I can't believe my monitor still works after all these years.

[Evil Lurker]

Sitting here bored, and once again got to thinking about my old circa 2004 soyo 19" monitor. Its so old that its not even "widescreen" format and at the time DVI connectors were just starting to get semi available as I recall (has one). Got it on special at Fry's while visiting Las Vegas for $165 courtesy of hitting the slots. Only one pixel likes to stick on blue every once and a while, all the rest are perfect. And on top of everything else, its absolutely chocked full of fuhjyyu caps.

I gotta admit that it is starting to show a bit of age... the screen is starting to turn yellowish, probably from the backlights aging. No tellings how many thousands of power on hours of use it has on it and well over 10K hours on standby... heck it may be pushing closer to 20k hours on standby. I remember opening it up earlier this year... non of the caps shown any signs of bulging of leakage.

I still get amazed every time I think about it.

[999999999]

Re: I can't believe my monitor still works after all these years.

I have an old circa '96 Acer 15" CRT hooked up to a fileserver. It won't even do higher than 800x600 resolution above (IIRC) 60Hz refresh rate. Granted it only gets powered on when the server is tended to, less than an hour per year for the last decade or more, and when it's turned off it's really turned completely off as it has a mains AC front power switch instead of soft-on logic like anything newer.

[lti]

Re: I can't believe my monitor still works after all these years.

The 15" Sony CRT connected to my old Compaq was made in March 1996. It has some issues, but it still works.

[tom66]

Re: I can't believe my monitor still works after all these years.

I've always thought that bad caps never affected 100% of any particular capacitor. They were always quality control issues which led to eventual failure. Hence why not all fujjjyuu or capxon die, but most of them do.

[ben7]

Re: I can't believe my monitor still works after all these years.

I've always thought that bad caps never affected 100% of any particular capacitor. They were always quality control issues which led to eventual failure. Hence why not all fujjjyuu or capxon die, but most of them do.

Even nichicon, and NCC, and panny die too.

I think a lot of the time it is due partly to being taken care of very well. Also of course, there is the level of quality in the engineering of the circuits.

[Pentium4]

Re: I can't believe my monitor still works after all these years.

Wow, I'm surprised the thing is still kicking!! Sometimes bad caps surprise me. Had a computer come into the shop a couple weeks ago that had viruses. It ran 24/7 so it was EXTREMELY dusty. The thing had 36,000 running hours. I had to check the FSP power supply cause I knew it'd have CapXon in it. The thing was so dusty inside when I opened it I could hardly even see any of the caps. None of them were bulging and the computer passed stress testing...I was amazed haha. But then some FSP's with less than 8,000 running hours have multiple CapXon go bad in it.

Are you going to continue to use the monitor till it dies?

[bhvm]

Re: I can't believe my monitor still works after all these years.

Not serious.
I have an LG LCD 17 inch 5:4 monitor (widescreen was not out at that time, nor was DVI) that has a normal VGA port. No DVI and such.
Works VERY well on my Nvidia 9800GT. The native Resolution is 1280x1024.
Infact this the highest quality monitor i've personally used. The screen is Matt finish and not the Glossy Gross Goopey ones that show more of your face than the font on it !!
This monitor has seen 3 Graphics cards (Nvidia 6200 *AGP*, Nvidia 7600GT PCi-e, Nvidia 9800GT ) and 2 CPU changes(with mainboard and all , not just Proc)and is still going strong! No plans to replace it as long as it works.

[momaka]

Re: I can't believe my monitor still works after all these years.

We have several 15" Compaq TFT5010 server LCD monitors at work. Manufactured in 2000. If you lifted one blindfolded, you'd think it's a CRT - that's how heavy these are. Resolution wise, they max out at 1024x768 and their response time is.......... very slllooooooow. The actual TFT inside is made in Japan by Panasonic.

The techs at work regularly forget to turn them off so most of the time these monitors have been working almost 24/7/365 for the last 12 years! And guess what - all of them still work! But barely. The inverters in them are actually fine but the CCFLs are absolutely on their last breath (the screen is very dim and has a strong pink hue). Unfortunately, I don't think my boss will think it's worth to get new CCFLs for these. I have 1 here that I'd like to mod with LEDs but haven't had time. Need to find or build an LED strip that is approx. 35x5x5 mm (L x W x H).

