Asus MW221U brightness button sticking

[andyjee86]

Hi everyone,

I've had this monitor about 5 years, so it's certainly served its purpose even though the brightness has begun to automatically increase by itself randomly (the brightness button is right next to the power button, so I'm presuming this is how it has gotten faulty).

This appears to be a known issue with this monitor around this age, but the only advice I've seen online is to take the monitor to a monitor service professional and have it examined/replace micro switch etc.

I don't really wanna do this, as I know I can pick up a 22" monitor fairly cheap - probably a similar price to paying someone to fix the controls... but I like the monitor, there is no dead pixels and the picture is sharp, I also like the design - basically I wanna keep it . It seems also that searching for monitor repairs in my area only returns cracked screen/replacement LCD screens for laptops too, where as my screen its self is fine.

Now my question...

Does anyone know if there is a way to disable the OSD from popping up at all (I never use it), therefore If the brightness button went off on its own, it would have no effect?

Or does anyone know if a repair of this sort would be do able by someone like me (fairly tech savvy but never messed with the internals of a monitor before). If I have a bash at repairing it, and the monitor DOES end up broken, it's not the end of the world as at least I'd had a go.

For the record, I've tried cleaning behind the button with compressed air, and also tried prizing the button back a little to see if that stopped it triggering (it didn't which tells me its an internal problem). I do have some electrical contact cleaner (which I haven't yet used).

I am thinking of taking the screws out the back tonight, and trying to take the front surround off to have a look for any broken connections/muck, but thought I'd ask for any tips beforehand! I.E. Do's and Dont's.

Here's a pic...

http://www.bankoboev.ru/images/MTI4NzA1/Bankoboev.Ru_asus_mw221u_lcd_monitor.jpg


Thanks all in advance for any advice you may be able to offer,

Andy

 

[fennesz]

I am having the exact same issues as you mentioned. Bump for some answers on whether it is indeed possible to disable the monitors buttons altogether

 

[andyjee86]

Here is what I've done...

I prized the buttons back a bit by wedging a thin object behind the button cover. With the button behind exposed, I then used a large bent paperclip and hooked it around the button and gently pulled it towards me a tiny bit. I also gave it a good spray with compressed air just for good measure.

It's early days, so I can't guarantee this has fixed the problem, but it does seem to have helped A LOT in my case as since doing it (2 days ago) the menu has not popped up.

Though a big word of caution if you are to try this, be SUPER gentle with prizing the buttons back as mine are ever so slightly not flush with the screen surround anymore. This doesn't bother me so much as I'd prefer to have the brightness display off at whatever the cost, but it may bother you.

Let me know if you try it.

 

[andyjee86]

UPDATE! The volume button also started doing the exact same thing.

Solution: Ripped the buttons out, problem solved... (note - screen bezel not as attractive anymore, but the popping up got so frequent that I totally lost it and just savaged the thing... but now I have my awesome uninterrupted display back, it is HEAVEN!)

 

[andyjee86]

UPDATE 2! DO NOT DO THIS!

After ripping the buttons out, and nailing the circuit board with compressed air can I thought this was the end of the issue. However, 20 minutes later, as I was enjoying a fight with a dragon on Skyrim, the chuffin' volume adjustment popped up... and would NOT go away!!! In my rage, I grabbed a can of electrical contact cleaner, and with the circuit board of the monitor now fully exposed I sprayed a generous amount on the likely affected area in a last ditch attempt to cure this god awful monitor disease... As expected the monitor never turned on again. But it felt real good drowning the sorry ass son of a bitch. Currently off to the shops to replace said monitor.

 

[andyjee86]

UPDATE 3! This is definitely the final update (I promise). Ok, so once the contact cleaner had dried up, the monitor turned on again and all was fine... for a bit. Then the volume box popped up again. I went and bought a new monitor as I couldn't take it anymore. But as it didn't matter what happend to the ASUS monitor anymore, I had yet another tinker... This time I went a step further, I pulled back the metal surround again, and with some pliers removed the little buttons/switches off the board itself (the volume, and the brightness switch). Not being one for electronics I was expecting the thing not to turn on again, but it did! And, with the extra space behind the metal surround I managed to get push the metal back flush with the rest of the screen and it looks ok! NO MORE ANNOYING POP UP BOXES!!! (For definite this time, I promise).

One thing to note, when the monitor turns on, the brightness seems to default to 0 (or something low as its a little dark) so I do have to press the "splendid" button a couple of times to get it into which ever mode I want, but this is sooo much better pressing the menu button every 20 seconds in a rage and pulling my hair out.

Oh and now I have dual 22" displays, which is sweeet!

Cya.

 

[Dean 12]

UPDATE 3! This is definitely the final update (I promise).I pulled back the metal surround again, and with some pliers removed the little buttons/switches off the board itself
.

Thanks Andy !!!
Same issues here, its why I looked for this thread. Up til now I'd been spraying contact cleaner into the cracks as a temporary fix but got so sick of it coming up.

step 1 - I ripped off the metal surround covering the plastic buttons.
step 2 - Ripped out the plastic button.
step 3 - Ripped out the metal part around the little square button stuck to the circuit board (using small pliers and a twisting motion)
step 4 - sprayed the exposed black square, which has 3 little silver contact points on it, with contact cleaner again

Problem solved. Monitor looks ugly but at least I can use it now without the big blue popup ruining my computing experience.

Thanks for your help, I was hesitant about destroying the thing but after reading your work I decided to get stuck in and kill the button, awesome!

edit - this is a PERFECT example of what this youtube documentary is about!!! wow wow
They design it to fail so that after a few years and its out of warranty, this happens and then we give up and buy a new monitor, is exactly the plan, check it out, its a real conspiracy!
"Pyramids of Waste (2010), AKA The Lightbulb Conspiracy - Planned obsolescence documentary"

 

[Ludwig Bargagli]

I have the exact same issues with the same monitor

 

[pbl3]

Hi,

A few days ago my 10 years old monitor developed the same symptoms. In my case the brightness (right button) started increasing on its own and when it didn't, simply pressing the right arrow once started this process.

I've managed to get rid of the problem.

The source of this lies in the uC connected to those buttons and not the buttons themselves.

By pressing the button, you're shorting the microcontroller pin for the given button (normally high: 3,3V) to GND (low state).
I measured the voltage at the right button's line and it was much lower than 3,3V. Probably the pullup resistor fails or the line for right arrow button goes near some electrically noisy part of the PCB.
This meant that after shorting it to GND (pressing button) it couldn't go back to high state. And sometimes it was so low that uC took it as already depressed.

The solution: connect right button hi-state line to another source of 3,3V.
I've checked and the only sources of 3,3V on the button board are the hi-state lines for other buttons. So we need to connect to them through a large resistor to avoid also shorting them to GND when pressing right button (or the uC would see them as also depressed).

Here are some pictures of what to do: Imgur
To get to the button board, unscrew the stand (3 screws), take off the VESA cover (button behind cable cover, then slide the VESA cover down), unscrew 3 screws at the bottom of the case and pry the entire back cover off (pretty hard, start at the bottom). Service manual is easy to find.

Edit: btw, I also checked why my right speaker didn't work. It turns out, it gets a constant 6V (failed audio amplifier's channel), so by now it's probably fried and not worth looking further into. Generally, it seems that after a few years various electronics in this screen start to fail.