Dell-branded Sony Trinitron. Has been working wonderfully for many years
up until now. It's starting to turn itself off; the relay clicks, the
power light goes out and all goes dead. Turning it off for a few minutes
revives it, but I'm afraid this might be a chronic condition that will
only get worse. (It's the same relay that clicks when powered on and
when the monitor "wakes up", I assume.)

Anyone know any common causes for this, and how to fix? It's a really
nice tube, and I can't afford anything else at this point anyhow.


--
Found--the gene that causes belief in genetic determinism

On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:41:32 -0700, David Nebenzahl
wrote:

Dell-branded Sony Trinitron. Has been working wonderfully for many years
up until now. It's starting to turn itself off; the relay clicks, the
power light goes out and all goes dead. Turning it off for a few minutes
revives it, but I'm afraid this might be a chronic condition that will
only get worse. (It's the same relay that clicks when powered on and
when the monitor "wakes up", I assume.)

Anyone know any common causes for this, and how to fix? It's a really
nice tube, and I can't afford anything else at this point anyhow.

Local Goodwill stores have many CRT flat screen monitors, usually
around $20, you might find a replacement there. I've seen Sony
Trinitrons there and in fact took some there myself.

David Nebenzahl wrote:
Dell-branded Sony Trinitron. Has been working wonderfully for many years
up until now. It's starting to turn itself off; the relay clicks, the
power light goes out and all goes dead. Turning it off for a few minutes
revives it, but I'm afraid this might be a chronic condition that will
only get worse. (It's the same relay that clicks when powered on and
when the monitor "wakes up", I assume.)

Anyone know any common causes for this, and how to fix? It's a really
nice tube, and I can't afford anything else at this point anyhow.


My guess is the CRT is drawing more current as it ages. Eventually it
reaches the point that the X-ray protection circuitry shuts it down.
The protection circuitry might also be degrading with age so that it's
more sensitive than it should be. You could try turning down the
brightness. Fixing it probably isn't economic unless you can find
another one just like it but with a different problem that you can use
for parts.

On Oct 24, 11:41*pm, David Nebenzahl wrote:
Dell-branded Sony Trinitron. Has been working wonderfully for many years
up until now. It's starting to turn itself off; the relay clicks, the
power light goes out and all goes dead. Turning it off for a few minutes
revives it, but I'm afraid this might be a chronic condition that will
only get worse. (It's the same relay that clicks when powered on and
when the monitor "wakes up", I assume.)

Anyone know any common causes for this, and how to fix? It's a really
nice tube, and I can't afford anything else at this point anyhow.

--
Found--the gene that causes belief in genetic determinism

Is it CLEAN inside? I once found the flyback transistor getting
leaky, getting hot. But, was accompanied by distortion so was the
obvious area to look.

On Oct 24, 11:41*pm, David Nebenzahl wrote:
Dell-branded Sony Trinitron. Has been working wonderfully for many years
up until now. It's starting to turn itself off; the relay clicks, the
power light goes out and all goes dead. Turning it off for a few minutes
revives it,

The 'few minutes' of turnoff would be consistent with cooling
some temperature-sensitive component.

The 'many years' of work might mean that a blanket of dust
and cat hair has settled on the innards; it might be that all this
machine needs is a good vacuuming with the back cover
removed. Disturb not the anode wire unless you know
how to discharge it safely!

On 10/24/2009 11:41 PM David Nebenzahl spake thus:

Dell-branded Sony Trinitron. Has been working wonderfully for many years
up until now. It's starting to turn itself off; the relay clicks, the
power light goes out and all goes dead. Turning it off for a few minutes
revives it, but I'm afraid this might be a chronic condition that will
only get worse. (It's the same relay that clicks when powered on and
when the monitor "wakes up", I assume.)

Thanks to all who answered. Sorry, but I described the failure mode
incorrectly: what happens is that the screen suddenly goes black, with a
bright flash in the center, but no relay clicks. If I try cycling the
power immediately afterwards, the green power LED comes on briefly, then
goes out, again with no relay clicking.

I think I'll open 'er up and see if there's a dust buildup. Other than
this the monitor still performs perfectly.


--
Found--the gene that causes belief in genetic determinism

On 10/25/2009 11:50 AM David Nebenzahl spake thus:

On 10/24/2009 11:41 PM David Nebenzahl spake thus:

Dell-branded Sony Trinitron. Has been working wonderfully for many years
up until now. It's starting to turn itself off; the relay clicks, the
power light goes out and all goes dead. Turning it off for a few minutes
revives it, but I'm afraid this might be a chronic condition that will
only get worse. (It's the same relay that clicks when powered on and
when the monitor "wakes up", I assume.)

I think I'll open 'er up and see if there's a dust buildup. Other than
this the monitor still performs perfectly.

To follow up on my own posts, I went ahead and opened 'er up. As you can
imagine, it was quite dusty inside, so I got out what I could with my
airbrush compressor blowing and a vacuum cleaner wand sucking. Couldn't
see any obvious problems, so I put 'er back together. She's working fine
so far (knock on a forest product), but it's too early to tell.


--
Found--the gene that causes belief in genetic determinism