DIYHiFi.org

Like I said the first time, no, not really. Just another lame attempt to annoy the folks who think that their measuring stick will tell you how your amp will sound without listening to it.

OK, I really don't need anything else to get me wound up, but my monitor stopped working. Cheap, Chinese LCD monitor. Long story why I spent $200 that I really did not have on one. Anyway..........it was dead. Blinking power LED. Turning it on and off, the screen would sputter and crap out.

Could it be something simple, like maybe the power supply? One way to find out. Better be something simple, it is a few weeks out of warranty. (Of course it is, it is made in China.)

Open it up........look where the supply is........."Oh, lookee here........we have a cap that the end is bulging. It couldn't be that they are still using crappy caps that they stole the recipe for, but botched and have millions of bad ones out there. No, that couldn't be. Not when is it made in China."

So, take out the crappy one, stick another one in, yes, much larger because it is a Crapasonic HF series, but I made it fit. Now I can get the monitor back up and can continue to annoy folks on the forums.

No, I can't! Monitor is really dead now. A step backwards.

)*(&*^&^&%**%^|**&%%_^++|*&&$$%%, and other assorted words that I should no use here. Open it back up, again, and.......oh, lookee here, a wire came loose from the connector that goes to the PSU board. Wrestle the pin out and........pling!, it goes flying out and lands on the floor. You don't want to see how dirty the floor is, yet I had to fish that little pin out of the pig's sty that is the floor in my lab.

OK, obvioulsy, I found the pin, soldered it back in, and the monitor works.

See, not really good, just used my head and was persistent.

I would like to think that any of our members could have done the same repair. Yes, no schematic, no manual, no documentation or troubleshooting tree. Just what is between your ears.

Those of you who aren't that confident........yet.......hang around long enough, and it should rub off on you. If it doesn't, we have failed you.

Jocko

_________________
"Because, I hate you guys. I hate you guys so very, very much.

Yours,
General Cartman Lee"

I had a monitor start to act up on me last year. Sometimes it would start, sometimes just a click, sometimes it would power up and then click.. LG CRT Flatscreen, great monitor.

I figured it had to be something simple, so I took it apart. Taking it apart took ooooh at least an hour and a lot of sweat. It had some type of finger system, each one about two and a half inches wide, half inch long, all the way around the screen clamping the back casing on. Really, there was no way at all to take it apart without mashing it up a little bit, it was never meant to come apart.. took three screwdrivers for prybars, two hands, a few toes and a nose.

There it was near the flyback, big electrolytic that looked OK but it clearly pissed the board. Not a big deal to change it, I have about 200 caps that would do the job perfectly of that exact value as coincedance would have it. Then I looked at the web of wires I'd have to get through just to get to it, slapped the case back together, that will never fit perfectly again, and shoved it on the corner.

I'll get back to it though, fix it and dump it in the classifieds. The bugger's that the uncoated PCB did a fine job of soaking up that electrolytic fluid like a sponge.

You should have bought an Eizo screen....

I don't see Eizo screens for many years but in the old days they were very expensive, big CRTs.

_________________
Carlos Filipe

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction." Albert Einstein

....squirrel!"

Jocko

_________________
"Because, I hate you guys. I hate you guys so very, very much.

Yours,
General Cartman Lee"

No an Eizo!

It' s NOT a CRT but a LCD. I bought a L768 second hand.

Yeah, I was talking about the 21" Eizo CRTs I knew, more than 15 years ago.

_________________
Carlos Filipe

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction." Albert Einstein

Last week I repaired the Lexicon MC-1 that I rely on for surround sound downmixing to stereo. The power supply started making a fast clicking noise (half as fast with the power supply unloaded) that was coming from the vicinity of the transformer. I replaced stuff on the PSU until it started working again. Afterwards I found out that 3"x5" 5/15/-15 switching power supplies are actually a standard catalog part, costing only $40. Could have saved myself some work by just replacing the whole board. Oh well.

A few months ago I bought a blurry CRT with the hopes of salvaging it (it was $15 at the library). Turned out pretty good, just fine tuned the focus with a screwdriver and it works like new. A few years ago I had to solder an SMD capacitor back on to a graphics card (due to some idiotic movements by yours truly).

There have been many more instances (replaced my LCD on my laptop after a rather unfortunate cracking of it), but it really does help to have that natural intuition. I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but you definitely know if someone has it or not.

Nice to know though that there are some people willing to fix things (or make them better). Most people would dump the stuff in the trash and buy some cheap crap to replace it with.

~Thomas

As Buddy Rich would say: "It ain't braggin' when you got it."

Good to have someone else who "has it" onboard.

Jocko

_________________
"Because, I hate you guys. I hate you guys so very, very much.

Yours,
General Cartman Lee"

Personally, I laugh at "no user-serviceable parts inside" stickers..

I just wish everything made today wasn't crap.

Given the economic situation we are now in, even beyond the mess that the finance world has created, I have to wonder if this ever was a good long term business approach. That is, build crap, and expect everyone to keep buying New! Better! Improved! crap. It would seem to me to be a zero sum proposition when all is taken into account.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program...

To say nothing of the recycling effort it takes to dispose of all this shit...