Should I open up and monitor and try to "fix" it ?

[Grizzly]

I bought my 19" MAGDJ800 monitor for $180 bucks refurbished over a year and a half ago. I absolutely *love* this monitor, and would hate to part with it, plus I'm in college, and am currently in debt, lol, so there's no way in hell I can afford a new 19" incher. So here's my problem, it's not serious, but *very* annoying.

Everyonce in a while the screen image will begin to veritcally waver up & down, and then will usually *pop* out of position. Damn it just happened as I typed that, lol.
Anyways, it's almost as if the electron gun falls out of position and tilts about 45 degrees upward, because the screen image will shift half way up the screen and only display a distorted image of the bottom half of my desktop, on the top half of my screen.

Needless to say this is *very* annoying. It's happened about 3-4 times over the past year, but now in the past few weeks it's been happening at least once a day.

All I have to do to fix it is reach around to its back left side and give it a good slap on the casing, that's always made the image fall back down to where it should be, crisp and clear again.

Now...I'm considering opening up the monitor...because it seems like a really dumb problem, almost like some screw is loose that holds the electron gun in it's swivel, or something to that effect. Problem is I don't know a helluva lot about the internal workings of a monitor, and I've come to understand how it can result in serious injury, and/or death.

So my question is, has anyone ever had a similar problem with their monitor? And if so, has anyone ever actually opened it up and fixed it?

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P3-550e@733Mhz
256MB PC-133 CL3 RAM
Elsa Gladiac GeForce2 GTS
40+ Gig's of combined HD
CD-RW 8/4/32X
DVD w/ Hollywood RealMagic DVD Decoder
19" MAG DJ800 monitor
Tornado 1000 case
**Win2000 Professional**
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[jaywallen]

The insides of monitors are not places I would recommend that anyone go poking around in with a screwdriver. For one thing, electron guns aren't something that you can physically fix in place with a screwdriver. They don't flop around because they are built into a glass envelope that comprises the CRT. Anyway, if you have to ask this question, then inside the monitor is a place you don't belong until you get a chance to study and / or observe.

I'm not a hardware guy, and I'm not ashamed of it. If I had a monitor behaving the way yours is behaving, and if I wanted to see how to get it fixed, I'd take it to someone who knew what s/he was doing and ask if I could watch -- at least the first time. If, in the course of the ensuing repairs you detect the stench of charred human flesh and observe convulsive behavior on the part of this expert, you know that you will need to observe at least one other person performing the task before you attempt it yourself.

Seriously, besides the possibility of running across a big, bad capacitor inside the monitor, there is a risk, however slight, from CRT implosion, too. If you don't wish to pay a tech to look inside the monitor, at least get ahold of some documentation on the proper way to proceed with this job before you even think of attempting it.

Regards,
Jim

[100%TotallyNude]

Originally posted by Grizzly:
So my question is, has anyone ever had a similar problem with their monitor? And if so, has anyone ever actually opened it up and fixed it?

Bad move. I wouldn't even begin to pop open a monitor and start fixing it unless I knew what I was doing with years of experience backup. Popping open a device with a crt RAY GUN pointed at your HEAD when you look inside the thing to fix it ceased as an option with solid state and that was 30 years ago. Now with everything BUT the crt packaged on little chunks of hardend sand the size of a postage stamp your best as far as I'm concerned is to live with the problem until your in a position to replace the thing with a new monitor. If you can come up with a few bucks at all you might shop ebay and live with a used one until you can buy a new one.
I'm just telling you, I don't think you're going to make things better by tweaking with anything inside this monitor.

[Grizzly]

Yeah just as I had expected, thanks for your input guys. A part of me was just hoping that some minitor tech out there had the classic, "Oh this is actually a common problem we've come across, and it's actually really easy to solve!" line ready and waiting for me. hehehe, oh well, I'll just slap the side of my monitor when it acts up for now, right now I can't afford to do anything so I gotta lay low.

Thanks for discouraging the overzealous, curious "Mister Fix-it" that lives inside of me

[100%TotallyNude]

Originally posted by Grizzly:
Thanks for discouraging the overzealous, curious "Mister Fix-it" that lives inside of me

Hey, the geek in me is proud of you for jumping at the bit to fix the monitor on your own. But lets face reality; one of those broken electronics lab kits from Radio Outhouse is fixable, anything else today is modular and really only fixable by replacing the bad module. Think of your monitor as one of those modules.

[Cougar]

Dunno, but here in Australia we have heaps of places that advertise $70 for any monitor repair, or $0 if they can't fix it. That's about $35 U.S.

It sounds like it is a simple problem, for an electronics professional, so it probably wouldn't cost much t fix, take it to your local TV repair store.

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Celery is yummy, especially when overclocked 68%

[-= HaX0r =-]

You don't want to go into the monitor, because you can fry it and/or your yourself from the high voltage stored in the Anode

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PIII-800@ 1002mhz
Asus CULS2 mobo
512mb Micron ram
46.1gig ata-100 IBM hdd
30.1gig ata-100 IBM hdd
30.1gig ata-100 IBM hdd
Hercules 3D Prophet DDR-DVI 32MB
Sound Blaster Live! 1024
Kenwood 72x Cd-Rom
Ricoh CD-RW 6/4/32
8x Toshiba DVD-Rom
Linksys LNE100TX nic card
Running WinMe,Win2k,and Whislter

[SkyDog]

Unless you're familiar with working on CRT's, DON'T open up your monitor!!! Even when unplugged, there's enough power stored in there to shock the @#$% out of you!

