Screen died. Any chance of saving it?

JonB · 25-06-2012 9:40pm #1

Hey,

So I'm basically the family go to guy when it comes to computers. I tend to get PC/laptop to repair or clean on a regular basis from family or friends as they come to me with their problems.

So I got given this 7 year old Dell. They told me it was really slow. So I start it up and it's running perfectly and it's running pretty fast and to my surprise the 7 year old pc isn't bloated with crap. I assume by slow it's the broadband that is slow as they're using mobile broadband. It only has 512MB of ram but I don't think this is the problem as they only use it for internet and I tried the usual internet stuff and it seemed to be coping well. So I start to do general clean up and install updates. Of course they haven't updated anything since they got the computer. So I'm basically just leaving it running as it does these tasks.

So I go on my laptop and when I look at the screen after about 10 minutes I notice the screen is black. So I didn't think much of it as I was thinking it went to sleep mode after a certain time. But on further investigation I noticed the monitor was just off and I couldn't power it on again.

So I started troubleshooting the problem. I first tried my second monitor and that worked fine. So I then tried my second monitors power cable and see if that would fix the problem. Nope still won't power on. So I made sure I had it plugged in secure and correct. I checked the pins and still no response from the monitor. So I decided to open it up and look for any signs of damage such as lose wire or damage but I couldn't find anything.

So just wondering if anyone else has any suggestions that I could try?
It's quite frustrating as it probably just died naturally as it's 7 years old but even still the timing of it giving up makes it look as if I broke it. So I have a spare screen that I don't really use anyway. But I would rather if I could help it not give them the spare screen as I'll never know if it will come in use again. Also the fact I'm doing this for free so I'll be the one out of pocket for doing this....

Oh yeah I forgot to mention it's an LCD screen not a CRT.

Sup08 · 25-06-2012 9:59pm

Sounds like it's dead.. a working power cable and no response is a fairly good indication. I wouldn't have any further tests other a third cable to be 100% sure.

JonB · 25-06-2012 10:07pm

Sup08 wrote: »

Sounds like it's dead.. a working power cable and no response is a fairly good indication. I wouldn't have any further tests other a third cable to be 100% sure.

Yeah I assumed so just said I would chance my luck. Also I should have made it clear I tested the cable on another monitor and it worked.

Sup08 · 25-06-2012 10:13pm

7 Years is a bit young for light use but it does happen.

zenno · 25-06-2012 10:29pm

Did you look at the internal power-supply and any fuses or 'white ceramic fuses' to see if any of them are burned. also turn it on again and get a flash-light and move it around the front screen of the monitor and see if you see anything just to rule out the inverter. It could be that a fuse has blown or the power-supply but make sure you unplug the monitor before opening it up.

Sup08 · 25-06-2012 10:35pm

zenno wrote: »

Did you look at the internal power-supply and any fuses or 'white ceramic fuses' to see if any of them are burned. also turn it on again and get a flash-light and move it around the front screen of the monitor and see to you see anything just to rule out the inverter. It could be that a fuse has blown or the power-supply but make sure you unplug the monitor before opening it up.

Worth a try, even for the experience of it.

zenno · 25-06-2012 10:42pm

there might be a tablet type fuse very near the AC jack. Would really need the monitor model number though to be sure. The model number will be on the backside of the monitor.

ressem · 25-06-2012 11:01pm

Sometimes the Dell LCD monitors would power down and fail to wake up unless left unplugged for a few minutes, presumably down to an internal failing capacitor.
Presumably this has been done in the course of other tests by yourself, if not just leave it unplugged for 30 minutes and see if any life appears on power-up.

JonB · 26-06-2012 11:09am

ressem wrote: »

Sometimes the Dell LCD monitors would power down and fail to wake up unless left unplugged for a few minutes, presumably down to an internal failing capacitor.
Presumably this has been done in the course of other tests by yourself, if not just leave it unplugged for 30 minutes and see if any life appears on power-up.

Yeah I tried that just there. No luck.

zenno wrote: »

Did you look at the internal power-supply and any fuses or 'white ceramic fuses' to see if any of them are burned. also turn it on again and get a flash-light and move it around the front screen of the monitor and see if you see anything just to rule out the inverter. It could be that a fuse has blown or the power-supply but make sure you unplug the monitor before opening it up.

Yeah when I opened it up I looked for anything that looked burned out and at the fuses. Everything seemed hunky dory. I didn't look at the inverter through as I was kind of looking around the power supply area. I'll probably open it up again tonight and take a deep looker anyway.

Thanks for the advice all.

Screen died. Any chance of saving it?

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