I have a BenQ G2420HD monitor that was damaged during
transportation. Two of the four CCFL tubes were broken and I've
solved that problem but it still has a fault. These are the symptoms:

1. When switched on, it lights up and presents a normal display
FOR ONE SECOND, then goes dark for 3 seconds, lights up again for
one second and then goes dark permanently. Power cycling repeats
the same behavior over and over.

2. It detects the video and sync inputs. The pilot light stays
green as long as there's a signal input (even when the screen
goes dark by itself as described) and turns amber when there's no
signal.

3. The LCD panel syncs and displays correctly even when the
screen goes dark by itself. I verified this with an improvised
backlight. It is only the backlight that is misbehaving.

4. The light/dark cycle is caused by the 3.3V ENA signal from the
control board to the inverter coming on and off. It's too regular
to be a thermal issue.

5. All power supply voltages (17V, 5V & 3.3V) are OK. The control
board controls the inverter with *one-way* ENA and DIM signals.
There is no feedback from the inverter to the control board.

6. The control board doesn't have obvious cracks, burn marks or
bulging capacitors.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

On Friday, 9 March 2018 13:44:56 UTC, Pimpom wrote:
I have a BenQ G2420HD monitor that was damaged during
transportation. Two of the four CCFL tubes were broken and I've
solved that problem but it still has a fault. These are the symptoms:

1. When switched on, it lights up and presents a normal display
FOR ONE SECOND, then goes dark for 3 seconds, lights up again for
one second and then goes dark permanently. Power cycling repeats
the same behavior over and over.

2. It detects the video and sync inputs. The pilot light stays
green as long as there's a signal input (even when the screen
goes dark by itself as described) and turns amber when there's no
signal.

3. The LCD panel syncs and displays correctly even when the
screen goes dark by itself. I verified this with an improvised
backlight. It is only the backlight that is misbehaving.

4. The light/dark cycle is caused by the 3.3V ENA signal from the
control board to the inverter coming on and off. It's too regular
to be a thermal issue.

5. All power supply voltages (17V, 5V & 3.3V) are OK. The control
board controls the inverter with *one-way* ENA and DIM signals.
There is no feedback from the inverter to the control board.

6. The control board doesn't have obvious cracks, burn marks or
bulging capacitors.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

bad electrolytics are often not visibly damaged, test them for ESR if practical. Or holding a similar one one in parallel can find a bad one by making it work ok.

If a 3.3v signal line is the cause, you could always cut & tie it high or low.


NT

On Friday, March 9, 2018 at 8:44:56 AM UTC-5, Pimpom wrote:
I have a BenQ G2420HD monitor that was damaged during
transportation. Two of the four CCFL tubes were broken and I've
solved that problem but it still has a fault. These are the symptoms:

1. When switched on, it lights up and presents a normal display
FOR ONE SECOND, then goes dark for 3 seconds, lights up again for
one second and then goes dark permanently. Power cycling repeats
the same behavior over and over.

2. It detects the video and sync inputs. The pilot light stays
green as long as there's a signal input (even when the screen
goes dark by itself as described) and turns amber when there's no
signal.

3. The LCD panel syncs and displays correctly even when the
screen goes dark by itself. I verified this with an improvised
backlight. It is only the backlight that is misbehaving.

4. The light/dark cycle is caused by the 3.3V ENA signal from the
control board to the inverter coming on and off. It's too regular
to be a thermal issue.

5. All power supply voltages (17V, 5V & 3.3V) are OK. The control
board controls the inverter with *one-way* ENA and DIM signals.
There is no feedback from the inverter to the control board.

6. The control board doesn't have obvious cracks, burn marks or
bulging capacitors.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

If we ignore the shipping damage, it sounds like a typical back light problem. Are you sure you have the correct CCFL tubes in the display?

There's a chance one or more of the inverter transformers was damaged when the display was run with an open tube.

What you can do is place your scope probe on the plastic part of the lamp connector. Where it goes exactly is unimportant as you're going to be looking for *differences* in the waveforms between the original tubes and the replacements. In any case, don't make any electrical connection or you'll likely damage your scope input. But you must be sure to place the probe in the exact same spot on the connector as the waveform will vary greatly with just a small physical movement.

Look at the waveforms for each of the tubes during the time it's actually lit. If one or more waveforms differs from any other, the controller IC will shut down the inverter. Too large a waveform usually indicates a bad, weak, or incorrect CCFL tube. A low or distorted waveform will usually indicate a bad transformer.

