See pictures. Any hope to get rid of this? I don't see any damage on the cable. It is present on all screens, DOS, Windows, BIOS, etc, but more visible on black blackgrounds.
This is a CRT, right? I had an old TV that started doing that near the end of its life.
A teensy bit of Googling suggests these are called "retrace lines", and that they are a result of a failure in the CRT's "blanking circuit".
http://humphreykimathi.blogspot.ca/2011/02/ca … nes-on-crt.html
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_retrace_lines_on_a_tv
What happens if you flex the cable near each connector (while it's on)? The wires inside the cable might be broken or loose.. usually you'll see this with a cable that has spent much of its life with a sharp bend in it.
wrote:What happens if you flex the cable near each connector (while it's on)? The wires inside the cable might be broken or loose.. usually you'll see this with a cable that has spent much of its life with a sharp bend in it.
Makes no difference.
Yes it is a CRT. I remember these lines started to show up in 2004-2005 (monitor is from 2001), and have become progressively worse to a point where I don't use the monitor anymore.
Anyone has any experience with replacing the blanking circuit in one of these? It's a longshot.... Would be alittle sad to throw away a triniton monitor like this one.
What's the actual model of the monitor? A fair number of the Trinitron monitors have service manuals floating around online, which would offer some insights into the troubleshooting...
Modelnumber is CPD - E400P
Over-brightness and colour drift (often going pink as yours clearly is) is a very common problem with Sony CRTs (and derivatives of, badged as Dell etc) of the 1999-200x era, as they age with use/time.
Thankfully, in most cases there are a couple of solutions which will compensate for the component/voltage drift, though both involve opening the monitor up.
Both are documented in a huge thread on the Icrontic forums - google for "DELL P1110 monitor too bright" and "E400" - and aim to bring the "G2" voltage applied to the tube back down to the sort of level it should sit at. (It wanders high as the monitor ages).
Option 1 - Solder a replacement resistor to the rear of the set.
Option 2 - Download Sony WinDas (Sony's monitor calibration software), apply a patch to it so you can use it unauthorised-ly, buy or make a communication lead (cheap), and modify the G2 voltage level via WinDas.
There are generic examples of both solutions on youtube.
wrote:Option 2 - Download Sony WinDas (Sony's monitor calibration software), apply a patch to it so you can use it unauthorised-ly, buy or make a communication lead (cheap), and modify the G2 voltage level via WinDas.
I did this to a Dell P992 which belonged to my sister with great success. The G2 voltage crept up over time until it became so high that the screen turned solid white. Installed WinDas on my trusty PII Toshiba laptop, built the interface on a small breadboard, I used a single MAX232 and a floppy power connector cut off from an old PSU as the end that goes into the monitor. I was able to reprogram the firmware and fix the monitor. 😀
I'd be checking for dying capacitors if any voltage was "creeping" like that.
Especially if they're "turn of the century" vintage capacitors, as found on various Athlon motherboards.
VogonsDrivers.com | Link | News Thread
is the E400 the ultra high end model? Perhaps i'm thinking of am ore modern last gen CRT?
wrote:I'd be checking for dying capacitors if any voltage was "creeping" like that.
From what I've read when I was faced with the problem, apparently it's a bug in the monitor firmware that causes the G2 voltage setting in the EEPROM to gradually increase. There's no G2 potentiometer in the flyback transformer, everything is done by software.
wrote:There's no G2 potentiometer in the flyback transformer, everything is done by software.
Gosh! What an age we live in!
😜
VogonsDrivers.com | Link | News Thread
Was just about to toss that monitor until I saw your post, ImagineReason. Thanks!
I will now give it one more go to get it back in working order.
I found this on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem … em=350568364250. From the info I've found it should do the trick for connecting the monitor in winDAS.
Reducing voltage on the G2 seems to fix the brightness and retrace lines, but not the pink color. So I guess I need to figure that one. Also it might be easier to configure once the brightness levels are in the normal range.
is the E400 the ultra high end model? Perhaps i'm thinking of am ore modern last gen CRT?
Don't think it is. Sony discontinued CRTs in 2004. This one is manufactured in 2001.
wrote:is the E400 the ultra high end model? Perhaps i'm thinking of am ore modern last gen CRT?
CPD-E400 is the low-end model. CPD-G400 is mid-range, GDM-F400 is high-end.
Have two CPD-G420 units myself, manufactured in 2002 (bought them used circa 2010). One of them has shifted to a reddish tone similar to vetz', but I don't want to let go of it yet! Will look into suggestions here first more carefully...
It's a common issue with old FD Trinitron monitors.
If it's not a red/green tint on everything, it's flashing colors when warming up in the first minute or two of being turned on, focus loss until it suddenly "pops" back into focus (both visually and audibly), or so forth. Quite annoying, but when you have one that works right and looks nice, who needs LCDs?
WinDAS does offer white balance calibration, but to do it right, you apparently need a pattern generator and a spectrophotometer, very specialized and EXPENSIVE stuff. (Maybe a colorimeter would work too, but likely wouldn't be as accurate when it comes down to ISF-grade color calibration.) Worse off, if you start the WinDAS color calibration, but don't finish it, you'll probably make it look even worse than before, and loading a backup of the monitor settings won't help you.
At the very least, you can try messing with the color bias/gain values. Bias = black level colors, gain = white level colors. Thus, I'd try taking the red gain all the way to 0 first and then balancing out green and blue as much as possible. You're aiming for black/dark grey that doesn't look tinted with any particular color. If the deepest blacks still look dark grey, turn down the G2 voltage a bit.
I've gotten an offer to pick up this monitor for free, just 30 min drive from my house: http://www.hansol.nl/eng/930d.html
It's a 2004 model, bought in 2005, so it's fairly new and one of the last CRT monitors. Flat screen and specs seem fine (120hz though unfortunately). Makes it a bit easier to just get this one and scrap the Sony one as I'm not that keen to start trying to repair it.
