Dell 2001FP

[Will Rickards]

I thought I would move the discussion regarding my 2001FP here instead of the U2410 thread. Anyway it was having a problem with just going blank, though the power light stayed green. Also it would not turn off. The power led stayed green as long as the computer was on. Once off it turned amber.

So I looked at some stuff on lcdrepair.us and decided to take it apart.
It wasn't too difficult though I'm not 100% sure I could put it back together.
Here are the boards I found in it. There seems to be no bulging cap damage I can see. The power inverter board (I think that is what it is) has some yellow discoloration and cracking in front of the 6 white block things. These pictures are at the end of that album I linked to. I'm guessing that is the problem? I can order either of the two boards from lcdrepair.us. They want $70 for the logic board and $40 for the inverter board.

I've already sunk $20 into this to get a another AC adaptor to see if that was the problem. But it made no difference.

Should I order the inverter board? Or say screw it and wait till the U2410 hits $450 again? Keep in mind I don't have the spare monthly income of ddrueding. That $450 will come right out of my savings.

 

[Will Rickards]

Pictures are still uploading should finish in about 15 minutes.

 

[ddrueding]

You can replace your 2001FP for <$200. Comparing the cost to repair a cheaper LCD with the new cost of a more expensive LCD seems a logic trap.

Considering this mid-step, chancing a repair seems less wise.

 

[Stereodude]

Get a really bright flashlight and see if there's still an image on the screen when it goes blank, meaning the backlight turned off (bad inverter maybe) or if panel goes blank but the backlight stays on (bad logic board maybe). If you test in a dark room you'll be able to tell if the backlight is on or not real easy since the panel has quite a visible glow off axis.

 

[Will Rickards]

Where can I buy a replacement 2001FP?
I only find the reconditioned ones. Or ones listed as new from suppliers with few or low ratings.

I'll hook the wires back up and try the flashlight thing. I think it is the power inverter which is turning off the backlights. But wouldn't that turn off the LCD too?

How long are the backlights themselves rated for?

 

[ddrueding]

I meant reconditioned. Reconditioned and working is considerably better than where you are now

 

[Stereodude]

I'll hook the wires back up and try the flashlight thing. I think it is the power inverter which is turning off the backlights. But wouldn't that turn off the LCD too?

Hard to say. It depends if the inverter reports back to the control module that it's shut off and then the control module turns off the panel. That sounds a little too smart for it.

How long are the backlights themselves rated for?

The CCFL tubes in a backlight are good for maybe 20k hours. They gradually dim over time reaching half brightness around that time. They usually still continue to work after that though.

 

[Sol]

Maybe you should look at the 2209WA as well. I just got one about a month back because it was about half the price of the 24" and not that much more than the 20". If I'd felt I had the money for the 24" I probably would have just bought 2 of these...

 

[Will Rickards]

Thought I should mention this here as well.
Before I started having the blank screen issues on the DVI connection, I was using the VGA connection and it went red. It was as if one of the colors in the control panel was turned to 0. I tried it on other computers and confirmed it was a problem with the panel and not my computer. It only was a problem on the VGA connection and not the DVI connection.

This might point to a bad logic board more than the inverter board.

But if there are no bulging caps on the board, what else on the board would show signs that it is bad?

 

[Bozo]

Have you tried a new cable?

 

[Will Rickards]

Nope not a new cable. But I did just get the replacement inverter board, installed it and put the monitor back together. It is working as I type. Hopefully if I leave it on it won't go blank again. But the power button still doesn't turn it off.

 

[LunarMist]

Does it sleep and turn off the backlight when power savings are set in the OS?

 

[Will Rickards]

Yes it goes to sleep based on the PC settings. I think this was a quirk of this monitor when hooked up via DVI. But you'd think that pushing the power button would turn it off.

 

[Will Rickards]

The thing just shut off again. Tried the flashlight and the image is there on the screen and I can interact with it. But there is no backlight. Did I get a bad replacement or do you think the AC Adaptor is the issue and fried another one. Because I used the old AC Adaptor because the cord is longer and easier to route to where the monitor is.

 

[Stereodude]

Well, the tubes in the backlight could be old / aged to the point where they are beyond the ability of the inverter to drive them for a long period of time. It's also possible the main control board is malfunctioning and telling the inverter to shut down. That seems somewhat unlikely to me though since I assume it would also shut off the LCD itself, but you still see an image.

 

[Will Rickards]

New tubes are $50 + shipping.
It used to happen much more quickly, like 5 - 15 minutes in to using the monitor.
It took 3+ hours with the new inverter but that is only the first usage of the monitor. The time may well shorten. When I put the computer to sleep and then woke it up the monitor came back.

I sent an e-mail to lcdrepair.us customer service to see what they would advise.

 

[Stereodude]

At some point you gotta stop pouring money into that thing.

Replacing the L shaped lamps in the LCD module is not a trivial task. I wouldn't really advise it.

 

[Will Rickards]

I hear you. But it has at least been educational so far.

 

[LunarMist]

Bummer. I'm having flashbacks to the 1970s. At least there are no CRTs to implode and slice into your back.

 

[Will Rickards]

I read somewhere the red shift was a sign of the backlight failing.
I'm ordering the backlight. Tired of using the backup CRT.

 

[Will Rickards]

Got the panel apart and went to replace the tubes (they come already attached to a metal housing. But the metal tabs are not in the correct place. See pictures here:
Top is new one, bottom is old one, with very bottom being what I have to put it in. Note they are upside down but I just wanted to illustrate the problem.

Dell 2001FP LCD Repair

 

[Stereodude]

If you're very careful you should be able to swap the metal rail the tubes are in.