Dale Mentzer wrote:
>>This sounds similar to a Packard Bell VGA monitor I got from someones
trash a couple of years ago. On this one, the blue was intermittent.
Banging on it would cause it to work erratically. If you are
comfortable opening the monitor and working around the high voltages
present (always with the power cord disconnected, of course) then you
might want to examine the solder joints on the CRT connector that is
plugged on the end of the tube (CRT). This board drives the 3 color
guns and on the PB monitor I mentioned several of the solder joints
on the tube socket that is attached to this board were cracked. A
simple touchup with a soldering iron and some fresh solder restored
the monitor to proper operation. Even if you are uncomfortable doing
this, and you should ONLY do this if you have some experience, you
might know someone with the skills who could examine these joints and
repair as needed. There is also sometimes some shielding that will
have to be removed to see these joints. Again, don't do this if you
are at all in doubt about your ability to stay away from the high
voltage in there. These voltages are present in some places even
after the monitor has been turned off for a long period. Please be
careful. HTH.<<
This reminds me of two things: In the early days of color TV, RCA was using
a poor grade of solder in the pins on their tubes which would break down
after a couple of years. An *honest* repairman told me that more new tubes
were sold when all they needed to do was sweat in a good grade of solder,
which he did on site for only the charge for a service call.
The second thing that I am reminded of is when I was in the U.S. Navy and
going to Radar School. We were cautioned that there were high voltage
capacitors in the radar equipment that did not always discharge when the
equipment was shut down and that before going into any piece of radar, we
should ground out all capacitors with a grounding rod and go over all visible
connections before we cautiously entered the equipment. They had one piece
of equipment which was set up so the capacitors would not discharge so that
we could see how much zap the capacitors held. That demonstration made a
believer out of me such that I made a grounding rod and use it religiously
whenever I go into any piece of electronic equipment.
Roger Turk
Tucson, Arizona USA