On Friday, March 9, 2018 at 9:43:56 AM UTC-5, wrote:
On Friday, 9 March 2018 13:44:56 UTC, Pimpom wrote:
I have a BenQ G2420HD monitor that was damaged during
transportation. Two of the four CCFL tubes were broken and I've
solved that problem but it still has a fault. These are the symptoms:

1. When switched on, it lights up and presents a normal display
FOR ONE SECOND, then goes dark for 3 seconds, lights up again for
one second and then goes dark permanently. Power cycling repeats
the same behavior over and over.

2. It detects the video and sync inputs. The pilot light stays
green as long as there's a signal input (even when the screen
goes dark by itself as described) and turns amber when there's no
signal.

3. The LCD panel syncs and displays correctly even when the
screen goes dark by itself. I verified this with an improvised
backlight. It is only the backlight that is misbehaving.

4. The light/dark cycle is caused by the 3.3V ENA signal from the
control board to the inverter coming on and off. It's too regular
to be a thermal issue.

5. All power supply voltages (17V, 5V & 3.3V) are OK. The control
board controls the inverter with *one-way* ENA and DIM signals.
There is no feedback from the inverter to the control board.

6. The control board doesn't have obvious cracks, burn marks or
bulging capacitors.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

bad electrolytics are often not visibly damaged, test them for ESR if practical. Or holding a similar one one in parallel can find a bad one by making it work ok.

If a 3.3v signal line is the cause, you could always cut & tie it high or low.


NT

The problem with altering the enable control is that if the controller IC is shutting down the array because of a real problem, the inverter will burn up if forced to run.

On 3/9/2018 8:20 PM, John-Del wrote:
On Friday, March 9, 2018 at 8:44:56 AM UTC-5, Pimpom wrote:
I have a BenQ G2420HD monitor that was damaged during
transportation. Two of the four CCFL tubes were broken and I've
solved that problem but it still has a fault. These are the symptoms:

1. When switched on, it lights up and presents a normal display
FOR ONE SECOND, then goes dark for 3 seconds, lights up again for
one second and then goes dark permanently. Power cycling repeats
the same behavior over and over.

2. It detects the video and sync inputs. The pilot light stays
green as long as there's a signal input (even when the screen
goes dark by itself as described) and turns amber when there's no
signal.

3. The LCD panel syncs and displays correctly even when the
screen goes dark by itself. I verified this with an improvised
backlight. It is only the backlight that is misbehaving.

4. The light/dark cycle is caused by the 3.3V ENA signal from the
control board to the inverter coming on and off. It's too regular
to be a thermal issue.

5. All power supply voltages (17V, 5V & 3.3V) are OK. The control
board controls the inverter with *one-way* ENA and DIM signals.
There is no feedback from the inverter to the control board.

6. The control board doesn't have obvious cracks, burn marks or
bulging capacitors.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

If we ignore the shipping damage, it sounds like a typical back light problem. Are you sure you have the correct CCFL tubes in the display?

There's a chance one or more of the inverter transformers was damaged when the display was run with an open tube.

What you can do is place your scope probe on the plastic part of the lamp connector. Where it goes exactly is unimportant as you're going to be looking for *differences* in the waveforms between the original tubes and the replacements. In any case, don't make any electrical connection or you'll likely damage your scope input. But you must be sure to place the probe in the exact same spot on the connector as the waveform will vary greatly with just a small physical movement.

Look at the waveforms for each of the tubes during the time it's actually lit. If one or more waveforms differs from any other, the controller IC will shut down the inverter. Too large a waveform usually indicates a bad, weak, or incorrect CCFL tube. A low or distorted waveform will usually indicate a bad transformer.


Before we go further with your suggestions, please see my point
No.5 again. There is no way the logic board can know about an
inverter problem. It just sends and stops the ENABLE signal as
described without any feedback from the inverter.

The power supply and the inverter are on one pcb while the logic
and display circuits are on another board. The power supply
remains fully ON as long as it's plugged in. The only connections
between the two boards are via a 4-way cable:
1) +5V to the logic board
2) GND
2) ENABLE /from/ the logic board
3) DIM PWM signal /from/ the logic board

The inverter does not turn off by itself. It's turned off when
the ENA signal from the logic board stops.

