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Repairing flat screen monitors

C

ChiefOperator

I have a few dead monitors sitting on the bench. I'll assume that the lamp has failed (or the lamp's board). Has anyone had success at repairing these monitors at reasonable costs? Or should I toss them.
 
I had been repairing bunches of Dell monitors (and PCs, too) and they are all victim of the dreaded "bad capacitors" that had been in circulation (Google it and you'll see tons of threads about the defective electrolytic caps made with a stolen formula). If the devices are of a vintage ranging back to about 5 years there's a good chance you have those caps. The caps are visibly puffed or blown with electrolyte all over the place. If it's that replacing them may be an easy fix, otherwise it may take more time than to just outright buy a replacement monitor.
 
If you can figure out how to take them apart in the first place without breaking them. Some of these things are real puzzles.
 
I second Bill's response about the caps. I fixed 3 19" LCDs and an iMac by replacing bad caps. All given to me for free. The caps came from my stash of parts accumulated over the years from hamfests.

Use an ESR meter to do the cap testing. The "Blue" ESR meter works well.
 
Thanks guys! These are LG monitors. Sounds like it might be worthwhile to take one apart and have a look (if I don't break it in the process).
 
Yup, I'll add my 2c as well with the caps, almost always the problem.

Except the DELL monitors that have the 'flashing power button LED'.
These have an issue with one or more of a handful of small transistors on the LCD backlight inverter board going S/C, causing
the power supply to shut down.
Once again, if you Google it, there are a number of threads devoted to it, and there are even people selling kits of replacement
parts on FleaBay.
 
When new ones are $100 bucks or under, why would you bother? Unless they're touch screens. They might be worth fixing.
 
SirRoxalot said:
When new ones are $100 bucks or under, why would you bother?
Click to expand...

Because it will mean one less piece of equipment tossed in a hole, left to decay and leech into the ground, creating a toxic dump that our kids will have to deal with in years to come.
"Throw it away and buy another one" is the reason why China has become the giant it has, filling our stores and homes with their cheap nasty crap.
 
We recycle our dead electronics rather than fix them.
We're assured they don't wind up dumped in Africa, in toxic piles of waste like a lot of old PC have in the past.
 
SirRoxalot said:
When new ones are $100 bucks or under, why would you bother? Unless they're touch screens. They might be worth fixing.
Click to expand...

I don't disagree with buying another, but it is a good idea to repair the old one if you can cheaply. Then, when the next one goes out, you don't have to buy another. Just a thought.

I am almost positive it is caps... I had 2 TV's with known faulty caps in them (LCD Samsung). They were very easy to fix, with step by step directions and what parts would be bad easily found on Google.
 
boiseengineer said:
We recycle our dead electronics rather than fix them.
We're assured they don't wind up dumped in Africa, in toxic piles of waste like a lot of old PC have in the past.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about the Africa dump, but I got to haul 20 or so PCs from an old automation system to a local dump a few years ago. When I arrived, I paid the extra electronics disposal fee, and was directed to the specially lined part of the dump where electronics go.

As it turns out, that special part of the dump I paid extra for was the exact same hole everything else goes in. People were shoving couches and other garbage off into it next to me while I was there tossing computers.
 
Couple years ago there was a series on PBS or NBC about so-called recyclers dumping old electronics there. One of the reporters bought some hard drives at a market that still had personal or sensitive business data on them. Around here the electronics are shreaded locally and sent out of state to process for the metals. We still have fun with tools making old hard drives unreadable before we recycle them.
 
boiseengineer said:
Couple years ago there was a series on PBS or NBC about so-called recyclers dumping old electronics there. One of the reporters bought some hard drives at a market that still had personal or sensitive business data on them. Around here the electronics are shreaded locally and sent out of state to process for the metals. We still have fun with tools making old hard drives unreadable before we recycle them.
Click to expand...

It still happens. I often pick up discarded or unwanted computers from recycling centres for a few dollars, get them running sweetly then donate them to those in need. It is surprising the amount of personal information that remains on hard drives. I have found documents and addresses on computers from law firms, medical centres, law enforcement (!) agencies and plenty more.
Until such time as we move away from magnetic media, I think this problem will continue.
It's a bit like trying to educate people to stop at railway level crossings. You can teach some of the people some of the time, but not all the people all of the time.
 
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