Re: monitor troubleshooting
isw
henr...@eircom.net (Henry) wrote:
> OK, first I'll admit that this is not exactly a mac.hardware problem but
> there doesn't appear to be a usenet group for general-purpose monitor or
> display issues, so let me try my luck here.
>
> I've got a 21" Samsung SyncMaster (214T) with which, when it worked
> properly, I was completely happy. Trouble is, it's only four years old
> and now it's giving me grief. It is set up as the second monitor for my
> 24" iMac.
>
> It started a few months ago with a brief 'fluttering' when switched on,
> which quickly smoothed out into a normal display. Eventually it started
> taking longer and longer at power-up for the screen to brighten, and the
> fluttering got worse and worse -- to the point that it never stopped.
> Then, after a few weeks of that, the fluttering stopped but now the
> screen is only about 20% as bright as it should be (even with the
> brightness control up to 100). Windows, dialogue boxes, etc. are visible
> but only marginally useful and oftentimes the mouse-cursor is very hard
> to see.
>
> There were no changes to the system configuration just before the
> trouble started and all cables / connections have been double-triple
> checked. This monitor has both DVI and VGA inputs but the symptoms are
> the same either way. I have also tried it, both analog and digital, with
> two other Macs. No joy.
>
> This little beauty wasn't exactly cheap and I'm quite disappointed to
> have these problems after such a comparatively short lifetime. And what
> I'm really afraid of is that in this day and age any repair would be
> prohibitively expensive.
>
> I would be grateful for any insights as to what might be causing these
> symptoms and any prognosis as to which part(s) would need to be replaced
> in order to fix it (at whatever estimated cost?).
Bad backlight, or power supply for same.
If you're able to do the work, a replacement from iBay might not be too
bad; if you're not able to do it, that may be too bad.
Isaac