I am typing this looking into my free 19" monitor, courtesy of the Lord Jesus, who gave me the training and skill to troubleshoot and fix it.
It's a CTX PL9 that was living up to the CTX poor-quality reputation. The OSD worked but the contrast was gone, colors all washed out. I figured, it's got to be in the signal-only part. I busted it open and found the brightness dial on the FBT and that helped some with legibility but it was really washed out with contrast maxed out. I put a hole in the cover so I could adjust the brightness on the fly, and popped the case. There were three diodes bad, shorted. One for R, one for G, one for B, the first thing the signal goes to from the cable. I replaced them with some 1n4148s I had in the bin, since they said H and 48 on the bad ones, with no other markings. Worked like a champ. A degauss later and I am in hi-res 19" goodness-land. This is an upgrade from the NEC Multisync 17" unit that was also free, from a co-worker.
God is good to me and my family, I just had to give a shout out and credit where it is due.
P.S., the keyboard was also free, along with the speakers and 20GB and 1GB hard drives (1GB for web browser cache only). The rest was cheap and works good.
P.P.S., I don't expect this thread to stay up long because I had to talk about opening the monitor and that's
but I had to post it up!
Thank you, Jesus!
It's a CTX PL9 that was living up to the CTX poor-quality reputation. The OSD worked but the contrast was gone, colors all washed out. I figured, it's got to be in the signal-only part. I busted it open and found the brightness dial on the FBT and that helped some with legibility but it was really washed out with contrast maxed out. I put a hole in the cover so I could adjust the brightness on the fly, and popped the case. There were three diodes bad, shorted. One for R, one for G, one for B, the first thing the signal goes to from the cable. I replaced them with some 1n4148s I had in the bin, since they said H and 48 on the bad ones, with no other markings. Worked like a champ. A degauss later and I am in hi-res 19" goodness-land. This is an upgrade from the NEC Multisync 17" unit that was also free, from a co-worker.
God is good to me and my family, I just had to give a shout out and credit where it is due.
P.S., the keyboard was also free, along with the speakers and 20GB and 1GB hard drives (1GB for web browser cache only). The rest was cheap and works good.
P.P.S., I don't expect this thread to stay up long because I had to talk about opening the monitor and that's
but I had to post it up!Thank you, Jesus!
To everyone his own beliefs, but I have to wonder what God has to do with this? Did you pray hard, and suddenly wake up knowing how to fix monitors?
I figure you did this all by yourself. Maybe God broke the diodes for your benefit, but I bet the guy who dumped the monitor in the first place would place the responsibility a wee bit below the ground, rather than above the clouds...
I too am typing this on free stuff (with rather better specs), but I thank my employer for that, and he does so because of my ability to charge customers. I s'pose in choosing between the Lord Jesus and the Lord Mammon, I know which pays off better in the material world. As for the afterlife, well that remains to be seen...
Rune
I figure you did this all by yourself. Maybe God broke the diodes for your benefit, but I bet the guy who dumped the monitor in the first place would place the responsibility a wee bit below the ground, rather than above the clouds...
I too am typing this on free stuff (with rather better specs), but I thank my employer for that, and he does so because of my ability to charge customers. I s'pose in choosing between the Lord Jesus and the Lord Mammon, I know which pays off better in the material world. As for the afterlife, well that remains to be seen...
Rune
The apostle Paul was on the right track, when he considered the comparison itself to be unworthy. The heavenly payoff is better.
Anyhow, you would not believe the way I drifted through the younger years of my life and along the way sort-of "happened" upon a college-equivalent level of training in electronics and troubleshooting. Maybe you believe in coincidences but I don't. I also am pretty sure I may read books but I didn't make my brain. God gets the credit for that, along with the fact that it's a rather sharp unit I've got to think with. Ditto for good hands.
I guess I could say that I fixed it on my own, but then maybe God gets miffed at being left out of the list of credits. I don't think he cares but I would, so I mention it.
As for who broke the diodes, I am pretty sure it was a fat signal into cheap parts, but I don't care. As far as I am concerned, they shorted for my benefit. Paraphrasing from St. Paul again, I am (also) convinced by my own experience that "all things work together for good" for (to be blunt) God-loving Christians.
Our worldviews are a bit different eh?
/edit: Yes I prayed for this project. I had no idea if the fix would be as easy as it was. I can't tell you the number of improbable things that have come off after earnest praying. One would think I would cease to be surprised, but I don't. St. James said the fervent prayer of a righteous man "availeth much". He was right, too.
Anyhow, you would not believe the way I drifted through the younger years of my life and along the way sort-of "happened" upon a college-equivalent level of training in electronics and troubleshooting. Maybe you believe in coincidences but I don't. I also am pretty sure I may read books but I didn't make my brain. God gets the credit for that, along with the fact that it's a rather sharp unit I've got to think with. Ditto for good hands.
I guess I could say that I fixed it on my own, but then maybe God gets miffed at being left out of the list of credits. I don't think he cares but I would, so I mention it.
As for who broke the diodes, I am pretty sure it was a fat signal into cheap parts, but I don't care. As far as I am concerned, they shorted for my benefit. Paraphrasing from St. Paul again, I am (also) convinced by my own experience that "all things work together for good" for (to be blunt) God-loving Christians.
Our worldviews are a bit different eh?
/edit: Yes I prayed for this project. I had no idea if the fix would be as easy as it was. I can't tell you the number of improbable things that have come off after earnest praying. One would think I would cease to be surprised, but I don't. St. James said the fervent prayer of a righteous man "availeth much". He was right, too.
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