Mr. Athena has a 21" Dell CRT Monitor that he’s had for about 3 years now. Just today, it’s starting to do funny things. Nothing has changed on his computer setup.
It gets progressively fuzzier, then he hears a “pop” sound, and it springs back into focus. It’s happening every fifteen minutes or so.
Any ideas? I’ve actually never had a monitor die on me before, so I don’t even know where to look. I sure hope it’s not dead, since the damn thing cost around $600 or $700 bucks (it’s BIG).
Sounds like arcing in a part of the high voltage circuitry. This is often caused by either wearing through of insulation or dust and dirt buildup. There’s really not all that much you can do. It’s a fairly simple matter to open it up and clean the dust out, but this is very dangerous unless you understand what you’re doing. It could also simply be a failing part, in which case there’s not much you can do expect replace it. Monitor repairs are almost never worth the cost, unless it’s a simple and obvious part replacement. Even then, it’s generally not economical, since one part failing almost always means more will follow soon.
From what you describe, it sounds like it’s degaussing. Does the the popping sound coincide with the image going whacky and wiggly, then to sharp focus? If so, I’ll put my money on a bad ground. DO NOT take it apart. Even if it’s unplugged for days, there is enough charge in those to kill you. In my old CRT repair days, we had special tools and worked one-handed (so if we did get a jolt, it wouldn’t cross our heart). Contact Dell, there may possibly be an extended warranty on it if it’s a known issue (That is not something they usually publicize). Or, they have a program where monitor repair is one flat rate. They send you a box, you ship the broken one, you get a refurbished on in return. I’m not sure what the price is on that these days, but I suspect it’s worth it to look into LCD technology.
Could be just a lot of dust and cobwebs inside on the circuits. I had that problem once and had it cleaned out professionally. After that, it was OK.