A few days ago, my monitor (Gateway FPD1730 LCD) suddenly turned off while I was using the computer. That is, the screen went blank, but the power LED was still on. I pressed the power putton to actually turn off the monitor, then again to turn it back on. The monitor turned on, but the top half of the screen was darker than is should be and was and rapidly flickering. After a second or two of this, the display turned off again (again, the power LED was still lit. I tried again several times over the next couple of hours before the monitor started working normally. I didn’t have any further problems until about 15 minutes ago. Now the display will turn on, flicker a bit before reaching normal brightness, and stay on anywhere from 30 seconds to several minutes before turning off again.
All power and data connections are secure, and I’m not getting a “no signal” message, so I’m pretty sure it’s not a problem with my video card or other hardware. Any ideas about what’s causing it or whether it’s fixable?
I had a similar problem with my ViewSonic LCD several months ago: power connections all fine but no display. Fortunately it was under warranty. When I described the problem they didn’t even have me do any diagnostics (check connections in case I’m an idiot, etc.) – just told me to pack it up and send it in for repair. They told me that if they couldn’t fix it within 2 weeks (or something like that) they would just send me a new one – which is what they ended up doing.
Well, about 15 minutes after I posted there, the SA goons figured out that the problem is either the backlighting or the inverter for the backlighting. The question now is whether I’ll be able to fix it without getting myself killed.
I agree that it sounds like an inverter problem. If it’s under warrenty, send it back. If not…well, you can try to find, buy, and install an inverter for it, but it might not be worth the hassle.
I agree that it sounds like an inverter problem. If it’s under warrenty, send it back. If not…well, you can try to find, buy, and install an inverter for it, but it might not be worth the hassle.
Bad inverters are a common failure on that monitor. Worse, they appear to be a non-standard part that nobody will sell to you, and your only option is to ship the thing to Gateway for repair. Sounds like it’s time to go shopping for a new monitor.
I recently took apart a defunct LCD monitor just to see how it ticks (I like doing that with broken equipment - you should see the number and complexity of parts that went into making a 1980s laser printer). I’m sure it differs a bit from model to model, but my general impression was that these are not repairable devices; many of the delicate components inside were held in place by plastic clips that were clearly designed to snap together and stay that way forever; some parts were encased in thin metal housings that could only have been folded into shape in situ, and would be almost impossible to remove intact. The inverter assembly was interesting, because it was clearly a separate PCB that plugged in as a daughter board, but reaching this, and the lamps themselves, necessitated such a serious degree of disassembly that I was way past any reasonable point of no return by the time I got to these components.
I even had to disconnect and remove the actual LCD display element - involving unplugging a couple of printed ribbon connectors that had almost invisibly fine conductors; there’s just no way it would all have functioned properly if I’d tried to put it back together, even if I had been really careful.
YMMV, but I think in reality, you should be shopping for a new monitor; it probably will not cost any more than it would to find and fit the replacement part anyway.
Thanks to everyone for the replies. I was actually able to find parts and instructions for replacing the backlighting and inverter on a very similar model, but apparently Gateway tech support doesn’t know much about parts from way back in 2004, so I’m having trouble finding out whether my monitor uses the same parts. If they are in fact the same, then it shouldn’t cost me more than about $50 to fix. Replacing the lighting itself looks trickier than replacing the inverter, but both seem doable, so I’m optimistic.
If you can find a clean area that you can set aside, I’d recommend dismantling the thing before you commit to purchasing the part (unless you can return it, if the disassembly goes badly).