Monitor goes black once per day

[aphelion02]

I've been having this problem for the last couple days and I suspect its a monitor issue, but I can't pinpoint the cause of it. Its a Dell U3011 that I got 2nd hand 2 years ago and has been performing splendidly until this. Here's what happens:

1. Every night about 10min after monitor turns on it randomly goes black. My computer runs completely normally otherwise and the 2nd monitor connected to the same video card stays on.

2. The power led stays lit up, indicating that power is not the problem. The OSD menu doesn't show up when I push the button. Trying to reset the monitor power by pressing the power button does not fix the problem.

3. So far the fix I've found is to completely power cycle the monitor by unplugging and replugging in the power cord to the monitor. It may take a few tries and I have to wait a bit. A couple times the monitor comes back to life on its own.

4. I've tried shining a flashlight at the monitor in a completely dark environment to see if its just the backlight not working. However I don't see a image, meaning that there simply is not image being displayed.

5. So far after the monitor gets operational (either after power cycling it by unplugging the power cord or it coming back to life naturally) the problem does not recurr until the next time I shut it down.

Any ideas? This is just fresh out of warranty, and I'm wondering if my best option is to take it apart and trying to replace the power board / some capacitors...

 

[paul878]

Have you try it with another computer and cable set?

 

[sm625]

Try switching input connectors, ie if you're using DVI switch it to VGA.

 

[john3850]

If you can find a few bulging capacitors change them.
My samsung died the same way after 3+ years.
I removed the inputs and did not see any self test that states no input cable found etc.
On the inside housing there was a flash mark were something shorted and just one capacitor was starting to go bad.
Bought a dell u2412 to replace it with.

 

[aphelion02]

I ruled out the connector part because even the OSD wasn't showing up. There is no light from the backlight at all, its just completely dark.

Starting to think I might have to take it apart...

 

[Peter Nixeus]

It is either the board that controls the backlight or LVDS...

 

[Six]

3. So far the fix I've found is to completely power cycle the monitor by unplugging and replugging in the power cord to the monitor. It may take a few tries and I have to wait a bit. A couple times the monitor comes back to life on its own.

Bad capacitors.

 

[corkyg]

It can also be your vid card. Are you able to change it?

 

[Cebu]

I had the same problems with my wife's monitor a few weeks ago. I changed out the cables and video card , but it kept going dark. I was the monitor. Once I changed it out with a new one it never happened again.

 

[vbuggy]

I had this quite often with my Apple 30" Cinema Displays, where in a certain temp band they'd refuse to properly power up once a day until I unplugged it from the PSU and then plugged it back in. Also I had to unplug the PSU (which is separate on the Apples) from the display, unplugging the PSU from AC didn't cure the problem.

I know some displays were replaced several times, as with the PSU's - both at separate times - but the problem recurred.

I never had the same problem with the 3008's. I have no idea what to make of the pattern but it does appear you had exactly the same issue as I had, with a different vendor - and I never got a lasting solution even in warranty.

 

[alangrift]

My friends tv was doing the exact same thing as your computer screen. It could just be age that's what I think.

 

[aphelion02]

Update:

At this point I am quite certain the problem is with the monitor, not connection or video card since my other monitor has zero issues. Also a problem with video input won't explain why the the OSD menu would not show up.

I took apart the monitor (quite an effort trying to get the bezel off), and was able to inspect the power supply board as well as the other almost all the other PCBs connected to the monitor inputs. All the capacitors look to be in fine condition with not even the slightest hint of bulging. Other components look alright too, at least at first glance. Of course there might be other components / capacitors hidden from plain view but I'm not really confortable disassembling the entire thing without knowing exactly what I'm looking for.

Dell informed me that the monitor went out of warranty 4 months ago and even they would not be able to fix it even if I offered to pay for out-of-warranty support, since their default action is to replace the monitor rather than attempt to diagnose it . So at this point in time I am truly out of ideas and kicking myself for not getting the extended warranty.

I am contemplating buying a U3011 power board and replacing it to see if it will help, but there's obviously no guarantee. Also it seems strange to me that the monitor would be otherwise powered on BESIDES the panel, so I'm not at all confident what I'm doing would fix the problem.

 

[rankel]

Did you get this working? Or failing that did you try anything else and not get an improvement? I have the same monitor with the same issue. I think it might be the LVDS cables themselves. instead of power cycling it, I tried plugging it back in without the plastic housing, and when the screen goes blank I turn it off, rap on the metal shield right where the LVDS connectors are, and power it back up. This typically works. However is seems to becoming less and less effective. I wonder if either one of the sockets is bad, or if the cables are bad.

 

[LucJoe]

I am dealing with this exact same problem now. Some days it won't work for more than 10 minutes, other days it will be fine for hours. It's so annoying, perfect picture one second, black screen the next. No warning. Blue light is still on indicating the monitor THINKS it is working. If I let it sit for a while it will eventually flash orange (computer puts it to sleep). So everything seems to be fine except it just stops displaying an image.

What can I do? I'm a few months out of warranty as well, so Dell will be no help. I really hate the thought of junking a $1500 monitor.

This guy on youtube shows the problem - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyxAb70X6Mg
In the comments, he says he found no solution. No bad capacitors and Dell was no help, so he dumped the monitor.

Any help would be appreciated!


edit: Another interesting thread over at badcaps about someone trying to fix this problem. http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=41130

 

[silicon]

it almost sounds like there is a cold solder joint in the power board or the other boards if any. since the failure is random it could be that. if you have a good magnifying lens you could inspect the joints. If it turns out to be an SMT component being intermittent a new monitor may be the only thing to do.

 

[LucJoe]

it almost sounds like there is a cold solder joint in the power board or the other boards if any. since the failure is random it could be that. if you have a good magnifying lens you could inspect the joints. If it turns out to be an SMT component being intermittent a new monitor may be the only thing to do.

It's kind of hard to tell, but it sounds like the guy at badcaps fixed his intermittent on/off problem when he replaced the power board. He also seems to have introduced a flickering line problem (another common issue with U3011) possibly when he unnecessarily swapped out a bunch of caps.

I can get the power board for $83. Might just go for that and see if that fixes it...

 

[DigDog]

it goes black .. and then it goes back?!

impossibru.gif

 

[LucJoe]

dp

 

[Puffnstuff]

You know I had a similar issue with my dell on hdmi and it turned out that the cable was loose in the plug. I switched over to the dp port with a locking plug and problem solved. If you wiggle your cable and the picture returns then you probably have the same issue. Several companies make a locking cable for hdmi but I wanted to try dp, bad move, since it's the last output on the gpu and I had to disconnect everything else so it would display on my monitor during post.

 

[boed]

I have the same issue. I know it is the monitor as the Dell logo should come on if you have no input connected. It doesn't when the issue has just occurred. Wait for it to actually display the logo and it works. I won't pay more for a Dell monitor again.

 

[choccy_bar]

I have sort of same issues, think it has to do with DVI-HDMI-DVI cabling, and routing through a AVR. (1900x1200 isn't supported by AVR)

Usually a PC reboot solves it, until GPU/ monitor goes into standby then I get black screen, or video noise (have to reboot again)