Looking for good monitor repair site or guide

[riversend]

My Samsung 215tw died over the weekend, either the backlight inverter or ccfl giving up the ghost. I am getting a new monitor, but was thinking that with some online help I might be able to breakdown the 215tw and see if failed capacitors might be the culprit. I would do this with my 8 year old, so even better would be a site without f-bombs or other language every other paragraph/post (like the first one I found while he was looking over my shoulder). :$

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Virgorising]

My Samsung 215tw died over the weekend, either the backlight inverter or ccfl giving up the ghost. I am getting a new monitor, but was thinking that with some online help I might be able to breakdown the 215tw and see if failed capacitors might be the culprit. I would do this with my 8 year old, so even better would be a site without f-bombs or other language every other paragraph/post (like the first one I found while he was looking over my shoulder). :$

Thanks for any suggestions.

http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/215TW

I don't see a shop manual, I think, cause these, and increasingly, are not meant to be repaired, but rather discarded when they get sick.

I too love to and am moved to repair everything, but, once in a while U get it's a doomed effort, esp when the item is built to be disposable.

 

[Steltek]

I'm pretty sure there is a video repair series for the Samsung 215TW on Youtube.

EDIT:
Don't know if this is the same problem you are having - very faint display with severe flickering??

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

 

[Virgorising]

I'm pretty sure there is a video repair series for the Samsung 215TW on Youtube.

Indeed! And, in THREE PARTS! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4hLyZAIOtY

If his skillset includes such as capacitor replacing.....then, it would be a lovely adventure. But not for anyone without that level of skill, and that's most humans.

See post #4 esp: http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7622

But see all of them. My dad told me early on, the more bells and whistles, the greater the potential for things getting messed up.
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7622

 

[Steltek]

If you think it will help you, I have located the Samsung service manual for the 215TW monitor in PDF format. If you want a copy of it, PM me with an email address where to send it.

 

[riversend]

Thanks for all the great replies. I will give these a look over the next few days. Since I have nothing to lose other than a few bucks in order to have a small tech adventure with my son, I think this will be worth the effort.

 

[Virgorising]

Thanks for all the great replies. I will give these a look over the next few days. Since I have nothing to lose other than a few bucks in order to have a small tech adventure with my son, I think this will be worth the effort.

Nothing to loose means you have the CHOPS, and this will be an adventure! I RELATE! Tho no way, no how, re removing caps from an ICB, forget soldering on new ones.:|

Lucky son!!!!:biggrin:

Good luck, report back!!!!!

 

[riversend]

Ok, so it only took 7 months :$ to get around to it, but my once defunct Samsung 215tw is up and running again. :biggrin: I watched the videos posted some months ago, which made me realize it was not all that tough, so thanks for the assistance!

About two weeks ago my son's request to open up the non-functional display and my schedule matched up and we were able to get started. We found a great blog post here that gave us the step-by-step to get the monitor torn apart, so he could read each step as we did it. We dismantled the display on a work station in the garage (basically two sawhorses, with a large piece of plywood stabilized with a 2x2 crossbar) per the blog instructions. After removing the power supply we found five of the six capacitors were bulging (all CapXon manufactured).

That week I found a site that sells capacitor repair bundles (probably more than getting the capacitors on my own, but this was easy) for about $10. They arrived last weekend.

This weekend I borrowed a soldering iron from a friend, and with little prior experience (25+ years ago in a EE lab) my son and I started to remove the bad caps. Gently twisted them off, and then melted the old solder and removed (my son manned the vacuum pen that sucked up the old liquid solder. Not perfectly clean, but the board was intact, no significant damage that I could see under a magnifying glass. I inserted the new capacitors, bent the wires to hold in place, and then applied some new solder. Desoldering much slower than application, probably due to a difference in chemical composition after the initial application years ago.

The power supply was reinstalled, and checked for operation. The Samsung logo came right up! Awesome! Then I finished assembly, brought into the computer room and hooked up to my machine, next to the HP ZR2440. Rebooted the computer, and now I have a dual monitor setup running. Awesome! Not perfect (1920x1200 main, 1680x1050 extension), but for $10 dollars in good caps and a few hours of time, pretty sweet IMHO.

