Would be nice if you could catch the 'clicking' on video.

Could be a faulty contact/solderjoint somewhere (pcb, internal, connector)
could be the degaus circuitry
could be ...

hmmm... Ill try and set up my phone as a camera and see if I can catch the clicking.

Maybe caps, maybe flyback transformer (FBT) death symptoms.

My VX900 was doing this for a while recently, and I thought for sure it was dead. I decided just to keep using it and enjoy whatever time is left. I posted about it, same as you. So far, however, it's still working and that was a month or two ago - and I used it heavily this past month - the most I've ever used it since I bought it a few years ago. It hasn't really been acting up like it was since I posted. Maybe the same will happen for you in its journey as a 'white dwarf star.'

I took the monitor apart today and cleaned it up. It was covered with dust, spider webs and what looked like mud in some areas. Didn't find any obviously damaged components... After cleaning I put it back together to try and record the "click" + flicker, but... it's not doing it anymore. I've had it on for a few hours and so far it hasn't clicked once.

Here's some CRT PR0N for anyone with this fetish:

The CRT's electron gun:

Label on the CRT

Mainboard:

And this monstrosity is the flyback transformer.

Perhaps I got lucky and the issue was caused by dirt and grime, and went away as soon as I cleaned the inside of the monitor...

I have a Apple M1212 monitor that did the same thing, every time I powered it up, it would do just as you described: a tick with the raster expanding then shrinking back to size.

After using it for a while, it started doing it less and less until it fully stopped, probably was some dust that somehow accumulated under the anode cap and burned off as I let it run.

Hello Socket 3, I have the same monitor.
You can check the operating hours, this is very easily.
Press and hold the - and + buttons at the same time, without releasing them, press the input button.
The OSD will appear, the last line is the running hours.
Write here how many hours you have.

I've had monitors do this too. I've got a bunch of late 90s DEC branded 15" CRTs which all variously do the click, image changes size then returns to normal. I think I've got a few Sun badged Sony displays that also do it.

Interested to hear if a simple cleaning fixes the problem long term!

davidrg wrote on 2022-05-05, 09:40:

I've had monitors do this too. I've got a bunch of late 90s DEC branded 15" CRTs which all variously do the click, image changes size then returns to normal. I think I've got a few Sun badged Sony displays that also do it.

Interested to hear if a simple cleaning fixes the problem long term!

Second day of use - still no clicking 😁 Monitor is working great!

Check out how good the brightness and contrast are - it's comparable to a modern 32" Odyssey G5:

dizzydevil wrote on 2022-05-05, 09:09:

Hello Socket 3, I have the same monitor. You can check the operating hours, this is very easily. Press and hold the - and + butt […]
Show full quote

Hello Socket 3, I have the same monitor.
You can check the operating hours, this is very easily.
Press and hold the - and + buttons at the same time, without releasing them, press the input button.
The OSD will appear, the last line is the running hours.
Write here how many hours you have.

Here you go - so the last line is the number of operating hours? If so it hasn't seen too much use... 7702 hrs is 320 days... Too bad the case is so damaged. In any case (pun intended) I put 5 of those hours on it last night playing ZHeretic in win98 and Dungeon Keeper 2.

Socket3 congratulations on buying a great monitor! I am also happy with the same monitor.
You have a small operating time, 7 thousand hours, I have 10 thousand, judging by the statistics,
most often problems with this tube begin at 14 thousand hours.
Let's hope that we will have these problems even later 😀