I have a broken monitor, which one of our merry little band here kindly replaced for me, but I'm an awful hoarder. I can't throw anything out, and so it sits there looking back at me.
Please don't recycle me, Daddy. Please?
So before I finally toss it in a dustbin, I thought I'd throw the question open to the floor to see if some expert in the audience knows how to fix it. You see, it actually works for about 5 seconds before the screen goes dead, and if you shine a light on the screen after it goes dark you can see everything as it should be.
In short, the backlight has gone wonky and somebody told me that the inverter is faulty, but you know, I might as well be looking into a bush, so tell me this if you can: where can I get a replacement inverter, is it expensive and is it a big job to replace it?
The monitor is a widescreen Philips PHP-X19.
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Previously on Bock:
you can get replacement invertors and backlights from ebay. once yuo've wrestled off the cover of the monitor, they're usually just snap-in.
I wouldn't really bother, though. I've fixed TFTs in the past, and they're troublesome. it's almost like the first breakage is a "wahey – free-for-all!" to the other problems that can assail them.
but anyway – the fact that it comes on for a few seconds says that the backlight's okay. it's probably a problem on the invertor.
So you reckon it's not worth replacing the inverter?
personally, I wouldn't bother, but if it's an expensive monitor (I "inherit" mine when other people break them, so have little understanding of the price of these things) then it's probably worth your while at least trying it. the worst that can happen is that you will have a broken monitor and are out 20 quid or so… even if your fix doesn't work, you can sell the parts online to someone who thinks they may have better luck.
I actually don't have any desktops anymore, so this kind of thing doesn't affect me – when the screen goes on my laptops, I buy a new laptop and convert the old one into a server of some sort. my most recent laptop is upstairs acting as a file server for a couple of terabyte drives. the screen on that one started developing vertical lines. at first, it was usable in a hacky way but after a while, my hacked solution wasn't good enough, and it's now a server.
Well, it's a nice flat-screen wide monitor,and it cost about €200 I think, so if 20 or 30 euros will fix it, maybe it's worth a shot.
I guess whether its worth trying to repair or not comes down to how old it was.If not too old I would try fixing.If old best rid of it.My experiece of old electic items is that no sooner have you one thing fixed than something else goes.
Should stop buying stuff at pcworld bock!
Sounds like you need an exorcist, mate.
I did a bit of research on the PHP-X19 display and it appears that the problem your having is pretty common with these things. The display was actually built by Proview Electronics, Taiwan and Phillips supposedly won't back it since it was re-branded by PC World as a Phillips. Kae is most likely right in his assessment of the problem but unless you have a local computer shop you can haul the thing down to in hopes that they can source out the part, Ebay may be your only hope. Call it stupid but basic troubleshooting would have me hooking up another display cable just to say I did. I found a couple of forum members that stated that using a new (spare) cable fixed the problem…you never know.
Myself, I'd probably dump the thing and call it a lesson in objectivity.
A lot of folks shelled out the same amount of money as you did for one of these just to have their displays go poof. Sorry about that.
Yes indeed. This was the second piece of shit I bought from PC World although, in my defence, I bought both of them at the same time.
I only learned recently that PC World is selling products as Philips even though that company will have nothing to do with them. That seems highly suspicious and maybe it's something I might follow up.
Some tips here:
http://www.howtomendit.com/answers.php?id=180305
and these people may be able to help you as well: http://www.lumaco.co.uk
Otherwise it might be worth taking it apart (nothing to lose at this stage) and checking the capacitors on the power supply and on the Inverter. If they are swollen or cracked, replace them (need to be able to solder though!)
Apparently this model (which is a bastard OEM model and will not be supported by Philips as mentioned above) is, however very similar to the Philips 190CW7CB Widescreen monitor. So the same parts may work in it. So may be worth trying to get a spare part from Philips if you can't find anything wrong with the Inverter…BUT of course it will probably be sod's law that although the electronics are identical, the board will be the wrong size or shape.
There's a parts shop on Parnell street. Beside where the Dolphin pub was. Least I think it's called Parnell street. Top of Thomasa street just as you turn left to head down to upper William street and the shop is on your right! Might be worth a visit.
There's a PC scrap merchanton top of Roches street too.
This is becoming more interesting than a question about a broken old monitor.
Are PC World are passing off a monitor as a Philips when it isn't one? Are they paying Philips for the use of the brand? Are they misleading their customers? Are they breaking the law?
I'm pretty sure you can buy any techie spare parts in maplin, but I don't know where your closest store would be, and beware of their website as it redirects you to the UK where they charge you massive UK shipping prices and the Irish VAT rate! But if they have a branch in Limerick it would be worth a try!
They're not breaking the law, unfortunately. Basically they have a branding deal with the DSG Group (PCW, Currys, Dixons) whereby their brand name goes onto the item, but they don't actually manufacture it. But it is made using Philips components bought by a 3rd party and assembled by a 3rd party. That's the only ray of hope – that if you can get your hands on the Philips parts (unless of course they did an OEM sneak build and changed the physical boards so that they won't fit) it should work.
