Old Samsung 1280x1024 LCD: worth fixing?

I know a senior citizen whose old Samsung 1280x1024 19" Syncmaster 912N LCD is obviously broken. It only has a D-shell VGA connector and it doesn't give any output regardless of what computer I connect it to. Pressing the menu button results in a small blue and white window of garbage coming up that sometimes says Test OK and mostly nothing at all. He barely uses his computer anymore -- less than once a month so he doesn't want to spend a lot of money on a new LCD. Would it be worth it, or even possible to fix his old Samsung Syncmaster 912N?

magellan said:

I know a senior citizen whose old Samsung 1280x1024 19" Syncmaster 912N LCD is obviously broken. It only has a D-shell VGA connector and it doesn't give any output regardless of what computer I connect it to. Pressing the menu button results in a small blue and white window of garbage coming up that sometimes says Test OK and mostly nothing at all. He barely uses his computer anymore -- less than once a month so he doesn't want to spend a lot of money on a new LCD. Would it be worth it, or even possible to fix his old Samsung Syncmaster 912N?

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I'd say its probably not worth the time to try and fix it. If he doesn't use his computer much just watch craigslist and pickup a used LCD, I commonly see 15-19" for $10-50, Dell 17" LCDs seem particularly common.

I tried powering the LCD monitor on without any cables attached and it apparently passed it's self test and reported check cable or check cable signal or check signal (something like that). Could a faulty VGA cable cause a complete loss of video signal to the LCD? I don't have any spare VGA cables, and I don't even know where to buy one at this point.

Hmm, too bad your not closer I probably have an old VGA cable around somewhere.

eBay is a good source, here is a link for one; $2.51 for a VGA, cheaper than I could even ship one...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/5FT-1-5M-1-...=US_Video_Cables_Adapters&hash=item20d56a9971

Here's an example of a craigslist LCD:
Dell 20" LCD - $30
http://binghamton.craigslist.org/sys/4498178093.html

It's not worth repairing the monitor if there's a problem more extensive than the cabling. Check Amazon for cheap cables too, or go to a computer/electronics recycling facility. I'm sure you can get a free one if you're creative. Also check with friends & family - VGA cables are often packaged with monitors and not used.

For what it's worth being a Samsung it's probably six capacitors on the power input that have fried.
Had one die on me and another friend with a Samsung lcd TV... Same problem. Caps on the power input.

BobbyBubblehead said:

For what it's worth being a Samsung it's probably six capacitors on the power input that have fried.
Had one die on me and another friend with a Samsung lcd TV... Same problem. Caps on the power input.

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BBH, what would be symptoms of the power caps frying?

According to the documentation on this Samsung LCD it passes
it's self test.

The strange thing is, that w/the only VGA cable I have connected,
I can't get the menu to come up.

I'm going to try another VGA cable and if that doesn't work it's
off to the dump.

Well my monitor just went mental and kept losing the signal and swapping from dvi to hdmi to analogue. It just wouldn't stay on dvi. Sometimes it ran for an hour other times it was seconds.

My friends TV kept overheating and the picture just blacks out.
He fixed the caps but the overheating carried on... Then about two weeks ago he tried to put more ventilation in the bottom intake that was covered with some thin screening material of some description and accidentally put a screwdriver through the ribbon cable. We found a replacement cable online and its fine again... Give or take the heat issues.

So in short - black outs and signal loss are the main symptoms.

I think they use cheap caps where the electrolitics leak out, plus they ballsed up and the caps were the wrong value on a whole bunch of models.

Maybe worth a look for the price of a few new capacitors.

If they look like they have buckled or leaked then mystery over.

I didnt fix my monitor I just dont buy Samsung... My friend on the other hand did a TV repair course at college decades back so he felt at home repairing every now and then.

I'm using an old (2006 or thereabouts) Westinghouse LCD monitor. A couple years ago it ceased to function , and a quick internet search showed bad caps on the power supply board to be pretty common. I opened it up and replaced every cap I could find (7) for $5.40 at Radio Shack. Still using the monitor and it's been trouble free since then.
All my caps were bulging out on the end , a fairly common indicator they failed.

Alaric said:

I'm using an old (2006 or thereabouts) Westinghouse LCD monitor. A couple years ago it ceased to function , and a quick internet search showed bad caps on the power supply board to be pretty common. I opened it up and replaced every cap I could find (7) for $5.40 at Radio Shack. Still using the monitor and it's been trouble free since then.
All my caps were bulging out on the end , a fairly common indicator they failed.

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HOw many caps did you have to replace? Are they surface mount or leaded?

There were only seven caps in mine , all surface mount. Six of them were grouped together and one was a couple inches away. Replacing them took me about 30 minutes , and that included the time required to disassemble and reassemble the monitor. It was one of the easiest repairs I've ever done.