Acer x223w first white screen, now no backlight

[turtlep]

Re: Acer x223w first white screen, now no backlight

Hi! Found this thread while trying and fix my Acer x223w-bd. Don't mean to interrupt (I can write a new thread if you guys would like), but it sounds like I have a very similar problem to you, @teri3s.

• With no input, powering on the LCD gives me a messy white/grey screen, which slowly turns darker (Picture 1).
• With input, I can see the top ~5 pixels of my screen, with the rest of the screen messed up (Picture 2).

I took apart the monitor, down to the power board and the interface board. After reading around, it looks like bad caps are the culprit for most broken LCDs... replacing them looked simple enough, so I was actually *hoping* to see burst caps everywhere. Unfortunately, all the caps on my boards look (to my untrained eye) OK. They're mostly flat on the top, no electrolyte discharge (Picture 4). The solder on the back of the boards look alright as well.

I have heard that caps can go bad with no visual evidence... could this be a possibility? Should I switch out the caps anyways? Let me know if you need any additional info to find out whats going on.

I've attached some images of the boards as well.
* Power Board front (Picture 3)
* Power Board back (Picture 5)
* Interface Board front (Picture 6)
* Interface Board back (Picture 7)

[PlainBill]

Re: Acer x223w first white screen, now no backlight

Hi! Found this thread while trying and fix my Acer x223w-bd. Don't mean to interrupt (I can write a new thread if you guys would like), but it sounds like I have a very similar problem to you, @teri3s.

• With no input, powering on the LCD gives me a messy white/grey screen, which slowly turns darker (Picture 1).
• With input, I can see the top ~5 pixels of my screen, with the rest of the screen messed up (Picture 2).

I took apart the monitor, down to the power board and the interface board. After reading around, it looks like bad caps are the culprit for most broken LCDs... replacing them looked simple enough, so I was actually *hoping* to see burst caps everywhere. Unfortunately, all the caps on my boards look (to my untrained eye) OK. They're mostly flat on the top, no electrolyte discharge (Picture 4). The solder on the back of the boards look alright as well.

I have heard that caps can go bad with no visual evidence... could this be a possibility? Should I switch out the caps anyways? Let me know if you need any additional info to find out whats going on.

I've attached some images of the boards as well.
* Power Board front (Picture 3)
* Power Board back (Picture 5)
* Interface Board front (Picture 6)
* Interface Board back (Picture 7)

The second picture looks like a failure of the panel card - the card the cable from the signal card plugs into. Another possibility would be a bad bond at either end of the flex strip that runs from the panel card to the glass LCD panel itself.

PlainBill

[turtlep]

Re: Acer x223w first white screen, now no backlight

The second picture looks like a failure of the panel card - the card the cable from the signal card plugs into. Another possibility would be a bad bond at either end of the flex strip that runs from the panel card to the glass LCD panel itself.

PlainBill

Thanks for the quick reply, PlainBill.
I gave the panel card a quick lookover, I don't see anything immediately wrong. Also checked connectors on either end of the interface board->panel cable, don't notice anything odd. Included pictures of connectors on both ends.

• Is there any way to test the panel board/what should I be looking for?
• You mentioned potentially bad bonds between the panel card & LCD panel itself. I'm not familiar with how to check these connections, any suggestions? (Panel board end is accessible, not sure about LCD side...)
• Are bad capacitors out of the question?

Thanks for your help, let me know if you'd like more info.

* (Picture 1): Panel board, cable connector
* (Picture 2): Interface board, cable connector

[PlainBill]

Re: Acer x223w first white screen, now no backlight

The vertical lines are a pretty solid indication that the problem is either the panel board, the flex connectors, or possibly the glass LCD panel itself. If pressing the contact area between the flex connector and the panel card, or between the flex connector and the glass LCD panel causes changes, it's confirmed. Some have reported temporary success by arranging rubber foam to exert pressure on the contact areas. (Note: Temporary!!)

The chances it could be bad caps is very remote.

PlainBill

[teri3s]

Re: Acer x223w first white screen, now no backlight

That first picture with the white messy screen I got. I didn't get the second one with the vertical lines however. Even after the monitor was disassembled I still only got the white messy screen until the backlight stopped working completely.

How long have you been using that monitor btw?

[turtlep]

Re: Acer x223w first white screen, now no backlight

...
How long have you been using that monitor btw?

About half a year.

...
If pressing the contact area between the flex connector and the panel card, or between the flex connector and the glass LCD panel causes changes, it's confirmed.

Tried pressing flex connector contact areas on both the interface card, and the panel card... no apparent changes. Wasn't entirely sure where contact areas actually are between the flex connector and the glass LCD panel (maybe I haven't taken it apart enough? See Picture 1)

With input, I get the worst kind of failure... failure with a glimpse of (Firefox) correct behavior. See Pictures 2 & 3

Any other suggestions? Or are we looking at abandoning ship?