What's going wrong with my Monitor?

[MustangFX93]

So I've got a 6 or 7 year old Soyo Topaz S 24" monitor running 1920x1200 @60Hz. My GPU is a GeForce GTX 460 SE v2.

The monitor usually works just fine, but after some time, it starts flickering and flipping out until I either a.) power cycle it(Simply turn it off and back on) or b.) give it a piece of my mind, old fashioned style. Read the video description for more details.

Link to video of the issue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgaNESNq_l4&feature=plcp

Obviously it could just be that the monitor is on it's last legs, and feel free to say that if that's the case. But either way, is it fixable? I'd really like to keep it, as 1920x1200 16:10 monitors are hard to come by for what I consider to be a reasonable price.


Thanks for your time and please feel free to ask any questions you may have.

 

[MustangFX93]

So nobody has any idea what this could be?

 

[drtweak]

A lot of times the problems with older monitors is the capacitors on the power board are going out (If the power board is internal) I haven't see one do that before but they very. Some will just not show a screen, Some will show a screen for a split sec, others will last a bit then die out, and others you can hear a high pitch sound from the Caps. If you have any soildering skills or know anyone who does and if this is the issue it can be fixed.

First find out if it has an external power supply or not (It would be a power brick like laptops have) If it just have a 3 prong cable that goes straight to the wall then the PSU is internal. If its a brick see if anyone else you know has the same monitor or maybe try to find a new one online.

Now if its internal you will have to take the monitor apart. Use a screw driver and remove the screws on the back. Now the front Bezel should snap off. Might need to take a screw driver to the edges to get it started.

Once that is off gently pull out the monitor. You may need to unscrew some of the screws that the cables screw into.

Here is a general Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48cB8j-xdtw&feature=related

At 5:50 you will see how the two boards are seperate? The power board and the I/O Board. Look at the Capacitors.

Here is a picture of a good vs bad
http://www.wheresmydrink.com/wp-content/gallery/may-2009/capci.jpg

if any are poping up, have some thing out of the top like so http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Bad_Capacitor_01.jpg

Then those are to blame. I've fixed over 2-3 dozen LCD's just from bad caps. The caps are labled. You can get most of them from your local radio shack or frys. Make sure that the reading on the old one is the same as the new one! Ex If it ready 220uf 25V for example. Make sure they are the same! The just use some soilder skills and yank out the old ones and put in the new ones. Make sure you have the Polarity right! ( + and -) Most are labled on the board but double check before you pull!

If you are unsure take some pics and post them back and I'll help out the best i can!

 

[MustangFX93]

Thanks for the reply! What I'm gonna do is probably just use the monitor until it becomes unbearable or does one of the things you listed above, and then I'll buy a new monitor and make this one a project. I really appreciate your help, I just wanted to know what the issue could be. If I have trouble I'll probably end up making a new thread with that specific problem, so as to refrain from reviving this thread which will probably be ancient by the time I get around to it.

Again, thanks for the help!

 

[MustangFX93]

Best answer selected by MustangFX93.