Greetings,

I had this massive monitor on my porch for a while and decided to bring it in, clean it a bit, and fire it up. The picture is dim (and re-dims every time there is a change such as text mode screens to boot screens to OS screens,) but looks good if I turn it up all of the way which is only by barely touching the dial. The last time I used it, it did 1024x768 without issues. However, if any PC with any video card is connected to it and has the resolution anywhere beyond 640x480@75Hz or below, the screen goes black as if it isn't turned on. It will stay like that until I turn off the back power switch, wait a few seconds, turn it back on, and then press the front power button.

I am assuming that there are capacitors or other parts which engage when going past 640x480@75Hz and have gone bad, and that the caps/parts which allow 640x480@75Hz are still working. Being exposed to the elements probably didn't help. As it stands, I could use it for low-res Windows 9x games, MS-DOS, and WIndows 3.x since - especially the latter two since it isn;t often I go higher than those rezzes except for quite a few Windows 98 era games which I play at either 800x600 or 1024x768 (or 1600x1200 if using my Athlon XP system.) However, this monitor has a MASSIVE footprint, unlike later-era large screen CRTs. I also have a spare Eizo in a shed that is never heated, but is also not exposed to the elements. I also found a service manual for this monitor. I took a "NOS" KDS to a guy who fixes electronics, but he wasn't able to fix it, though he also couldn't find a service manual for the KDS, whereas I can provide the one for the Eizo.

Any thoughts, ideas, or advice on what to do in this situation? Like I said, I could use it for MS-DOS/Win 3.x/Windows 95 up to 1997-era games, but it takes up so much space that it sucks not to use it with my Windows 98 and XP games/machines. It will cost me $25-30 to have it picked up and hauled away (that price per monitor which has me hesitating when it comes to trying to acquire more CRTs which will eventually die.) I could simply use LCDs for Windows 98 and XP games since most of them are 3d and don't "need" a CRT like pixel games do. If I get rid of it, I am not out by much since I paid $80 for two of these monitors along with two Gateway Pentium III towers. If I haul it to the electrical dude, he hasn't charged me anything for having my 19" KDS for over a year in his shop, but he might be able to actually fix this one due to having access to the service manual. He could also adjust the brightness pot slightly so that I can get more out of this monitor without having to turn the brightness all of the way up (though it looks perfectly good when it is turned all of the way up.)

Many thanks!
Scythifuge