Dead Cinema Display, possibly power adapter?

[Essence_of_War]

I have an older apple 20'' cinema display that powered off today and won't turn back on.

I've checked the most obvious stuff:
1) Cable from power adapter to monitor, and cable from power outlet to power adapter are snug.
2) Plugging/unplugging.
3) Toggle'ing power button.
4) Checking to make sure the DVI port it was plugged into works with a different monitor.
5) Checking to make sure the power outlet the adapter was plugged into works with another monitor.

My suspicion is that perhaps the power adapter died, is there anything else I can do to verify that before I track down a new adapter on ebay/amazon or something?

 

[joshhedge]

Does your power adapter have a fuse in it? Could have blown?

 

[TheStu]

Get a multimeter and check it that way? Take it to the Apple Store if you have one nearby? They'll check it for free, they don't charge for a simple diagnostic.

 

[Essence_of_War]

joshhedge,

To be clear, when I say "Power Adapter" I really mean the little psu brick that converts wall power to DC power for the cinema display. I bet it might have a fuse in it, but it doesn't look like I can open that up without cracking it open.

TheStu,

Really? They'll even diagnose an adapter that's coming in on 8 years old at this point? If so that's great, I have an Apple Store close to me, so I'll try to take it by this weekend.

 

[TheStu]

joshhedge,

To be clear, when I say "Power Adapter" I really mean the little psu brick that converts wall power to DC power for the cinema display. I bet it might have a fuse in it, but it doesn't look like I can open that up without cracking it open.

TheStu,

Really? They'll even diagnose an adapter that's coming in on 8 years old at this point? If so that's great, I have an Apple Store close to me, so I'll try to take it by this weekend.

What's the harm in trying?

 

[Essence_of_War]

Truth, especially since it's fairly close by.

Worst they can do is say no. And then I can take my revenge by playing with one of their thunderbolt displays for a little bit 😛

 

[ViRGE]

Just to throw this out there, are you sure that it isn't the backlight that died instead? Older LCDs have a nasty habit of having their inverters go out.

 

[Essence_of_War]

Hmmm...I guess I'm not 100% certain.

I thought it was the adapter/psu because I figured even if the backlight had died, the little "power on" light on the front of the monitor would still light up, but that if both the monitor and said light were off, that would indicate that it was getting no power from the adapter.

 

[ViRGE]

Ahh, good call on the power LED. If it was just the inverter then the LED would still be working (and if in doubt, turn the monitor on and take a flashlight to it 😛 ).

 

[Essence_of_War]

Sad update:

I brought the cinema display into the apple store, tested with a new power adapter, and unfortunately it looks like it's dead hardware on the displays motherboard rather than a simple dead power supply.

Thanks for weighing in everyone.

 

[Childs]

I've had several power adapters die on the 20/23 CD, but when I used one from the 30" it worked. It was specific to the monitor, not the power adapter. Working 23" power adapters on other monitors wouldn't work with them, only the 30" power adapter. I had to do with something failing in the monitor, but the extra juice was a workaround. I'll see if I can dig up that research.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2086442?start=30&tstart=0

I don't remember if the blinking code was short long short, but there are many workarounds for this issue. Power adapter being one, shorting pins is another.