Supposedly, there is a high voltage snap occurring in my monitor. When I jiggle the mouse to “wake” it up, sometimes there is a loud snap, similar to the sound of a large rubber band being popped. My boss says this is a high voltage snap.
So if it is, what’ll happen? Will I be electrocuted (as he claims 
) one day while touching my mouse?
Yes, it’s probably a high-voltage arc created when your monitor turns on. It’s probably do to either dirt buildup around the high-voltage wire from the flyback transformer, or a nick or other defect in said wire. But no, it probably won’t hurt you, unless you’re touching a part of the monitor that’s conductive and connected to the chassis. Most likely, the arc is going to ground, anway, since that’s what it will try to do. In this case, there’s no physical danger, though eventually, your monitor is likely to fail at some point.
My monitor (iiyama VM Pro 455 19") makes this sound from the first day I bought it. Is it defective?
Maybe not. It might be the degaussing circuit relay clicking on, too, now that I think about it.
Yes, that must be it. I degaussed it manually from the On Screen Menu and the monitor made the same sound.
You can get various clicks and pops from monitors when you change its state: on/off, sleeping/awake, changing resolution, etc.
A modest pop during such an operation, esp. if it’s from day one, is likely not a concern.
But, when it makes a pop/snap sound and you’re not changing the monitor’s state, then there’s something Not Right going on. The monitor may continue to work fine for years, or it might fail later today. Since there is a (quite small) chance a failing monitor might start a fire, a close eye should be kept on it. So turn it off when you’re not around it, etc.
If there is a noticable disruption in the picture when the snap happens, e.g., the image shrinks quite a bit for a few seconds, then it’s time to get a new monitor.
IF it really is a high voltage snap. There is no point in waiting for the monitor to fail. If you (or some one you know) is comfortable disassembling a monitor (taking all neccessary precautions to avoid being zapped) then you can look around and see where the problem is.
You can usually tell where the short is going because the area getting zapped will have little black spots all over it. Once you find that, you can see if it is a problem with the high voltage cable or one of the insulating boots on the connectors on the HV cable.
If there are cracks in the cable or the boot (think old tires and split rubber) then you can fix them. Get your self a tube of silicon rubber and squirt and smear some on the cracked spots. Let sit and cure for 24 Hours and you’re good to go.
Be damned sure that you know what not to do around high voltage, though - and make damned sure to unplug the monitor before you go piddling with it.
I don’t want to start a debate or anything. I merely want to highlight that I, personally, strongly suggest you follow none of Mort Furd’s advice. CRTs are deadly, even unplugged, and novices have no business taking the covers off. Also, certain ways of doing such repairs actually make things worse rather than better. The proper materials to fix an insulation problem in a monitor are not standard household products.
Well, to be fair, he did say don’t do anything unless you know what you’re doing around HV and to unplug the monitor before working on it; suggesting all his advice is bad is, well, wrong.
Indeed, taking apart a monitor (especially one with a CRT inside) is a quick path to being fried for most people. I’m pretty fearless when it comes to tooling around with PC hardware, but the monitor is well beyond my purview. The money I’d waste buying a new one is money I don’t want to spend on ER bills or leave to my next of kin.
Why would it be dangerous even if it’s unplugged and cold? One word: capacitors. The monitor is full of some rather large pieces of solid-state electronics called capacitors, which are designed to hold a charge. Capacitors can hold a charge long enough to render the whole operation hazardous even if the monitor’s been sitting around unplugged a while. I don’t know how long the average monitor will hold a charge, but I also don’t really need to know. Neither do you.
Are there techies advanced enough to fix a broken montor? Certainly. But they have rather interesting toolkits and plenty of training. For the rest of us, it’s best to leave the thing alone.
I’ve been fixing TVs and monitors since I was a kid (the old ones still had vacuum tubes back then!), so it truly pains me when a monitor has to be replaced (e.g. a friend who lives too far away) when it’s a 90% chance that it could be fixed with a 5 minute look-see, a little brushing, a dab of solder or corona dope. Almost no repair shops service monitors anymore. They only swap modules or boards. Its more profitable and involves littlle thought, training, risk, or insurance surcharges
I, too, have been tempted to tell people how to do this “simple” fix --so few tech geeks still can-- but I remind myself: when it comes to monitor repair: "If you have to ask, you can’t afford it". If you can’t recognize a flyback problem at a glance (and probably even if you can), you’re not qualified.
The voltages are higher today, and even in the Old Days, many people died each year fixing TVs/radios. Every TV repairman I knew had their share of zap stories - that’s the official reason they don’t do real monitor repair anymore. Without training and experience, doing it at home is akin to trying to beat trains at railroad crossings–you may be fine the first 999 times, but it only takes One Bad Day.
I wouldn’t want that on my head, so I just tell people it’s probably a flyback arc (“LOT”/“LOPT”, outside the US) and suggest they check if if a friend has the right skills/gear. A teacher at the local vocational-technical school may be willing to fixing it as a favor, for a donation to the school, or as a classroom demo.