CRT screen clicks and goes wide...any ideas?

[columboid]

My trusty CRT has for sometime now been letting out a click accompanied by the screen stretching. The left and right hand side of the screen stretch out of view but the height stays the same (so the aspect ratio goes a bit stretched).
Normally a firm smack or two on the left hand side of the monitor pops it back into shape but now it is not popping back once it goes.

I'm going in to see what's going on but don't know what I'm looking for, are there any electronics folk out their who could give me any clues of where to look.

It's an LG Flatron 915FT.

Thanks

[DRDNA]

Normally that means its almost dead...not sure it would even be worth fixing.

[Mussels]

yeah its dying. hardly worth fixing, just go get yourself a new trusty LCD.

[Black Panther]

Originally Posted by columboid

It's an LG Flatron 915FT.

Those were great monitors, I still have one of them.
As the others said however... its time is up.

[Frick]

The normal thing to look for is bad caps, failing solder joints and stuff like that. The fact that it used to work if youy smacked it around a bit indicates that there might be as simple as loose cables, parts or joints. CRT's are pretty cramped so it might be hard to spot. But look very carefully.

[columboid]

Thanks for the advice. I'll go in and have butchers see if I can spot anything.
Otherwise I did see one on Ebay recently, fingers crossed another one comes up.

Cheers

[AsRock]

Originally Posted by Frick

The normal thing to look for is bad caps, failing solder joints and stuff like that. The fact that it used to work if youy smacked it around a bit indicates that there might be as simple as loose cables, parts or joints. CRT's are pretty cramped so it might be hard to spot. But look very carefully.

Yeah the good ol thump. CRT's are well known for their dry joints too, although if you plan to fix it your self make sure you discharge the tube 1st or else you be in for a nasty ( not deadly ) shock lol..

[columboid]

Good point

[AsRock]

Will have to double check this but as i remember how i used to do it was to plug them ( make sure it's turned off ) in and used 2 screw drivers which had insulated handles and the wire that goes around the tube and connect it to the center of the cap thats connected to the tube.

Which is turn will release the charge from the unit. All though not done this over 10 years and it was in the UK at that time so if your in the USA i don't know if it's the same methered due to most plugs do not have a earth on them here.

[dr emulator (madmax)]

google dry joints could be something as simple as that

(sidenote) i is here stealin smilies for general nonsense

[Wile E]

After you figure out that you have no clue what the hell is going on inside that monitor, just go buy yourself an IPS lcd.

Don't buy another used one, as it will probably just be ready to die as well. Why else would somebody wait to sell until now?

[Frick]

Well all CRT's are pretty old by now, so that I agree on.

IPS is not a must though imo. It depends on how sensitive you are, I switch regulary between CRTs, TN's and IPS panels and it rarely bothers me, even in gaming and movies.

[dr emulator (madmax)]

heres some links to pics of dry joints

http://www.lcdmonitorrepairebook.com...ircuit-boards/

on this page go down to where it says Broken solder joints on a Flyback transformer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldering

remember to switch the monitor of whilst its still running then leave it (unplugged for a few days),to make sure it's fully discharged

as for the tube, it's covered by a rubber cap, so it shouldn't pose a danger to you unless you start fiddling with it or touch the wire under it,
it looks like this (ht lead)


you could use some pieces of dry wood with a 10 Meg resistor attached to an earth via some wire, to bleed the thing (not recommended)

anyways take your time if you do look at it (wear thick rubber gloves to protect yourself, you shouldn't need them but best to be safe

areas to avoid touching

where the mains capacitor is (it should say something like 400 v 200 mf (size may vary) and is usually a big fat thing near where the mains goes in

around the flyback transformer


but as said if you leave it unplugged all the current should dissapate leaving it safeish to touch (only the tube area can keep a charge for more than a few days)

and finaly don't attempt any of this if you havent got a clue

[columboid]

Haven't been inside yet.
Interestingly, it only does it on 1024 x 768 and the next resolution up from that, any higher resolutions and it's fine. That's a temporary work around.

RE LCDs, I would love to switch to LCD's, in fact I have a 24inch ASUS which is mostly good.
LCDs are bigger in picture, smaller in foot print, they don't buzz and click, they're economical and they are undoubtably the future...but there are two fundamental issues that make them unworkable for me.

Firstly, the picture quality and smoothness is not as good. When gaming the extra size of an LCD is great but the quality is not as good as my CRT (it's not far off to be fair).

I think I could almost live with this an my LCD is not high end so if I shelled out on a decent LCD then this probably woudln't be an issue, but the second issue is the show stopper...resolution. To the best of my knowledge LCDs have one native resoultion that if you move away from results in a drop of picture quality. Assuming a large screen with a high native resolution then for gaming this is fine but when I switch to desktop stuff the resolution is way to small, I use some audio software that has lots of tiny controls and text and it's just too small. Same goes for office stuuf or even the web. Most sites are still optimised for about 1024 and so you find yourself straining to read the text whilst the right hand side osf the screen is empty and unused.
The only solution is to change the resolution and then the quality drops and it's like stepping back in time to looking at a Speccy wired up to the family TV.

I've tried screen magnifiers, changing fonts and icon sizes and even getting up close to the monitor but it's all just an unacceptable compromise that is not an issue at all with CRTs.
The big issue with CRTs is they don't make them any more.

If anyone has been through this and found a solution or an LCD monitor that somehow does the job, please let me know. As I said above I would dearly love to switch to LCD.

[ericpepin]

I'll suggest you to get a new one (prefer TFT) its much cheaper and works fine with low electricity wastage. Thanks

[columboid]

Have pushed the old CRT up to 1200 and something by 900 and something.
It doesn't do the expanding/clicking stuff at this new resolution and it's just about big enough.
Still going to go in, just need to find the time tio leave it off for a few days.

Thanks above for all your advice.

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by columboid

Haven't been inside yet.
Interestingly, it only does it on 1024 x 768 and the next resolution up from that, any higher resolutions and it's fine. That's a temporary work around.

RE LCDs, I would love to switch to LCD's, in fact I have a 24inch ASUS which is mostly good.
LCDs are bigger in picture, smaller in foot print, they don't buzz and click, they're economical and they are undoubtably the future...but there are two fundamental issues that make them unworkable for me.

Firstly, the picture quality and smoothness is not as good. When gaming the extra size of an LCD is great but the quality is not as good as my CRT (it's not far off to be fair).

I think I could almost live with this an my LCD is not high end so if I shelled out on a decent LCD then this probably woudln't be an issue, but the second issue is the show stopper...resolution. To the best of my knowledge LCDs have one native resoultion that if you move away from results in a drop of picture quality. Assuming a large screen with a high native resolution then for gaming this is fine but when I switch to desktop stuff the resolution is way to small, I use some audio software that has lots of tiny controls and text and it's just too small. Same goes for office stuuf or even the web. Most sites are still optimised for about 1024 and so you find yourself straining to read the text whilst the right hand side osf the screen is empty and unused.
The only solution is to change the resolution and then the quality drops and it's like stepping back in time to looking at a Speccy wired up to the family TV.

I've tried screen magnifiers, changing fonts and icon sizes and even getting up close to the monitor but it's all just an unacceptable compromise that is not an issue at all with CRTs.
The big issue with CRTs is they don't make them any more.

If anyone has been through this and found a solution or an LCD monitor that somehow does the job, please let me know. As I said above I would dearly love to switch to LCD.

If you have Windows 7, you can increase the icon and text size while still using a high resolution.

Personally, I suggest you just adjust. You get used to it after a while, and wonder why you ever wanted to stay with the lower resolutions to begin with.