DIY flat screen attempt to repair.

[Idmason60]

I have a 3 flat screen monitors that were being pitched,The first works ok except it has no green drive or has green drive that is weak, the second works with the exception of flickers up and down with brightness and thats the one I am using now on this computer. I suspect a power supply issue with it, third one doesn't work at all. I have learned and forgotten lots of electronics but I did remember one thing and that was it is usually easier to fix things that don't work at all then to fix something that partially works. So my first project will be to look at the monitor that does nothing.
I got it open and found the fuse good. I had some trouble getting the power supply board out but with it
on the bench now its easier to look for things. I saw no over heated areas,loose or cold solder joints and
for the most part a really clean board. I did find 3 shorted leaking,bad capacitors. My first project will be to try to locate a source for 3 of those. I am sure those caps were keeping that section of the power supply from coming up.
One thing about this project is that if I fail I am out only my time and a couple bucks for parts and they can still go to the dump but
if I am successful I will have two 17 inch monitors and one 19 inch free except for a few parts and time. They really don't make this stuff to be repaired mainly because of labor. Lets see... new monitor on sale 150 bucks , old one in need of repairs at 65 bucks per hour could cost more.
Thats why we DIY...ha ha.

[nukeman]

Good deal. I like doing that sort of thing too. Most people say it is not worth spending the time/effort, but I think it is fun to troubleshoot and it is really great when you fix something that was going in the trash. Like you said, if you get stuck, it can still go in the trash, but atleast you tried to save it.

Our neighbors were going to trash a $1k treadmill. Something got killed on the motor control board from a power surge. The called the company who makes it add said $400+labor if it is this board, $600+labor if it is this other board. They figured it wasn't worth it, so they were going to dump it. I haven't had a chance to dig into it yet, but I know it'll be an easy fix.

[leejosepho]

I am right there with both of you! Many of my "treasures" came out of somebody's "trash" ... and I learned a little more along the way ... and now when something actually *does* go into the trash, I know it really does belong there.

[Redwood]

They really don't make this stuff to be repaired mainly because of labor. Lets see... new monitor on sale 150 bucks , old one in need of repairs at 65 bucks per hour could cost more.
Thats why we DIY...ha ha.

I guess that is the difference between being in the trade and DIYing...

In the trade we assign a value to our time.

DIYing often has no limits on what time is worth...

[hj]

If you are my daughter's neighbor, then you are welcome to take the treadmill. The motor control board is $250.00 assuming it is all that is wrong, and if not the part is not returnable. And it will take you an couple of hours to disassemble it to get it out of the room.

[nukeman]

Nope. Not your daughter's neighbor (unless that is you over there visiting VA from AZ every weekend). This was already on the street and my neighbor had his handtruck and helped wheel it over to my place. I've found the board for this unit for as little as $65, but I'm going to test and do a component level repair as a 1st shot (I have a background in EE). If the basic stuff checks out and the board still tests bad, I'll just replace the board. Companies will often mark ICs with their own internal part numbers, so it may be a common part, but you might have a hard time finding what common part it is equivalent to.

I just like projects. Always have. For electronics, I started messing with them when I was about 7 or 8 with one of these: http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/ele/elemx-907.htm

(Mine was a slightly different model, but similar). I was building model rockets (solid fuel), model cars, and similar before that.

It's in the blood and I'm sure the 1st two posters are the same way. DIY is not always about saving a buck. Learning and satisfaction of completing the job are more important to me than saving the $$$. It may sound weird, but I find this stuff to be fun.

[jimbo]

Things are a lot more complex these days, and hence non repairable.
I had been having trouble with the water temp. in my washing machine. Sometimes you would set it on cold, hot would come out, sometime cold rinse would be hot, etc. Turns out a calibration error in early production of the temperature control switch cause phantom reversals. Anyway, the switch is $26 so I got one an popped it in. THEN, I figured let's take a look at the old ond. This simple temp control swicth for a fairly basic washing machine has two integrated circuits, bunch of god only knows what, and certainly no schematic diagram for the thing exists anywhere in the English speaking world! You just don't repair this stuff anymore.

[leejosepho]

I guess that is the difference between being in the trade and DIYing...

In the trade we assign a value to our time.

DIYing often has no limits on what time is worth...

Ouch! My time is just as valuable to me as yours is to your customers if/when they are willing to pay for it, and I never have to argue with anyone about the price!

Things are a lot more complex these days, and hence non repairable ...

This simple temp control swicth for a fairly basic washing machine has two integrated circuits ...