The entire project went great, nothing to lose, my son got to demystify some electronics and see that a little effort can lead to good things. Wonderful experience all around. Thanks for all the input and encouragement. The next time a display begins to act up I'll have no problem with doing some maintenance on my own. :thumbsup:

 

[Vanth]

Your repair endeavor is the perfect example of the initiative all of us must take in regard to keeping the planet pristine for future generations. We are often too prone to buy new electronics when a small malfunction happens to the electronics equipment we own. Instead of repairing this malfunction, we choose the lazy option and just go buy a new one. The old one fills the landfills and poisons the soil and groundwater. Not to mention that the greater demand for trace metals and rare metals causes such disastrous decisions such as mountain top stripping. So I commend you in your success!

 

[riversend]

And for any future monitor failures (tv, pc etc.) I'll feel pretty comfortable pulling it apart and troubleshooting. As will my son as he gets older. Nothing but positives all around.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Want to fix my monitor? I have (had) a pair of KDS 26" TN LCD panels, and one went "pop" (literally) this morning. They are 1920x1200, which is kind of rare these days. I picked up an Auria 24" IPS LCD 1920x1200 screen today at Microcenter.

Any idea where to find a "cap kit" for it?

 

[Torn Mind]

Want to fix my monitor? I have (had) a pair of KDS 26" TN LCD panels, and one went "pop" (literally) this morning. They are 1920x1200, which is kind of rare these days. I picked up an Auria 24" IPS LCD 1920x1200 screen today at Microcenter.

Any idea where to find a "cap kit" for it?

You can purchase caps with identical specs to the ones present on the board.

 

[stinger608]

Want to fix my monitor? I have (had) a pair of KDS 26" TN LCD panels, and one went "pop" (literally) this morning. They are 1920x1200, which is kind of rare these days. I picked up an Auria 24" IPS LCD 1920x1200 screen today at Microcenter.

Any idea where to find a "cap kit" for it?

I would first try and do some research on a repair tutorial on that monitor. Might be a common problem and not even be caps that are bad

Ok, so it only took 7 months :$ to get around to it, but my once defunct Samsung 215tw is up and running again. :biggrin: I watched the videos posted some months ago, which made me realize it was not all that tough, so thanks for the assistance!

About two weeks ago my son's request to open up the non-functional display and my schedule matched up and we were able to get started. We found a great blog post here that gave us the step-by-step to get the monitor torn apart, so he could read each step as we did it. We dismantled the display on a work station in the garage (basically two sawhorses, with a large piece of plywood stabilized with a 2x2 crossbar) per the blog instructions. After removing the power supply we found five of the six capacitors were bulging (all CapXon manufactured).

That week I found a site that sells capacitor repair bundles (probably more than getting the capacitors on my own, but this was easy) for about $10. They arrived last weekend.

This weekend I borrowed a soldering iron from a friend, and with little prior experience (25+ years ago in a EE lab) my son and I started to remove the bad caps. Gently twisted them off, and then melted the old solder and removed (my son manned the vacuum pen that sucked up the old liquid solder. Not perfectly clean, but the board was intact, no significant damage that I could see under a magnifying glass. I inserted the new capacitors, bent the wires to hold in place, and then applied some new solder. Desoldering much slower than application, probably due to a difference in chemical composition after the initial application years ago.

The power supply was reinstalled, and checked for operation. The Samsung logo came right up! Awesome! Then I finished assembly, brought into the computer room and hooked up to my machine, next to the HP ZR2440. Rebooted the computer, and now I have a dual monitor setup running. Awesome! Not perfect (1920x1200 main, 1680x1050 extension), but for $10 dollars in good caps and a few hours of time, pretty sweet IMHO.

The entire project went great, nothing to lose, my son got to demystify some electronics and see that a little effort can lead to good things. Wonderful experience all around. Thanks for all the input and encouragement. The next time a display begins to act up I'll have no problem with doing some maintenance on my own. :thumbsup:

Awesome story Riversend! I'll bet that was a golden experience with your son.

 

[riversend]

Any idea where to find a "cap kit" for it?

You can try this site, I think they might build kits. They have one up for an Auria EQ236.

Awesome story Riversend! I'll bet that was a golden experience with your son.

It was great, well worth the time and effort. It was great to plug the monitor in and see it fire back up!