It needs new backlight tubes, they are techincally replaceable but the panels certainly are not made for this to be a procedure you should be doing and chance of failure (broken CFL tube(s), broken LCD panel itself) is pretty high.

Low brightness may indicate nearly dead CCFL, which can be replaced. Either by new old stock parts or by modding LED light. Doable by skilled technician, but it will cost you a lot.

Thanks Guys.

There is a reputable refurbisher in Athens who claims to fix old monitors. I need to check it out.

Cost consideration is an issue, but there is no way to replace a 1680x1050 monitor for use with a retro computer that I know of....

CENTRAL wrote on 2023-03-10, 14:13:

Cost consideration is an issue, but there is no way to replace a 1680x1050 monitor for use with a retro computer that I know of....

What's so special about it?

surprisingly S2031W is not TN but VA, so at least thats special. Still nowadays at least up north in EU you can pick up 20' LCDs for ~10 euro all day long

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-03-10, 19:57:

surprisingly S2031W is not TN but VA, so at least thats special. Still nowadays at least up north in EU you can pick up 20' LCDs for ~10 euro all day long

But, wouldn't they be worn out too?

Yes, but there's a decent chance that backlight in decent shape. Especially if you're buying from someone personally and not from organisation.

Yep, true!

I will look into it however, since the one I have at hand is like a brand new one. If I get a decent repair quote it will be worth it.

Popular monitors had LED retrofit kits available a while back, but not sure if that's ongoing or just was a period when they were a year or two out of warranty.

My research shows that replacement ccfl lamps are a common part, even as we speak. Quite inexpensine too.

The repair process is certainly quite lengthy and delicate, but still doable for technicians.

I will be sending it in next week and see how it goes. I will be reporting back, for anyone interested...

Might try a re-cap before messing with the backlight or panel. I bought a Samsung 204B (similar vintage to yours) which also was very dim, especially on a cold start. Replacing all of the electrolytic caps fixed it. Full brightness, no issues since. Still a pain, but less than getting into the panel itself.

worn CCFL go purple/violet/pink
bad caps usually result in flickering, turning off, or completely dead monitor

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-03-11, 20:16:

worn CCFL go purple/violet/pink
bad caps usually result in flickering, turning off, or completely dead monitor

I don't see a shift in colours tbh. Just the brightness is quite low even maxed out. 100% looks more like 40% or so...

you can open monitor and take a picture of electronics, with any luck it will be caps with visible damage = cheap and easy fix

Being an older monitor, I was wondering how bright it was supposed to get, 300cd/m^2 apparently, which ain't all that bright by modern standards. Also I notice it has an illumination sensor to modulate brightness, which if using in dim lighting might not get you full brightness. See if you can see a sensor anywhere, if it's in a stupid place like on top, maybe having it back in a hutch shaded it or something. Try shining a flashlight straight in it to see if the screen brightens, also check it for dust/debris.

edit: you might wanna check out the settings, if it's in full eco mode or something then full bright might not be achievable, my Toshiba TV is very dim in power saving mode.

BitWrangler wrote on 2023-03-12, 00:35:

Being an older monitor, I was wondering how bright it was supposed to get, 300cd/m^2 apparently, which ain't all that bright by modern standards. Also I notice it has an illumination sensor to modulate brightness, which if using in dim lighting might not get you full brightness. See if you can see a sensor anywhere, if it's in a stupid place like on top, maybe having it back in a hutch shaded it or something. Try shining a flashlight straight in it to see if the screen brightens, also check it for dust/debris.

edit: you might wanna check out the settings, if it's in full eco mode or something then full bright might not be achievable, my Toshiba TV is very dim in power saving mode.

Well, you are absolutely right here.

I did disable a couple of power management features and it looks better. The sensor is on the front side - lower panel, it seems to work ok. I did try the flash light trick, but there is not much overhead left since the brightness setting is @ 90% already. But when you block the sensor it immediately gets dimmer.

I guess it is a wonder that at 40.000 hours the monitor is still operational and pretty decent looking.

What you mantion about the 300 nits of brightness is also very true. I guess we are quite spoiled nowdays by led displays...

40k hours is definitely nearling EOL time for the backlight. It will live for a while longer in its current state though

I do agree , you should try a recaping first , bigger volt caps for more power , and maybe a bigger fuse? if not find a new light source (neon or led, from a parts monitor , may not need to be same just same size). if not, find a CRT , they seem to last forever ... just people throw them away ruthlessly. I used new backlights from laptop screen a few times to fix similar issues , (the laptop screens where broken so good only neon for parts). sometimes the volt-regulating module that sends power to light has problems , so try inspecting that first.(many times cables go out) or power-grid-shocks weaken capacitors or resistors ,or other things there.

Thank you guys,

I will look into it as soon as I find some time...