Dell E176FPc 17" LCD monitor.

[Ian Field]

This was a freebie with no history etc - it works, but pressing any of the
setting buttons displays a padlock symbol on the screen.

Anyone know how to unlock it?

The Dell website wasn't much help, and it looks too old to find the manual.

Thanks for any help.

[c4urs11]

You can get the Service Manual here:
<http://monitor.net.ru/forum/pafiledb/uploads/4763b32b4eb1799662f8a3e2eda5a5cd.pdf>

It says:
"Press the 'Menu' button for over 15 seconds to unlock the OSD Menu"

Cheers!

[Ian Field]

"c4urs11" <c4u...@domain.hidden> wrote in message
news:14452847...@news.evonet.be...

Thanks and thanks.

Most grateful.

[jurb...@gmail.com]

When the neocon-men in Washington start WW3, remember that the Russians helped you.

[Ian Field]

<jurb...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1b3bda58-c384-49c4...@googlegroups.com...

> When the neocon-men in Washington start WW3, remember that the Russians
> helped you.

Whoever presses the button - it will have been the Arabs that yanked their
chain.

[Jon Elson]

Yes, you hold the menu button down for 10 seconds. When the padlock goes
from locked to open, release the button.

I had one that got soda spilled into the little PC board with the button
switches, and it ended up in the locked state once the board was cleaned.
So, I had to unlock it.

Jon

[Ian Field]

"Jon Elson" <jme...@wustl.edu> wrote in message
news:QrSdnQn8LIVJCLvL...@giganews.com...

Someone left the monitor and a bashed up Dell computer on the end of their
drive with a note; "please take - free" - I just knew the monitor would come
in handy.

The one I'd been using was scrounged on a free recycling group, they told me
it was faulty and the buttons were dodgy, like something had been spilled
down the front.

After cleaning the button PCB, I reflowed all the solder joints in the hope
the heat would desiccate any lingering residues. It seemed OK for a while,
but soon became apparent that the buttons had a life of their own in humid
weather.

It got to be such a PITA that the Dell got put into service.

[Jon Elson]

Ian Field wrote:

>
>
> The one I'd been using was scrounged on a free recycling group, they told
> me it was faulty and the buttons were dodgy, like something had been
> spilled down the front.
>
> After cleaning the button PCB, I reflowed all the solder joints in the
> hope the heat would desiccate any lingering residues. It seemed OK for a
> while, but soon became apparent that the buttons had a life of their own
> in humid weather.

The Dell monitor I had this problem with had 4 buttons. The power button
was fine, the other 3 had trouble at different times. They have a small
surface-mount capacitor on the back across each button switch. The switches
appeared to be well-sealed, but the soda stuff gut under the caps, ate some
of the PC board, and caused lingering conduction. So, I removed all the
caps, severely scrubbed the PC board with solvent and a toothbrush, and
soldered on, I think, 1000 pF caps where the bad ones were. This has solved
the problem.

Your results sound EXACTLY like what mine was doing, and I had to remove the
caps, clean and replace with new caps. Most likely, it would work fine
without the caps. (I have quite a big stash of SMT parts as I assemble PC
boards.)

If the switches are not sealed, then they are almost certainly full of
sticky, conductive gunk, and would have to be replaced.

Jon

[Ian Field]

"Jon Elson" <jme...@wustl.edu> wrote in message

news:I6CdnS5l7otOp7TL...@giganews.com...

AFAICR: there were no other components on the front PCB.

Finding the abandoned Dell came in just right, I'm not short of monitors
over all - so getting around to working on the faulty one could take a
while.