Is my monitor dying?

15 Mar 2005 6:16 PM

yerk5

What does anyone make of this monitor issue?

I don't have the make and model handy. I'm at work now. But it's
just a standard CRT monitor. It has been working perfectly for about
2-3 years and suddenly started this issue. Like many monitors, the
power LED is either green when there's a signal, or blinking amber
when the PC is off, or Windows has shut the monitor off via Power
settings.

Suddenly while I'm in the middle of working, the monitor just shuts
off. As if this isn't strange enough, when it does this, the power
led glows amber solid, which it's never done before. Sometimes,
turning it off for several minutes and back on will fix the problem,
but more commonly, a swift rap to the top of the monitor will turn it
back on. Yes, I know it's bad to hit the thing, but that seems to be
what works. Also, it never seems to cut out when I'm not using it. It
will sit there for 20 minutes without cutting off. But if I'm
actually using the PC, that's when it starts happening. Also, when it
does cut out, the image leaves a glowing dot in the middle of the
screen, which fades out.. this happens when you manually shut it off.

>From the sounds of this, is it just dying? I would be more willing to

just accept that if it weren't for the fact that when I'm not
actively using the PC, the monitor does just fine.

Part of me was thinking that when using it, and changing the on-screen
image, I'm giving the CRT a workout, which is why it only dies when
I'm using it. However, my screen saver is a photo slideshow, and this
never seems to bother it. Any ideas? Many TIA

15 Mar 2005 6:36 PM

Lewis

My monitor blinks orange when off and when it shows solid orange this means
there is a problem with the signal. It could be a resolution that's too high
for it to cope, or too high a refresh rate. Since you're not changing
either of these things, it might be a loose cable, as that's also indicated
by the solid orange light on mine.

<ye***@hotmail.com> wrote in message
Show quoteHide quote

news:1110910578.113145.311840@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> What does anyone make of this monitor issue?
>
> I don't have the make and model handy. I'm at work now. But it's
> just a standard CRT monitor. It has been working perfectly for about
> 2-3 years and suddenly started this issue. Like many monitors, the
> power LED is either green when there's a signal, or blinking amber
> when the PC is off, or Windows has shut the monitor off via Power
> settings.
>
> Suddenly while I'm in the middle of working, the monitor just shuts
> off. As if this isn't strange enough, when it does this, the power
> led glows amber solid, which it's never done before. Sometimes,
> turning it off for several minutes and back on will fix the problem,
> but more commonly, a swift rap to the top of the monitor will turn it
> back on. Yes, I know it's bad to hit the thing, but that seems to be
> what works. Also, it never seems to cut out when I'm not using it. It
> will sit there for 20 minutes without cutting off. But if I'm
> actually using the PC, that's when it starts happening. Also, when it
> does cut out, the image leaves a glowing dot in the middle of the
> screen, which fades out.. this happens when you manually shut it off.
>
> >From the sounds of this, is it just dying? I would be more willing to
> just accept that if it weren't for the fact that when I'm not
> actively using the PC, the monitor does just fine.
>
> Part of me was thinking that when using it, and changing the on-screen
> image, I'm giving the CRT a workout, which is why it only dies when
> I'm using it. However, my screen saver is a photo slideshow, and this
> never seems to bother it. Any ideas? Many TIA
>

15 Mar 2005 6:40 PM

Newfdog

ye***@hotmail.com wrote:
Show quoteHide quote

> What does anyone make of this monitor issue?
>
> I don't have the make and model handy. I'm at work now. But it's
> just a standard CRT monitor. It has been working perfectly for about
> 2-3 years and suddenly started this issue. Like many monitors, the
> power LED is either green when there's a signal, or blinking amber
> when the PC is off, or Windows has shut the monitor off via Power
> settings.
>
> Suddenly while I'm in the middle of working, the monitor just shuts
> off. As if this isn't strange enough, when it does this, the power
> led glows amber solid, which it's never done before. Sometimes,
> turning it off for several minutes and back on will fix the problem,
> but more commonly, a swift rap to the top of the monitor will turn it
> back on. Yes, I know it's bad to hit the thing, but that seems to be
> what works. Also, it never seems to cut out when I'm not using it. It
> will sit there for 20 minutes without cutting off. But if I'm
> actually using the PC, that's when it starts happening. Also, when it
> does cut out, the image leaves a glowing dot in the middle of the
> screen, which fades out.. this happens when you manually shut it off.
>
>>From the sounds of this, is it just dying? I would be more willing to
> just accept that if it weren't for the fact that when I'm not
> actively using the PC, the monitor does just fine.
>
> Part of me was thinking that when using it, and changing the on-screen
> image, I'm giving the CRT a workout, which is why it only dies when
> I'm using it. However, my screen saver is a photo slideshow, and this
> never seems to bother it. Any ideas? Many TIA
>

Any electronics that responds to a rap on the side is usually the victim
of a bad solder joint. The hard part is finding the bad joint,
sometimes they are obvious although there are times when I have just
resorted to re soldering every joint on the board. Especially check to
see if the heaters in the CRT are glowing, if not check the CRT board
for bad joints.

Newfdog