Another text file of mildly useful information: LCD monitors
that are easy to fix, and how to do so.

Keywords: fix repair LCD flat panel monitor blinking power light no backlight

If the glass is cracked, well, it's probably NOT worth fixing.

There are dangerous, possibly lethal voltages in almost all backlit LCDs.
If you don't deal with high voltage very often, this is probably
not the time to start. If you do, do so at your own risk.
Grabbing the wrong wire could kill you, if it doesn't,
you'll probably crack the LCD from the jump at being shocked.


Generally, I'll give you enough information to figure out what to do.
If you can't figure it out from the information provided,
you probably shouldn't be attempting the repair.


Viewsonic VX-900-2  (possibly VX-900 also?)
I've gone through 5 of these that would turn on but give no picture. Often,
the dreaded blinking power light would occur.
All 5 I've seen needed two surface mount fuses replaced on the LCD inverter
section, near the white connector with several wires on it. 
There are two bulbs, that seem to be driven by two seperate inverter 
sections on the one board. However, if one fuse blows, both inverters stop
working, even though one of the fuses is usually still good.

TIP: test both fuses, blow the one that is good, then solder the new fuses 
     right on top of the old fuses.
TIP #2: I upped the rating on the fuses by .5 Amp and haven't had one go out
        yet, but replacing with the same rating went out within 6 months in 
        the first two I repaired. 
        DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK HOWEVER!

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NEC 1720M 
3 of these so far, all 3 had bad caps (oh yes, it's not just mobos anymore!)
The power light would blink 2 or 3 times a second, but I'm guessing it could be
more, less, 1 quick blink, or no power at all.
1000uF 32 volt x 2 and a single 1000uF 16v
These are all located near the bigger heatsink on the power board, near the 
video interface board. They are through hole on a single sided board, so VERY 
simple to solder.

TIP: If you have a couple of old (dead) power supplies around, it's very
     likely there are a one or two of the caps you need in there, and, as a
     bonus, they are generally temp rated much higher. I have no proof, but
     since there were two different manufacturers/types of cap to be 
     replaced, and since they sit near a nice big heatsink, I'm guessing
     the higher temp rating will lead to longer life.

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That's it for the moment, I've fixed a few other LCD's but those aren't easy fixes. :)

As usual, you can email me: paul at noteablecomputers daht com

Please feel free to send comments or updates, if you simply must send money, I'll give you an address to send it to. ;>>