LCD monitor dead: diy repair?

[Lobster]

Yesterday it was working fine when I turned it off, but when I booted up the PC this morning my LCD monitor (a 15" Dell E151Fpp) was completely dead - even the little light indicating 'power' was off. Having whipped the back off, I found a blown fuse on the power supply circuit board (which is integrated into the monitor). I replaced this, but when I powered it up there was an instant 'pop' (presumably blowing the fuse again) and the monitor is still dead.

Is there anything a non-expert like me can do to repair this? Where would I start? Seems to me that the whole power-supply board is an integral item which would probably unplug for diy replacement (could I get hold of one?), which might be more economical for me than taking the monitor to a repair shop?

Any suggestions?

Thanks David

[Christian McArdle]

How old is it? Where did you purchase it from?

Note that 1 year guarantees are in addition to your statutory rights. Your statutory rights are usually considerably more extensive that the manufacturer's guarantee. However, claims are against the retailer, not the manufacturer. If the retailer is bust/lost/dodgy market trader etc., then this won't be helpful and you can't pursue the manfacturer instead.

Christian.

[Andy Hall]

If it's in warranty phone [phone] and make sure that you have about 30 minutes to navigate your way through telephone menus and queues.

If it's out of warranty, it is likely that it will be cheaper to buy a new one than get it repaired.....

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The likely reason is a dead electrolytic in the PS - the PS itself being protected against overload and would simply shut down. Might be worth simply replacing the lot, but make sure you get suitably rated ones.

[Andy Burns]

Also many monitors have 3 year warranty, not sure about Dell though ...

[Lobster]

It's 24 months old; I bought it direct from Dell with just the standard

12-month warranty, along with a PC. Don't know what statutory rights I have! but I don't imagine in this case that would help?

Thanks David

[Mike Harrison]

Not if it's blowing fuses - failure to start is a very common fault caused by a dead small electrolytic in the startup supply, but fuse-blowing is more likely to be the switching transistor failing short or an output overload. If you can unplug the output side of the PSU and see if it still blows the fuse when not loaded this would confirm that it's a PSU fault.

If you have a small local friendly TV repair shop, they would probably be happy to look at a PSU fault, as the PSU circuitry will be very similar to what's used in most TVs. A computer repair shop will typically be too scared of anything at mains voltage and would probably want to just replace the whole PSU board, which would usually not be economically viable.

If you replace it, remember that you can probably recover £20-30 of the cost selling the dead one on ebay!

[Christian McArdle]

Firstly, I am not a lawyer. My advice is worth what you paid for it. This only applies to consumer purchases.

The statutory rights are that the product is of reasonable quality and fit for purpose. There is a statute of limitations of 6 years to pursue a claim. How long the court would award would depend on the pricepoint and nature of the goods or services.

Dell is marketed as a premium brand and I suspect that you would get 2-3 years out of your statutory rights, especially with the recent European directive to muddy the waters. It would certainly be worth a punt. The fact that the manufacturer and retailer are the same helps considerably. The fact that they offered a grossly overpriced extended warranty is irrelevent. It is illegal to restrict statutory rights, even if they offer to sell you the same rights that you would already possess.

You must ensure that you (a) give them plenty of opportunity to correct the problem and (b) mitigate your losses. This is done by ensuring that they have the chance to repair it themselves and that you choose the cheapest option to fix the monitor if they decline. If they still don't play ball, you can claim online at

The risk you are taking in the event of losing the case is the cost of serving the notice and the time of attending the court. Costs (other than the court fee) are not awarded in these cases. Only you know if that is worth it, especially for a 15".

Christian.

[Mike]

You'll struggle to find anybody wanting to repair it. Easiest solution may be to identify all the tracks out of the PSU and guess what voltage they provided, then either break these tracks or rip all these components off the board and use a Maplin or RS multi-supply to replace it.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It's only guessing, but the SMPS on my video did exactly this - take the input fuse - and it was a cap. Of course other things can fail too. Schottky diodes and opto-couples are another favourite.

[Tom Scales]

[Paul Schilter]

Lobster, The procedure I'd use in determining if the problem was the power supply or the LCD part would be to disconnect the output of the power supply. Replace the fuse and power it up. If the fuse still blows its the power supply. If the fuse is okay there a good chance the LCD part has a short that is causing the power supply's fuse to blow. Paul

[WSZsr]

About a year ago or so there was a thread in the Dell forum that confirmed that Dell brand LCDs carried a three year warranty regardless of the system warranty. You might want to search there.

[N. Thornton]

booted up

completely

solution may

This is not a diy job at all. Not unless youre an electronic engineer/repairer anyway. The PSU will hold dangerous voltages even when unplugged. I like the advice above of using an external psu to supply the voltages it needs - if of course the psu is that simple, but its probably not. SMPSUs frequently have feedback rails to shutdown and wake up on command, monitor for overloads etc. But being cut price puter kit it might not, I dont know.

If youre lucky you might find a backstreet tv repairer to do it. I wouldnt bother with the more reputable ones, they do the same work and the price will be not worth it.

If you still want to tackle it, try sci.electronics.repair. It'll most likely be a shorted pass transistor or high side chip. Not much point replacing caps. And learn how to make it safe to work on first.

NT

[Riverdaleguy]

Cell Dell and they will tell you your LCD has 3 years warranty regardless of the system warranty that came with it.

Lobster wrote:

[Tom Scales]

[Christian McArdle]

Sorry, didn't notice the crosspost. I was purely talking about English law.

Christian.

[J. Clarke]

In the US it also depends on the locality--each state has its own laws about warranty--if the statute says something that is in conflict with the contract then the statute usually wins. But one would have to know where the OP was located and then research the state laws (the laws of most US states and some cities are available online, so in principle this is doable, in practice the laws of my state and the US Code together fill several bookcases at the library and none of it is particularly well indexed) to be sure.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I would place a blown up MOSFET slightly higher up the list...

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Ok. As well. ;-)