[Bash]

Two things:

1st...I believe the "electron gun" isn't a physical object that shoots out electrons while scanning the screen. Isn't it more like an electron stream that is directed by an electromagnetic field.

2nd...As other ppl are saying, if you don't know your way around the inside of a CRT DO NOT OPEN IT!!! I know someone who opened up their TV to try and fix it--he unplugged it and let it sit for a few days to "discharge the tube". After he opened it he was physically thrown back from the TV when he touched the wrong component. He's lucky it didn't kill him.

-Bash

[SkyDog]

The electron guns aren't the problem. It's sealed inside the picture tube, and when the tube's not powered up, the guns are just another piece of metal.

The tube itself is the problem. It has capacitance that can store something like 35,000 volts -- even when the monitor has been turned off for long periods of time! Granted, there's not much power to sustain current, but 35 KV is enough to do some serious damage!!

[Rick_James9]

I say go for it. You only live once. When I was about 16 years old I fixed my TV by replacing the tuner. Took it to a TV repair place and the guy told what the problem was for $20 bucks. Ordered the part, got my soldering iron out and went to work. I ONLY got electrocuted ONE time. LOL! A week later it was working and I still have it. Damn I'm good!

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Tech GOD

[Svet]

I am a Biomedical Equipment Technician. (I work on medical equipment.) I have worked on many monitors over the years. If you had an electronics background I would be happy to sugest a few things to check for inside the monitor, but I would not advise cracking the case if you don't know what you are doing. Your problem could be one of several things. It is not your tube. It is probably electronic. It could be heat related or caused by a loose connection. Make sure your monitor is getting good ventilation and that the room is not too warm. If you have vents on the bottom, back or sides you might try blowing air in with a small fan. Be careful, the magnetic field of many fans will distort your screen image. Make sure the top has plenty of space. This is where all of your heat escapes. If your monitor is under a hutch try pulling it out. Also, you can see if it is a loose connection by lightly tapping your monitor to cause vibration and see if that affects the monitor. If there is no change then it is most likely an electronics problem that will require opening the monitor. I would sugest that you find someone near you with an electronics background to take a look at it (mabey a friend or relative). Be careful about taking it to a repair center. If you take it in, specify that you do not authorize a repair until they give you an estimate. Then specify that you will not pay more than the estimate unless they discuss it with you. Get all of this in writting. Some repairs are cheap. Others cost more than the monitor is worth. Labor charges can kill you. You are not being rude. You are protecting your wallet. If they are honest people they will understand. If you take it somewhere that you will have to pay for the service, have a maximum amount in mind. DON'T TELL THEM WHAT IT IS!!! Also, try to find a place that will look at it for free. Some places charge just to give you a quote. If you have any other questions you can e-mail me at [email protected] Good luck.

[BoogyMan]

All I know is that you can unplug it and the anode(capacitor?) will hold a lethal charge for like, 30 YEARS!!

Spend the cash to get it looked at.

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Happy Halloween, Ladies!

[Svet]

I forgot something I should have mentioned first. Check your video cable. Flex it at the back of the monitor, and flex it at the back of your computer. Also, unplug it and make sure all of your pins look good. When you put it back on make sure it is secure. Use the screws to secure it. They don't have to be super tight (They can break easy). I re-read your original post and saw you have already slapped the monitor. I was at work and a little distracted when I read the thread and made my reply (hope I did't ramble). It could be something as simple as a loose cable inside (sounds like it). Your best bet is to find someone who knows something about electronics to open it up and make sure all of your connections are good, check your wiring, and check the condition of the components on your boards. It is very simple to do, but you have already been warned about the tube holding a high voltage charge even after being unpluged for days (about 20KV - 35KV). Your monitor has the potential to last you a long time if you get this taken care of. I have a cheap monitor that is 8 years old and still works fine. Let us know of your outcome.

[Grizzly]

Wow thanks everyone for your extremely helpful and legthy replies, particularly you Svet! I'm not under any inclination to open it up anymore, so don't worry What you said about heat has gotten me thinking though...

The top of the monitor is wide and clear about another 7 feet to the ceiling...but the sides of the monitor are pretty tightly packed with my stuff. The left side is more or less air-sealed with a giant stack of DVD's, and the other side is cramped by a pretty big thick plastic CD rack. I personally *hope* it's a heat issue and not a loose wire issue, simply because I can fix the heat issue. Funny thing...a friend of mine pointed out to me the other day that 3dfxcool.com sells monitor fans! I said, "Wow...that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!" Maybe I was wrong...I never imagined that heat could actually cause a problem like this in a monitor.

I'll try and clear up some room for the sides to breathe and see if this problem persists.

Though...one thing that would disprove this heat theory is that it seems to happen more often right after I turn it on for the first time of the day (when I wake up at 7:30am). It seems like it needs a good half an hour before it builds itself up to maxtemp. Within that first half hour it can happen quite a few times...maybe it is a loose wire. Any ideas what a loose wire fix would cost at a monitor repair shop? I should be coming into *some* money relatively soon between my job and a recent web site I'm building...so maybe if it's less than 80 bucks or so I'd be willing to get it fixed so I don't hafta worry about it. Hmmmmm..

Anyways, thanks again, I'll keep you guys posted for sure