Samsung 245BW No Picture, but odd symptoms

[sub780lime]

Hi All,

I am just trying to lock down what in the hardware could be causing this issue with my monitor. So, when i don't have a cable connected, I do not get a connection popup, as i should. Connected through DVI or VGA, I get no picture (the pc is fine, verified on other monitor). Whats odd is when I hit the menu button on the monitor, I get a quick glimpse of the desktop, shifted about 25% to the left, and then it disappears just as quickly. Any thoughts on what in the hardware would be the cause of this?

Thanks!

Steve

 

[buwish]

It could be just about anything, i.e. blown backlight, bad transformer, bad capacitors etc... You can take the board out of the monitor and see if there are any obvious blown/bulging capacitors, etc...

 

[sub780lime]

Alright, So I am a noob on this when it comes to actually board level understanding. I have included some photos of the boards I found when taking it apart. I was not able to notice anything obvious, but any direction would be great.

Follow the link if you would like to see full size hi rez copies of the images
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32473057@N00/sets/72157625057224610/

 

[buwish]

Excellent work! I cannot see anything obviously wrong myself, but I'll direct this thread to a more trained eye and see what he can see. Hang tight and we'll get back to you on it.

 

[sub780lime]

Thanks Buwish!

 

[Guest]

"More trained eye", here. I can't see any obvious sign of bulging capacitors on the power board and the symptoms you describe don't exactly match my own experience with monitors with caps problems.

Of course lack of bulging is not a guarantee that the capacitors are okay. And photos don't always show what you'd see with the naked eye -- so have a close look at the all the middle sized capacitors.

If you have soldering experience it may be worth changing the ones on the top right and bottom right of the board -- and, obviously, any that look suspect.


Otherwise I think this is a job for a repair guy who has the experience and instruments to track down the problem.

 

[sub780lime]

links to images discussed below

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32473057@N00/5052588941/in/set-72157625057224610/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32473057@N00/5052588859/in/set-72157625057224610/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32473057@N00/5053208584/in/set-72157625057224610/


So I think I have identified the problem and it is two fold. I was taking pictures of everything in better light, when I decided to check the actual backlight and LCD. Well, as you can see from the images two bulbs are cracked. Also, there is a dimple on one of the LCD ribbons. If you zoom in you can see it. It corresponds directly to the last photo, which I light with a lamp while using my laptop to provide the source. Everything works but that strip and it lines up perfectly with the ribbon with the dimple in it (like a finger nail). So my questions. The back light does not stay on at all. Would the two bad bulbs cause this? Or should the 3 good bulbs still light up fully? Second, is there a way to repair the ribbon issue? Will a shop have to do it?

 

[Guest]

I have no experience with broken bulbs -- my feeling is that one failing would not break the circuit to the rest but with the intelligence of modern electronics anything is possible. The dimple in the cable is less obvious but as you say it seems to correspond.

Your best chance of fixing this yourself is to find a similar model secondhand with something else broken (e-bay). Otherwise it's probably a job for Samsung -- the cable sounds like a problem during assembly but the bulb is down to handling so they'll be charging you.

 

[sub780lime]

I bought this secondhand, so I might have gotten ripped off. Will I need to replace the whole LCD/Ribbon assembly?

 

[Guest]

It's probably only economic to look for a similar model being sold for spares.