On Friday, 9 March 2018 15:44:38 UTC, Pimpom wrote:
On 3/9/2018 8:20 PM, John-Del wrote:
On Friday, March 9, 2018 at 8:44:56 AM UTC-5, Pimpom wrote:

I have a BenQ G2420HD monitor that was damaged during
transportation. Two of the four CCFL tubes were broken and I've
solved that problem but it still has a fault. These are the symptoms:

1. When switched on, it lights up and presents a normal display
FOR ONE SECOND, then goes dark for 3 seconds, lights up again for
one second and then goes dark permanently. Power cycling repeats
the same behavior over and over.

2. It detects the video and sync inputs. The pilot light stays
green as long as there's a signal input (even when the screen
goes dark by itself as described) and turns amber when there's no
signal.

3. The LCD panel syncs and displays correctly even when the
screen goes dark by itself. I verified this with an improvised
backlight. It is only the backlight that is misbehaving.

4. The light/dark cycle is caused by the 3.3V ENA signal from the
control board to the inverter coming on and off. It's too regular
to be a thermal issue.

5. All power supply voltages (17V, 5V & 3.3V) are OK. The control
board controls the inverter with *one-way* ENA and DIM signals.
There is no feedback from the inverter to the control board.

6. The control board doesn't have obvious cracks, burn marks or
bulging capacitors.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

If we ignore the shipping damage, it sounds like a typical back light problem. Are you sure you have the correct CCFL tubes in the display?

There's a chance one or more of the inverter transformers was damaged when the display was run with an open tube.

What you can do is place your scope probe on the plastic part of the lamp connector. Where it goes exactly is unimportant as you're going to be looking for *differences* in the waveforms between the original tubes and the replacements. In any case, don't make any electrical connection or you'll likely damage your scope input. But you must be sure to place the probe in the exact same spot on the connector as the waveform will vary greatly with just a small physical movement.

Look at the waveforms for each of the tubes during the time it's actually lit. If one or more waveforms differs from any other, the controller IC will shut down the inverter. Too large a waveform usually indicates a bad, weak, or incorrect CCFL tube. A low or distorted waveform will usually indicate a bad transformer.


Before we go further with your suggestions, please see my point
No.5 again. There is no way the logic board can know about an
inverter problem. It just sends and stops the ENABLE signal as
described without any feedback from the inverter.

The power supply and the inverter are on one pcb while the logic
and display circuits are on another board. The power supply
remains fully ON as long as it's plugged in. The only connections
between the two boards are via a 4-way cable:
1) +5V to the logic board
2) GND
2) ENABLE /from/ the logic board
3) DIM PWM signal /from/ the logic board

The inverter does not turn off by itself. It's turned off when
the ENA signal from the logic board stops.

yes, so overriding the ENA signal will not affect safety. What it would affect is the screen shutting off when pc video card stops sending signal, one would need to use the on/off switch more.


NT

On 3/9/2018 10:49 PM, wrote:
On Friday, 9 March 2018 15:44:38 UTC, Pimpom wrote:
On 3/9/2018 8:20 PM, John-Del wrote:
On Friday, March 9, 2018 at 8:44:56 AM UTC-5, Pimpom wrote:

I have a BenQ G2420HD monitor that was damaged during
transportation. Two of the four CCFL tubes were broken and I've
solved that problem but it still has a fault. These are the symptoms:

1. When switched on, it lights up and presents a normal display
FOR ONE SECOND, then goes dark for 3 seconds, lights up again for
one second and then goes dark permanently. Power cycling repeats
the same behavior over and over.

2. It detects the video and sync inputs. The pilot light stays
green as long as there's a signal input (even when the screen
goes dark by itself as described) and turns amber when there's no
signal.

3. The LCD panel syncs and displays correctly even when the
screen goes dark by itself. I verified this with an improvised
backlight. It is only the backlight that is misbehaving.

4. The light/dark cycle is caused by the 3.3V ENA signal from the
control board to the inverter coming on and off. It's too regular
to be a thermal issue.

5. All power supply voltages (17V, 5V & 3.3V) are OK. The control
board controls the inverter with *one-way* ENA and DIM signals.
There is no feedback from the inverter to the control board.

6. The control board doesn't have obvious cracks, burn marks or
bulging capacitors.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

If we ignore the shipping damage, it sounds like a typical back light problem. Are you sure you have the correct CCFL tubes in the display?

There's a chance one or more of the inverter transformers was damaged when the display was run with an open tube.