Yet another reason to not buy from any DSG store!! (well unless it's DELL who at least do support their branded products)
Are you saying that Philips did a deal whereby their brand can be placed on any old piece of junk, which they won't stand over, and the customer doesn't have any right to know this?
Bock,
No. What's likely happened here is that Philips have allowed their brand to be put on *specific* items that were assembled by a 3rd party using components supplied by Philips. So, from one point of view it is a Philips – as the bits and pieces are the same as goes into a "real" Philips model, on the other hand it's not – as it wasn't "built" by them.
The bait and switch is that I bet you can't go into PCW and buy one of these by itself – it comes with a PC. That moves it into the horrible bog of OEM whereby PCW are then actually considered the manufacturer for purposes of support and warranty, but the brand name gets the "credit" in terms of what badge people see when they admire your monitor.
If it was however sold to you separately as an off the shelf product in a philips box – then you may very well have a case against PCW for selling the goods under false pretenses.
Bearing in mind – and I can't speak for Philips but it's the case with most brand electronics – very little in a monitor is actually made by the manufacturer. It's made in Taiwan, alongside the bits and pieces for all the other brands as well, and only assembled and branded by Philips or Sony or whoever. That's why warranty and after sales service should always be given heavy weightings when buying this stuff – it's all the same internals with a few notable exceptions. Check out a SONY laptop and you'll find a Toshiba DVD drive. Check the Toshiba and you find a SONY LCD Panel, and so on.
In order for you to prove that the parts were for example under warranty/supplied by Philips (e.g open the monitor, find board with "Philips" printed on it)- you have already invalidated your warranty/claim by opening the case therefore you are shit out of luck every time.
SONY used to do a similar thing, with their "SUNY" brand, which was all SONY components, but built by 3rd parties and sold for less to try to get some sales from people who would or could not buy SONY because of the price (i.e "I'm not rich enough to afford a SONY") – and it worked well for the company (no this post is not a plug for sony, I just coudn't be bothered typing toshiba all the time!)
Bit surprised at Philips though – I thought they were doing well without having to stoop to this shit.
Do you still have the manual for the monitor? That should show where and by whom it was actually built.
Manuals are usually the first casualty in my place but this thing becomes more interesting by the second. I don't really care what happens to the monitor now but I would like to find out more about this branding business. I didn't buy the monitor as part of a package, but I don't think that makes a difference. If a customer buys a monitor in the belief that it has been made by a certain manufacturer and it turns out that the manufacturer is not associated with the product in any way, then, in my opinion, that customer has been misled, whether or not they happened to buy a PC at the same time.
I think this is another example of PC World's unscrupulous and contemptuous attitude towards its customers and I strongly suspect that the practice may be illegal.
Box, I agree that it sucks but AFAIK it's legal or at best a very grey area. Then again I am not a lawyer and I would be interested to get some kind of definitive answer as it can be very frustrating when the store gives you the runaround, expecially after the warranty period when all you want is a spare part to fix the damn thing!
But it's been going on for years on different scales (like I mentioned; open ANY brand of computer and it's got at least one component made by a "competitor" who will not under any circumstances support you on it as it is OEM).
Intel were the first big corporation to start with this in the likes of PCW – you buy an OEM (brown box) CPU from Intel in PC World, and Intel will not help you with it.
Look at the IBM Thinkpad laptop – it says "IBM Thinkpad" on the front badge, but it now actually made by Lenovo in China – and Lenovo provide all the support+ warranty (although in fairness IBM make it seamless if you call them about it).
It's the OEM part that makes it legal. Say you bought a pound of Denny's sausages in Dunnes. And they were rotten. You would normally go back to Dunnes to get your money back but you could, as per your statutory rights, go back directly to Denny's as well and get a refund. In this case, Dunnes is only the reseller of the product.
Now look at the situation whereby Denny make the sausages, but Dunne's do not re-sell them – instead they are licensed by Denny's to re-badge the product as "Made for Dunne's Stores (by Denny's)". In this case, you can only go back to Dunnes if they are rotten, as Dunne's is now considered the manufacturer of the item.
Perhaps the above is not 100% accurate but that's the idea of OEM.
True. But I'm not talking about manufacturer support. I'm talking about PC World's obligations as retailers. If they sold me a product falsely declaring it to be a Philips monitor, then they have deceived me.
have you thought about making a claim using the small claims court? the following gives details of the Irish Sale of goods act 1980..
1. the goods must be of merchantable quality – goods should be of reasonable quality taking into account what they are meant to do, their durability and their price
2. Goods must be fit for their purpose – they must do what they are reasonably expected to do
3. Goods must be as described – the buyer must not be mislead into buying something by the description of goods or services given orally by a salesperson or an advertisement.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PHILIPS-PHP-X19-19%22-WIDE-SCREEN-MONITOR-Repair-Kit_W0QQitemZ250561863834QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxq20100112?IMSfp=TL100112229001r36007
it will be the backlights £20.00 of ebay .just fixed one myself .i suspect the brightness is way to high . this one is set at zero and still very bright so will burn out quicker
did you ever have any luck getting it fixed/replaced Bock?
No. I didn't even have any luck throwing it out.