Samsung 205bw - Swollen Caps and Yellow Screen Tint

[AndyDove21]

Hi, I would like an opinion on my 205bw. As you can see from the images, it has some swollen caps on the powerboard, which having searched through these forums is not exactly unusual.

The thing is, I have two 205bw pushed up against each other, giving me a 3360x1050 display. They are both made in 2006, one's August and the other is October. The older one, that I bought used recently, has a yellowy tint to it, a sort of nicotine stain. When it's put to full brightness, I still need to dim the newer one to half brightness, and even then the older one is a bit brown. That's after color resets on both OSD's.

1. How much risk is there in replacing the caps? I can wield a soldering iron confidently, so that part does not worry me so much.
2. Should I just replace the 3 swollen ones, or should I do all?
3. Do you think this is causing the brown tint, or is that likely to be something else?
4. Would you wait until actual failure to do something, or would this considered preventative maintenance?

Thanks so much!
Andy

[redwire]

Re: Samsung 205bw - Swollen Caps and Yellow Screen Tint

Don't wait until it gets worse, or the inverter chip will die too.

I've fixed a few Samsung LCD monitors and it's worth re-capping them, like $6. I replace all except the big 450V one. It's low risk, as long as you write down the values and where they went, don't put them in backwards. Know the max. height either 20 or 25mm as Samsung uses short caps that can be hard to find. The big 450V part I don't change and haven't had any go, they run 120Hz low frequency, but there is another thread about this. CapXon is garbage.

The yellowing dimmer tint I have seen with older CCFL's or ones that have been driven hard (bright). The tube ends blacken. You could swap the board with the second monitor to compare. Check the (hidden) service menu and see how many hours runtime.

You can buy new LCD monitor parts and CCFL tubes here: www.lcdparts.net
Changing CCFL tubes is for those with soft hands- the tubes are very fragile about as strong as a toothpick and you can't get dust in the diffuser and panel. Takes patience.

Samsung 205BW service manual and schematic
225BW service menu post

[AndyDove21]

Re: Samsung 205bw - Swollen Caps and Yellow Screen Tint

Thanks redwire. I took a look at the service menu you mentioned, and this is what I found:

New
Monitor On Time 6475
Panel Cycle 12507
Panel 6475 (Ch. No - 0)
Upper Lamp 6475
Lower Lamp 6475
Version M-HA20W9BAa-1001

Old
Monitor On Time 6840
Panel Cycle 27304247
Panel 148821 (Ch. No = 1)
Upper Lamp 240
Lower Lamp 56
Version M-HA20W9BIa-1002

The cycles for the old monitor look strangely high?

Would you expect the yellowing to be improved by replacing the caps, or is that effect only caused by an old CCFL? Not sure I fancy replacing the tubes tbh. Do you know of any service that could refurbish the monitor for me?

[kc8adu]

Re: Samsung 205bw - Swollen Caps and Yellow Screen Tint

fire em both up next to each other with the backs off.look at the light leaks on the rear of the panel.normal is around 6500k.this is a slightly bluish purplish white.
most likely the eeprom is corrupt from the bad caps.
our shop help kid has the 225bw and the eeprom was hosed due to the main caps and the little sm lytics on the logic board being bad.replace all of them.a zerofill of the eeprom to invoke manufacturing default mode brought it back.
i touched up a few things and got it perfect again.

[AndyDove21]

Re: Samsung 205bw - Swollen Caps and Yellow Screen Tint

Is this a service you offer, and if so for what sort of price? I'll be driving down to Marysville, OH next week as it goes. Dayton is not so much further on...

PM me if you wish.

[AndyDove21]

Re: Samsung 205bw - Swollen Caps and Yellow Screen Tint

Have purchased a new power board from China, with the identical part number as the dodgy one in this monitor. Hopefully, that'll fix it. It started blinking on and off every few minutes after it's been on for about half and hour.