What you can do is place your scope probe on the plastic part of the lamp connector. Where it goes exactly is unimportant as you're going to be looking for *differences* in the waveforms between the original tubes and the replacements. In any case, don't make any electrical connection or you'll likely damage your scope input. But you must be sure to place the probe in the exact same spot on the connector as the waveform will vary greatly with just a small physical movement.

Look at the waveforms for each of the tubes during the time it's actually lit. If one or more waveforms differs from any other, the controller IC will shut down the inverter. Too large a waveform usually indicates a bad, weak, or incorrect CCFL tube. A low or distorted waveform will usually indicate a bad transformer.


Before we go further with your suggestions, please see my point
No.5 again. There is no way the logic board can know about an
inverter problem. It just sends and stops the ENABLE signal as
described without any feedback from the inverter.

The power supply and the inverter are on one pcb while the logic
and display circuits are on another board. The power supply
remains fully ON as long as it's plugged in. The only connections
between the two boards are via a 4-way cable:
1) +5V to the logic board
2) GND
2) ENABLE /from/ the logic board
3) DIM PWM signal /from/ the logic board

The inverter does not turn off by itself. It's turned off when
the ENA signal from the logic board stops.

yes, so overriding the ENA signal will not affect safety. What it would affect is the screen shutting off when pc video card stops sending signal, one would need to use the on/off switch more.


I know. I'd considered that possibility but I hate band-aid
solutions except as a last resort.

It seems clear to me that the problem is on the control board. I
was hoping that someone would know about it and can offer a solution.

I've drawn a block diagram of the boards. Here -
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ndpbl8uohp...420HD.png?dl=0

Are you certain there is no feedback? I've seen systems where the load driver, if overloaded, can truncate the PWM pulse from the low level driver circuitry and that circuit can sense it. Might want to put a scope on the enable and dim lines and see if anything like that is going on.

On Friday, 9 March 2018 18:11:56 UTC, Pimpom wrote:
On 3/9/2018 10:49 PM, tabbypurr wrote:
On Friday, 9 March 2018 15:44:38 UTC, Pimpom wrote:
On 3/9/2018 8:20 PM, John-Del wrote:
On Friday, March 9, 2018 at 8:44:56 AM UTC-5, Pimpom wrote:

I have a BenQ G2420HD monitor that was damaged during
transportation. Two of the four CCFL tubes were broken and I've
solved that problem but it still has a fault. These are the symptoms:

1. When switched on, it lights up and presents a normal display
FOR ONE SECOND, then goes dark for 3 seconds, lights up again for
one second and then goes dark permanently. Power cycling repeats
the same behavior over and over.

2. It detects the video and sync inputs. The pilot light stays
green as long as there's a signal input (even when the screen
goes dark by itself as described) and turns amber when there's no
signal.

3. The LCD panel syncs and displays correctly even when the
screen goes dark by itself. I verified this with an improvised
backlight. It is only the backlight that is misbehaving.

4. The light/dark cycle is caused by the 3.3V ENA signal from the
control board to the inverter coming on and off. It's too regular
to be a thermal issue.

5. All power supply voltages (17V, 5V & 3.3V) are OK. The control
board controls the inverter with *one-way* ENA and DIM signals.
There is no feedback from the inverter to the control board.

6. The control board doesn't have obvious cracks, burn marks or
bulging capacitors.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

If we ignore the shipping damage, it sounds like a typical back light problem. Are you sure you have the correct CCFL tubes in the display?

There's a chance one or more of the inverter transformers was damaged when the display was run with an open tube.

What you can do is place your scope probe on the plastic part of the lamp connector. Where it goes exactly is unimportant as you're going to be looking for *differences* in the waveforms between the original tubes and the replacements. In any case, don't make any electrical connection or you'll likely damage your scope input. But you must be sure to place the probe in the exact same spot on the connector as the waveform will vary greatly with just a small physical movement.

Look at the waveforms for each of the tubes during the time it's actually lit. If one or more waveforms differs from any other, the controller IC will shut down the inverter. Too large a waveform usually indicates a bad, weak, or incorrect CCFL tube. A low or distorted waveform will usually indicate a bad transformer.


Before we go further with your suggestions, please see my point
No.5 again. There is no way the logic board can know about an
inverter problem. It just sends and stops the ENABLE signal as
described without any feedback from the inverter.

