Kind of old post, but seeing that there are no replies...

Try the monitor on several different computers. If image is still dim on all of them, then the issue is with the monitor and no switchbox or other external voo-doo magic will make the issue go away.

What you need to do first is dig into the menu of the monitor. Brightness at 100% won't necessarily give you a good bright image. What about contrast setting? Also, does the menu have individual RGB gain and bias adjustments? Color temperature? Post some pictures, if possible.

If all seems correct, then it might be time to open it and have a look inside for bad caps or other issue. (And no, working on CRTs is not as dangerous as people always say that it is... but let's leave that for later, only if we really do have to open it.)

momaka wrote on 2024-02-28, 17:15:

Kind of old post, but seeing that there are no replies... […]
Show full quote

Kind of old post, but seeing that there are no replies...

Try the monitor on several different computers. If image is still dim on all of them, then the issue is with the monitor and no switchbox or other external voo-doo magic will make the issue go away.

What you need to do first is dig into the menu of the monitor. Brightness at 100% won't necessarily give you a good bright image. What about contrast setting? Also, does the menu have individual RGB gain and bias adjustments? Color temperature? Post some pictures, if possible.

If all seems correct, then it might be time to open it and have a look inside for bad caps or other issue. (And no, working on CRTs is not as dangerous as people always say that it is... but let's leave that for later, only if we really do have to open it.)

Thank you for your reply! Right now, the monitor is in an insulated storage shed with some other monitors. My plan is to dig them out on a nice Spring day to do some testing and diagnostics and possibly crack them open. I am going to invest in some tools for working with CRTs. I was going to give up on hunting for CRTs due to the fact that eventually they will all die, but I just can't help myself due to the vast differences between LCDs and CRTs. I won't bother with testing with a powered VGA switch if it isn't going to help. It is probably caps as you mentioned, or some other issue. I also keep reading about adjusting pots. Since I love using real hardware, I think I need to start learning how to solder.

Sounds good, I'll try to keep an eye on this thread when you do. 😉

momaka wrote on 2024-03-01, 14:28:

Sounds good, I'll try to keep an eye on this thread when you do. 😉

I appreciate it! I just picked up a 19" Samsung SyncMaster 950p for $70. Unfortunately, no picture on my 486... The blinking orange light turns green and the black screen becomes grey, but no display. I can't win with these things, 🤣. I will test it on other machines and order a BNC-VGA cable just incase there is something wrong with the D-Sub connector. I did try an alternate VGA cable. Other than that, the OSD isn't dim at all with what looks like "brand new" brightness. It just reinforces my plan to invest in tools and skills. The thing is massive for a 19 (was made in 2000,) so I may scale down to a 17" for my retro desk with the 486 and stick with 19" for my P3 and AthlonXP systems.

I just can't give up!

If you can see the OSD, the monitor is probably fine and perhaps just not able to sync to the 486 output.

And yeah, I second the notion of going with a 17" (or even a 15") with the 486. DOS -era stuff does look better on a sub-17" CRT IMO. 19" would indeed be more suitable for the P3. I actually use mine for relatively modern gaming. I also have some 21" CRTs, but when I want higher contrast for better cinematic effect, I find my 19" CRTs are better. With 21", almost all monitors I've tested before seem to not offer the same kind of contrast dynamics as a 19" - I either have to choose to slightly non-true blacks to get a very bright white or make the white slightly dull to get deep black. This seems especially true with latter Sony's.

momaka wrote on 2024-03-01, 16:33:

If you can see the OSD, the monitor is probably fine and perhaps just not able to sync to the 486 output.

And yeah, I second the notion of going with a 17" (or even a 15") with the 486. DOS -era stuff does look better on a sub-17" CRT IMO. 19" would indeed be more suitable for the P3. I actually use mine for relatively modern gaming. I also have some 21" CRTs, but when I want higher contrast for better cinematic effect, I find my 19" CRTs are better. With 21", almost all monitors I've tested before seem to not offer the same kind of contrast dynamics as a 19" - I either have to choose to slightly non-true blacks to get a very bright white or make the white slightly dull to get deep black. This seems especially true with latter Sony's.

I truly hope that it is fine as other than its age, it is a great looking beige monitor. I am using an S3 based Diamond card (Trio64) and have issues with that and a Diamond Vision864 card and have to use S3 drivers over the Diamond ones in WfW 3.11 to get certain apps to display properly, so perhaps there is just some weird incompatibility going on. I am seeing a lot of beige 17" monitors than 19" ones out there, and they are usually a lot cheaper. I was using a 17" NEC (until it started randomly going to a black screen then back to working display every few second/minutes/half-hour,) and a Dell 17". It took a while to adjust from staring at large displays for so long, but I have come to agree that 17" is definitely the max for MS-DOS. Before getting the P3, I got a 17" back in 1994 which I used until I got the Gateway. I remember the first time I booted up with the 17 after using a 15 and thinking, "wow, this display is massive!" I have an even older Gateway 17 in my shed, but it is a little dim, but not nearly as bad as the 19" Gateway.