Legit Reviews

I got a monitor from my parents (19 inch lcd). It doesnt work fully though. there seems to be an issue with with power or something. the signal blinks about every 5 seconds and the power light blinks (also about every 5 seconds). the image comes up for a split second and then goes away. I have never messed with a monitor before... anyone have any ideas or anything on fixing something like this? where to start, what to look for? anything?

thanks! just trying to salvage hopefully a good piece of hardware!

Just take it apart and start looking ..
If it's a capacitor or resistor, it'll probably be easy to spot.
If it's anything else, most likely will require test equipment and electrical knowledge.

My son and I fixed one several weeks ago.
Turned out to be a bad capacitor. The top of it was swelled and leaking.

what does a bad capacitor look like?

bigblockmatt wrote:what does a bad capacitor look like?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v711/whurd/Bad.jpg
http://www.pavelec.net/adam/CapsCrop.sized.jpg
http://www.pcstats.com/articleimages/20 ... lown_6.jpg

DL126 wrote:Just take it apart and start looking ..
If it's a capacitor or resistor, it'll probably be easy to spot.
If it's anything else, most likely will require test equipment and electrical knowledge.

My son and I fixed one several weeks ago.
Turned out to be a bad capacitor. The top of it was swelled and leaking.

Are you kidding me? Do you know how much voltage those carry? Its enough to kill you. Trust me don't bother with it. Have it either fixed by a pro, or just toss it

dicecca112 wrote:Are you kidding me? Do you know how much voltage those carry?

None if it's not plugged in.

It was only a suggestion.
You do what you want with it.
If you don't know what a capacitor looks like, you should probably follow dicecca112's advice anyways.

I grew up as a mechanic, not a computer geek.
I never owned a computer 'til i was 30 years old.
Therefore, it doesn't matter to me what the hell it is, if I think I can fix it ... I'll tear the thing apart and try.

DL126 wrote:

dicecca112 wrote:Are you kidding me? Do you know how much voltage those carry?

None if it's not plugged in.

It was only a suggestion.
You do what you want with it.
If you don't know what a capacitor looks like, you should probably follow dicecca112's advice anyways.

I grew up as a mechanic, not a computer geek.
I never owned a computer 'til i was 30 years old.
Therefore, it doesn't matter to me what the hell it is, if I think I can fix it ... I'll tear the thing apart and try.

Wrong, it'll will carry voltage if not properly discharged. Large caps can carry voltage for hours if not properly discharged. Hence you never ever touch the inside of a PSU if you don't know what your doing

That's my policy, if it's not working I can't kill it, slap on some rubber gloves and rip it apart. I thought you touched your tongue to the legs of the capacitor to test it No seriously don't do that, when I'm dealing with large capacitors, power supplies, monitors I use rubber gloves and a rubber mat to stand on.

It just never bothered me much to get a decent "jolt" every once in a while. Makes you feel ALIVE!
I was an industrial electrician for 8 years.
I've been hit by 120v, 220v (single & 2 phase), 277V, 480V ... I have the burned screwdrivers to prove it!

Seriously, if you decide to work on the monitor yourself, unplug the thing first and just be careful.

DL126 wrote:It just never bothered me much to get a decent "jolt" every once in a while. Makes you feel ALIVE!
I was an industrial electrician for 8 years.
I've been hit by 120v, 220v (single & 2 phase), 277V, 480V ... I have the burned screwdrivers to prove it!

Seriously, if you decide to work on the monitor yourself, unplug the thing first and just be careful.

ya, i wouldnt work on it plugged in... i was gonna pop open the back and poke around and see if i can spot any obvious problems...

Just remember that it still carries a charge even when not plugged in...some of those capacitors can hold enough of a charge to kill you, even unplugged. If you still insist on fixing it yourself (I know I would ) let the monitor sit unplugged for at least a few days if not longer to give the capacitors time to discharge. Or you could go the Knievel route and just short the leads of the capacitor with a screwdriver on the back of it board, just make sure its insulated or you may wake up days later feeling like Mike Tyson just punched you in the face.

One more tip if you do work on it, ALWAYS keep one hand behind your back if you're anywhere near a powerful capacitor or other power source (when you're 'poking around'). This keeps you from presenting a pathway that goes through your heart. Oh and try not to lick anything >_<

Yep, capacitors hold a charge. That's they're function.
In the Navy we used to charge up capacitors with a meager generator and then toss them to a buddy to give him a jolt.

Be careful.

is there a way to discharge them before working on it?

I never bothered discharging them, I fixed my Acer LCD five or six times (pixelation from a cable that loosened up during a cross country move), it's not like the capacitor is going to jump up and shock you.

If I had to guess on that monitor I'd think it's going to be an over heating in the power supply board. Turns on get picture, heats up turns off long enough to cool down, then repeats. Seen it on a few monitors, parts are hard to find.