As far as old CRT monitors, I got a HP A4032A (Sony Trinitron) 17" from 1994! I don't know if I am it's 3rd, 4th or 5th owner, but the thing is very beat up. Has cracks in the case and stains from spilled coffee on the back. It has some noticeable focus issues on the top-left corner of the screen and the brightness in the vertical direction isn't even - but it works! Windows XP couldn't get it to go higher than 60 Hz because it can't recognize the monitor, but with some Power Strip tweaking, I got it to sync fine at 75 Hz on 1024x768 - more than enough for me on a 17" screen.

I've always thought that bad caps never affected 100% of any particular capacitor. They were always quality control issues which led to eventual failure. Hence why not all fujjjyuu or capxon die, but most of them do.

True.
I just took a crappy LinkWorld PSU out of service today with lots of Fuhjyyu caps (none bulged, though). Have some Fuhjyyu caps in my junk bin as well. Some of them are quite a few years old but still show okay.

[mariushm]

Re: I can't believe my monitor still works after all these years.

I have an Eizo T57s under my desk, too lazy to check the exact date on it but it says on a sticker "Tested march '98"

Bought it when I was a student from a guy who was at photography/art courses - he also bought it a previous year from one of the stores that used to buy monitors sent to recycling by companies in UK and Germany. This one still has a Helpdesk asset tag on it.

Might open it up and post some pictures of the insides one day. Being Eizo, I'm sure it's gonna be a pleasure seeing Rubycon caps all over or some other good brands.

[Pentium4]

Re: I can't believe my monitor still works after all these years.

I'd love to see the inside of that beast!

[momaka]

Re: I can't believe my monitor still works after all these years.

Being Eizo, I'm sure it's gonna be a pleasure seeing Rubycon caps all over or some other good brands.

That Eizo looks like a Trinitron. All of the older (and even newer but especially the very old ones) Sony Trinitrons are like that. I have another 17" (a Dell D1025HTX) from '97 that has HUGE Rubycon/Chemicon/Nichicon caps. The 21" Dell D1626HT on my desk is still kicking too - just used it yesterday for some gaming. If you wanted to shoot a movie that depicts a 90's office, my room would be suitable .

[Behemot]

Re: I can't believe my monitor still works after all these years.

For example in Mitsubishi there's been some crapxons or what, that may be the reason why mine 19" died. It had very good electronics besides that, very nice picture.

Mostly HP, Dell, Eizo, Iiyama and so have good caps, but not always. Anyway, got here Phillips Brilliance 202P4, hopefully it's gonna last. If not, got spare 21" Dell and HP, only con is they are much bigger, Phillips has smaller casing and stuff.



Many of these high-end displays still run after tens of thousands hours of use and have good image. Eah, many those AOC and stuff work too, but image sucks. And much more of them died so far.

[Rulycat]

Re: I can't believe my monitor still works after all these years.

Just got a brand new 15" laptop and couldn't believe my luck at the screen choices - all of them were matte! I paid the extra £70 for the Wide gamut model and my god, the colours are brilliant! Makes a change from the almost-monochrome, glossy crap you get in a cheap one!

[BigTroll]

Re: I can't believe my monitor still works after all these years.

my 1980s IBM PC CGA color monitor still works fine and is sharp, and my 1981 sony trinitron with original caps is still going strong too.

[Behemot]

Re: I can't believe my monitor still works after all these years.

Oh man, didn't know Trinitron brand is so old, it dates back to 1966 according to wiki…

[lti]

Re: I can't believe my monitor still works after all these years.

Just got a brand new 15" laptop and couldn't believe my luck at the screen choices - all of them were matte! I paid the extra £70 for the Wide gamut model and my god, the colours are brilliant! Makes a change from the almost-monochrome, glossy crap you get in a cheap one!

It is nice to know that laptop manufacturers finaly got a brain.

[Rulycat]

Re: I can't believe my monitor still works after all these years.

It is nice to know that laptop manufacturers finaly got a brain.

This model was custom built by pc specialist (uk supplier) the actual OEM is a taiwanese firm called Clevo. Interestingly when I went on Windows Update the monitor driver it installed was for a Lenovo. They must share screens.

[Behemot]

Re: I can't believe my monitor still works after all these years.

May not be good after all - most of these custom builds I have seen died because of typical problems (BGA and so). Would say definitelly greater share of them get defective than from usuall branded non-modified versions.

[cheapie]

Re: I can't believe my monitor still works after all these years.

I'm using a Sansui (actually made by Orion Electric) HDLCD185W HDTV as a monitor. I opened it up last week for a cap check, and, to my surprise, every single cap was Rubycon. Add that to my Astec power supply, and I'd say that 3 or so companies have brains.

[tom66]

Re: I can't believe my monitor still works after all these years.

Orion build good stuff. Newer sets are Vestel based though...!