Repairing VGA Connector

[atomstryker]

My monitor went out and I looked and saw that the pins were all bent and out of alignment. I need to fix it because I'm short on funds. What is the best way to go about doing this? Removing the connector, getting a new one and soldering it on? I have a little experience with a soldering iron, so that should work. Any other, easier, method?

Thanks very much

 

[boran]

if all pins are just bent, you can try CAREFULLY straigtening them with a very fine pair of pliers or other finr work tools. I would NOT get a new connector to solder on, because your signal will be terribly, maybe a professional can do a decent job, but then it would be to replace the cable as a whole, and solder a new one onto the board in the screen.

 

[atomstryker]

I doubt my ability at unbending the pins. Any other opinions?

 

[Big Lar]

Unbend the pins, heck you can do it, i have had to straighten pins on cpu's purchased off the forum, just takes some time and patience..

 

[atomstryker]

any tools or tips for unbending them?

 

[atomstryker]

I spent the better part of an hour working on it with no luck. Many of the pins are simply not straight, one is pushed half way in, and one is broke in half. Is there any other option for replacing the connector?

 

[GregANDTCH]

Your cable doesn't happen to unplug from the back of the monitor does it?
That would be alot easier.

 

[boran]

most cheaper monitors come with the cable soldred on the monitor PCB, if that's the case here you'll need to find an electronics store and a person who is good enough at soldering to solder a new cable on.

 

[atomstryker]

Cable is soldered to PCB, I have a friend who was an Engineer and knows how to solder, he just needs to know the best approach at fixing it. Would it be to cut off the connector and put a new one on, cut off the wire and switch it with another wire, or cut it where it attaches to the board and put a whole new cable?

 

[boran]

whole new cable, definetly, monitor cables are very picky about their isolation, so if you solder a new connector on there's no way you'll get the same signal quality, unless it's one of those connectros you can clip open, but most ones nowadays are molded around the cable (the outer packaging at least) so the best way to go is to replace the entire cable. carefull when opening the monitor casing tho, there are huge dangers associated with poking around in monitor innards.

 

[Zepper]

You can get the 15-pin high density connectors with crimp-on contacts. I have replaced several for the same reason as you are with either crimp-on or solder pot connectors. They have worked fine. But as others have said, getting the cable assembly from the mfr and soldering inside if necessary is always the best (and often easiest, as some plug onto an internal header) way, if the most expensive. OTOH, you can get a video cable assembly from compgeeks.com or computergate.com (really nice, 6 foot with ferrites at both ends - < $10.), cut one end off and solder the wires into the circuit board (usually much easier than trying to work with the HD connectors) - would probably work at least as well as a factory assembly.
.bh.