Broken dell e2311 flat screen monitor

pavb2

Hi all

This monitor just gave up on me I've took the back off no obvious damage so is it worth replacing the pcb's and where would I get them or should I just get a new monitor.

degsie

ebay?

pavb2

I suspect this power board pcb is faulty I tried eBay as advised by Degsie and googled but no luck. Anyone know where I can get one?

PeterTheEighth

I fixed a couple of these last week. well not exactly that same monitor but similar. There is a common failure in LCD monitors, where the electrolytic capacitors go bad. The dont look bad on your board but sometimes they look good but are bad. You will need to get a lend of an ESR/capcitance meter to check them properly. The power boards are usually about 40 sterling + shipping so they are not really worth buying, but certainly worth at least checking the caps.

When you say failed, how exactly has it failed?

PeterTheEighth

just looking online, there is actually a repair kit for that power board, which gives you all the electrolytic capacitors that are prone to failure.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Repair-Kit-Capacitors-For-DELL-IN2030mf-For-Power-Supply-Board-ILPI-240-1-Rev-A-/171423513407

So if you wanted to DIY test the board for yourself, I would look at those capacitors as the place where I would start.

pavb2

Thanks Peter the monitor screen just went blank I wouldn't mind replacing the board if I could find out where to get one and get hold of one cheap enough.

Replacing the capacitors is a good call but I wonder if I should just write it off and buy a new one rather than spending anymore time on it.

PeterTheEighth

In my opinion, it's not worth buying either the repair kit or the board. Just buy a new monitor if that is the choice. My point would be that it may be just a matter of replacing one or two capacitors. The repair kit gives you a guide as to which components that fail.

The monitor just went blank

This could be a number of things. The backlights fail on these quite often, either the lighting element (CCFL/LED) or the driver circuit (called the inverter). So you need to be sure that it IS in fact the power board that is at fault.

Are the LEDs at the front coming on?
Does the screen come on and then go off?

pavb2

PeterTheEighth wrote: »

In my opinion, it's not worth buying either the repair kit or the board. Just buy a new monitor if that is the choice. My point would be that it may be just a matter of replacing one or two capacitors. The repair kit gives you a guide as to which components that fail.


This could be a number of things. The backlights fail on these quite often, either the lighting element (CCFL/LED) or the driver circuit (called the inverter). So you need to be sure that it IS in fact the power board that is at fault.

Are the LEDs at the front coming on?
Does the screen come on and then go off?

Nothing at all no LEDs or screen coming on or off

Clearlier

pavb2 wrote: »

Nothing at all no LEDs or screen coming on or off

It's not that likely but if you have a way of checking (swap test) that the power cable hasn't bit the dust I'd do that first.

SteelyDanJalapeno

fuse?

pavb2

Thanks guys have changed the power lead. I can't see any fuses inside the monitor or on the pcb's.

PeterTheEighth

- Red arrow is the fuse. it's unlikely to be just the fuse, but there's no harm in checking it for continuity.
- Black arrow is the main filter capacitor that you need to discharge before touching the board or you could get a decent shock. You can check it with a voltmeter/multimeter to make sure it has been discharged.

pavb2

Thanks Peter that fuse is OK

PeterTheEighth

I guess you have reached a crossroads in life at this stage pav. Do you want to try and fix it. I'll try to put together a video of what to do later. It's actually something I've been meaning to do for a while. I did a few courses in repairing power supplies a couple of years back. Dont get much use for it any more.

Well, except when one of our junior computer technicians brings back a dead PC from site. We play this game where I fix the PSU at home, then put it back on the desktop early the next morning, powered on and fully functional. Then when the junior technician arrives in, we get them to "Get that dead PC from the other office". At which point they see the PC is working, and begin to question their own sanity and say things like "I swear, it wasnt working yesterday".

I'd be hilarious like that. :pac:

PeterTheEighth

Here's a quick tour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYvtxm9Ywxk

I havent scripted this, so it could have been better, but hopefully it gives you some tips.

And most importantly, I dont mean this to be patronising in any way but PLEASE make sure you are incredibly careful if you choose to have a go at repairing. I got a few fair bangs of those filter capacitors in the past and it's not nice.

pavb2

Thanks Peter that's really good of you much appreciated.

pavb2

Update

I ordered a new monitor but For the price of those capacitors and a few hours of my time I Ordered a set from eBay and changed them. Unfortunately I had the same problem so consigned the monitor to the recycling bin.

PeterTheEighth

Pity. If it's not the electrolytic capacitors, then it's probably something to do with the backlight system. On those monitors there is an inverter board which converts the 12V DC to high voltage AC (~1000V) to power little CCFL lamps (usually two at the top of the monitor and two at the bottom) similar to these. You can confirm that it is a backlight issue easily. When the screen turns off shine a torch on the screen and see if you can see any display or message on the screen.



They are difficult to remove, and difficult/expensive to order, difficult to reinstall. I have a few nice monitors/TVs at home that I'm considering replacing with LED replacement kit like this. but again it's the question of "is it really worth it" when you can get a screen for half nothing on adverts. Very frustrating though, if even one of those CCFL fails, the whole thing shuts down.

Hollister11

You could find someone to fix it in a repair shop, or sell it for pieces, and buy a refurb on ebay