Hi all,
I actually came upon this website quite by accident. As it turned out, I came here by doing a Google search for a particular part (to be explained below) and lo and behold, I think I may have found the place that might save me a headache, two arms, and perhaps a portion of my leg.
So here's the issue:
I have a Westinghouse L1975NW 19" LCD monitor...well, it's actually a nonworking one. One day I came into my office to find the screen blank, which typically does not bother me since I use suspend, but when I tried to startup the computer, the screen stayed black, and the LED at the front turned from Amber to Green (indicating that it was receiving a signal). Having no idea what to do in this case, I called Westinghouse, who told me it sounded like the backlight was out and referred me to Best Buy (where it was bought for me) who told me it was a 1-year warranty and I was on month 18. So no dice on the warranty.
Being the tinkerer that I am (and I'm not too shabby with computers, I just have never gone to the circuitry level of hardware), I decided to open it up and see if maybe there was a loose wire or some obvious issue that I might be able to fix.
Well, this is where the fun begins...I'm hoping all of you can help me out. I don't see any obvious problems, but a couple of things stuck out to me and maybe you can help me diagnose and maybe even repair the problem. It's a $180 monitor, so it's not the end of the world if I replace it, but I've got a baby on the way and would prefer to do this in the cheap.
Alright, here's the pictures:
Here's the layout. From what I can ascertain, the board on the right is much of the input processing, controlling the rest of the board, etc. and the board on the left largely consists of the internal power supply, power processing, and what looks to be 4 outputs to the backlight (is that correct? maybe it's the video, but I thought that would be what goes up from the right board). Am I reading this correctly?
Here's what I thought might be the culprit. There is a dark spot around that top MOSFET, the metal on it is discolored, and it is really the only thing that jumps out to me. However, since you guys are smarter at this than I am, I'll include some detail pics of the rest of the board:
The underside of the board to me didn't seem to have anything that really stuck out to me, but I tried to capture some of the discoloration under that same MOSFET:
And here's the MOSFET as blown-up as I can get without pixellating:
So I have a couple of questions.
1.) I know that you cannot tell me and be 100% sure that the MOSFET needs to be replaced, but does it look like it's the likely culprit? I also know that it might not be the only issue; if the MOSFET failed, perhaps something else went screwy too.
2.) How do I test this board other than plugging it in and pressing the power button? I have a multimeter, although I doubt that will help me too much. Maybe I'm wrong on that one too . But I'd really appreciate any help you can offer!
Thanks guys! I know I'm in good hands!
Collin
PS: I found this place looking for that specific model of MOSFET. It's the same one discussed here: https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=6636
I actually came upon this website quite by accident. As it turned out, I came here by doing a Google search for a particular part (to be explained below) and lo and behold, I think I may have found the place that might save me a headache, two arms, and perhaps a portion of my leg.
So here's the issue:
I have a Westinghouse L1975NW 19" LCD monitor...well, it's actually a nonworking one. One day I came into my office to find the screen blank, which typically does not bother me since I use suspend, but when I tried to startup the computer, the screen stayed black, and the LED at the front turned from Amber to Green (indicating that it was receiving a signal). Having no idea what to do in this case, I called Westinghouse, who told me it sounded like the backlight was out and referred me to Best Buy (where it was bought for me) who told me it was a 1-year warranty and I was on month 18. So no dice on the warranty.
Being the tinkerer that I am (and I'm not too shabby with computers, I just have never gone to the circuitry level of hardware), I decided to open it up and see if maybe there was a loose wire or some obvious issue that I might be able to fix.
Well, this is where the fun begins...I'm hoping all of you can help me out. I don't see any obvious problems, but a couple of things stuck out to me and maybe you can help me diagnose and maybe even repair the problem. It's a $180 monitor, so it's not the end of the world if I replace it, but I've got a baby on the way and would prefer to do this in the cheap.
Alright, here's the pictures:
Here's the layout. From what I can ascertain, the board on the right is much of the input processing, controlling the rest of the board, etc. and the board on the left largely consists of the internal power supply, power processing, and what looks to be 4 outputs to the backlight (is that correct? maybe it's the video, but I thought that would be what goes up from the right board). Am I reading this correctly?
Here's what I thought might be the culprit. There is a dark spot around that top MOSFET, the metal on it is discolored, and it is really the only thing that jumps out to me. However, since you guys are smarter at this than I am, I'll include some detail pics of the rest of the board:
The underside of the board to me didn't seem to have anything that really stuck out to me, but I tried to capture some of the discoloration under that same MOSFET:
And here's the MOSFET as blown-up as I can get without pixellating:
So I have a couple of questions.
1.) I know that you cannot tell me and be 100% sure that the MOSFET needs to be replaced, but does it look like it's the likely culprit? I also know that it might not be the only issue; if the MOSFET failed, perhaps something else went screwy too.
2.) How do I test this board other than plugging it in and pressing the power button? I have a multimeter, although I doubt that will help me too much. Maybe I'm wrong on that one too . But I'd really appreciate any help you can offer!
Thanks guys! I know I'm in good hands!
Collin
PS: I found this place looking for that specific model of MOSFET. It's the same one discussed here: https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=6636
Comment