You just don't repair this stuff anymore.

True in some cases, or at least quite difficult, but my favorite story is that of my purchasing and "fixing" a non-functioning yogurt maker. After poking around for an hour or so with a couple of jumpers, I ultimately by-passed three selector switches and got the thing working completely and perfectly!

[hj]

My favorite personal WTF problem was with my '69 Buick Riviera. It was #50 off the production line. Driving it long distances would cause the brakes to fail, until the left front brake was bled. I was going on a trip to CA so I called the factory to complain about the problem. He said to bring it in the following week, but I said I was leaving that night and would take my brake bleeder with me and use it when necessary. The next morning, after bleeding it a couple of times through Iowa and Nebraska, I stopped at a Buick dealer and told him my problem. He said it just needed a "power bleeding" so he did it. When I got to Denver, in heavy traffic, I hit the brakes and of course I only had rear brakes which can be "interesting" in traffic. I pulled into Boulder Buick and he said it was the power booster sucking air. When I asked why it worked some times and not others he said, "that's just the way it works". He could not fix it that day, and I did not trust him, so I decided to continue on my way, except I decided to go down through Albequerque instead of Wolf Creek Pass. I stopped in Colorado Springs and picked up a master cylinder rebuild kit and told them I would have it installed when I got to San Diego. When I arrived in San Diego, I took it to the dealer and told him to rebuild the master cylinder. We went with my friends to Disneyland, and when I went back to the dealer, he told me the rebuild kit was for a Riviera, but not MY Riviera, because they only made about 100 with Bendix brakes before changing to another brand. The bad news that was that a rebuild kit would have to come from Flint MI, but the good news was that there was a new master cylinder available in San Francisco and could be bussed down the next day. Three days later when I got my car back I took off for Knott's Berry Farm, and when I pulled into the parking lot, I didn't have any brakes. I bled them and then went to see the guy who sold me my car, because he had opened a dealership in Long Beach. He called his Jaguar mechanic, because my car had one of the first disc brake systems on an American car, but Jaguar had had them for years. They could not find anything funcitonally wrong with the car. I went back to my friend's house and jacked the car up. Then I began to analyze the left front brake to see what could be unique about it. I even took the pads to a brake shop to see if they were worn, but they were almost perfect. Tracing the brake line back, I arrived at the "balancing block". I looked at it, and then wondered if it could be "boiling the fluid" because it was right next to the steering mechanism, the exhaust header, and it had the "A frame" protecive boot in front of it. I decided to tuck the boot up out of the way, and then wrap the block with a wet rag and see what happened. I drove all the way to the Arizona border, stopping periodically to rewet the rag, without a brake problem. I then decided to see what would happen if I did not wet the rag, and drove all the way to Oklahoma City, and when I stopped for gas, I didn't have brakes. I got out to see what had happened, and the rubber boot had snapped back into place. I asked the attendant for a knife and shortened the boot. I then drove all the way back to MI without incident. I sent the above story to the factory, and a few weeks later they called me and said they had run a Riviera at the Phoenix test track and it did not happen. I told him to run MY car there and it would. He offered to replace my entire brake system, but I told him I was confident my repair had solved the problem but I wanted my money back for the repairs I had had done. He sent that to me and told me if I ever had another problem with it to call and they would retrofit the car's brakes. I never had any problem after that, even in Arizona's heat.

[leejosepho]

I told him I was confident my repair had solved the problem but I wanted my money back for the repairs I had done. He sent that to me ...

Yes, yes, DIYers rule!

Great story.

[Redwood]

Yes, yes, DIYers rule!

Great story.

Yea...
Only a DIYer would drive around in a brand new car for several weeks or, longer with defective brakes and go on a cross country trip with it.
Then fix it themselves...

Most would simply return it to the dealer and say, "Fix the damn thing... Call me when it's done, and gimme a loaner..."

[Gary Slusser]

Most today would but that's only true in the last 10+ years. That DIYer attitude, the Can Do one (like the guys that invented the Pennsylvania and Kentucky rifles), it won our Revolutionary War with the Brits (with a bit of fake help from the French) and then the Great Depression and WWII too. That's back when men were men and since then, somewhere mid 1950s-1960? it's been mostly downhill due to the feminization of the American male (I hate seeing Generals etc. crying).

Hopefully there's enough of us independent DIYer types left to pull our collective behinds out of the fiasco our own governments have us in now. I'm afraid there aren't enough anymore. I bet that "we'll bury you from within" Nikita Kruschev would be dancing for joy now if only he could.