor is still sitting in the box, collecting dust (well the box is )

 

[RebateMonger]

Have you tried eBay?

 

[konakona]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
Have you tried eBay?

yep, and came up with nothing unfortunately. guess I gotta try harder.

I am thinking I might have better luck searching if I can get around to open it up again and read the part number off the PSU housing/case/etc.