The power supply and the inverter are on one pcb while the logic
and display circuits are on another board. The power supply
remains fully ON as long as it's plugged in. The only connections
between the two boards are via a 4-way cable:
1) +5V to the logic board
2) GND
2) ENABLE /from/ the logic board
3) DIM PWM signal /from/ the logic board

The inverter does not turn off by itself. It's turned off when
the ENA signal from the logic board stops.

yes, so overriding the ENA signal will not affect safety. What it would affect is the screen shutting off when pc video card stops sending signal, one would need to use the on/off switch more.


I know. I'd considered that possibility but I hate band-aid
solutions except as a last resort.

It seems clear to me that the problem is on the control board. I
was hoping that someone would know about it and can offer a solution.

I've drawn a block diagram of the boards. Here -
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ndpbl8uohp...420HD.png?dl=0

It's not a fault I've ever fixed. I've no clue whether you can trace that line backward to see where it starts to get flakey. I'm guessing it just goes straight into a huge chip though. And if Terry is correct that might not be the solution.


NT

On Friday, March 9, 2018 at 7:44:56 AM UTC-6, Pimpom wrote:
I have a BenQ G2420HD monitor that was damaged during
transportation. Two of the four CCFL tubes were broken and I've
solved that problem but it still has a fault. These are the symptoms:

1. When switched on, it lights up and presents a normal display
FOR ONE SECOND, then goes dark for 3 seconds, lights up again for
one second and then goes dark permanently. Power cycling repeats
the same behavior over and over.

2. It detects the video and sync inputs. The pilot light stays
green as long as there's a signal input (even when the screen
goes dark by itself as described) and turns amber when there's no
signal.

3. The LCD panel syncs and displays correctly even when the
screen goes dark by itself. I verified this with an improvised
backlight. It is only the backlight that is misbehaving.

4. The light/dark cycle is caused by the 3.3V ENA signal from the
control board to the inverter coming on and off. It's too regular
to be a thermal issue.

5. All power supply voltages (17V, 5V & 3.3V) are OK. The control
board controls the inverter with *one-way* ENA and DIM signals.
There is no feedback from the inverter to the control board.

6. The control board doesn't have obvious cracks, burn marks or
bulging capacitors.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Comprehensive service manual he http://monitor.espec.ws/files/10ff1c...29aa8b_562.pdf

On 3/10/2018 1:44 AM, Terry Schwartz wrote:
Are you certain there is no feedback? I've seen systems where the load driver, if overloaded, can truncate the PWM pulse from the low level driver circuitry and that circuit can sense it. Might want to put a scope on the enable and dim lines and see if anything like that is going on.


It's 2 am here now and I'm getting ready for bed. I don't know if
I'll have time to some more checking tomorrow. If not, it'll have
to wait for Monday.

I'm certain that the two lines coming from the control board go
to pins 13 and 16 of the inverter control IC OZ9933 via a few
passives. These are the DIM PWM and ENABLE pins respectively. The
tracks are easy to trace on the single-sided PCB and they are the
only lines of connection with the control board (except for the
5V supply and GND).

I downloaded the service manual a few days ago. But while it's
quite detailed about some things, it's sketchy about others or
entirely omits them. Same thing for the schematic.

On 3/10/2018 2:00 AM, Terry Schwartz wrote:
On Friday, March 9, 2018 at 7:44:56 AM UTC-6, Pimpom wrote:
I have a BenQ G2420HD monitor that was damaged during
transportation. Two of the four CCFL tubes were broken and I've
solved that problem but it still has a fault. These are the symptoms:

1. When switched on, it lights up and presents a normal display
FOR ONE SECOND, then goes dark for 3 seconds, lights up again for
one second and then goes dark permanently. Power cycling repeats
the same behavior over and over.

2. It detects the video and sync inputs. The pilot light stays
green as long as there's a signal input (even when the screen
goes dark by itself as described) and turns amber when there's no
signal.

3. The LCD panel syncs and displays correctly even when the
screen goes dark by itself. I verified this with an improvised
backlight. It is only the backlight that is misbehaving.

4. The light/dark cycle is caused by the 3.3V ENA signal from the
control board to the inverter coming on and off. It's too regular
to be a thermal issue.

5. All power supply voltages (17V, 5V & 3.3V) are OK. The control
board controls the inverter with *one-way* ENA and DIM signals.
There is no feedback from the inverter to the control board.

6. The control board doesn't have obvious cracks, burn marks or
bulging capacitors.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Comprehensive service manual he http://monitor.espec.ws/files/10ff1c...29aa8b_562.pdf


I already have that. See my reply to your other post.