I ran across a Dell Ultrascan P780 a few days ago. Flat CRT, made 1999. When
you first turn it on, lines on the screen (like window borders) ghost very
slightly. After about 3 minutes it fades to black over a few seconds. Don't
know about the ghosting, but thr fading out sounded like a loose joint going to
the tube heater. I prodded around for a while with an insulated probe but
couldn't jar anything into working again.

What's the likely problem? Are the two defects related? Could the heating
element be bad or is there something other than a bad solder joint that could
cause it?

Thanks

GTO(John)