Shexy mods, clamor, and glamour..

Over a month ago, my computer screen decided to go dark.  Now when I say go dark, I mean it literally just went dark.  Most of the time when people have a computer screen that they can't see anymore they assume it just died.  A quick inspection and some research online led me to believe the capacitors, resistor, or some part of the power inverter that powers the CCFL backlights went out, because the rest of the screen still works.  I use the screen's USB hub to operate my kyeboard and mouse, and when I switch screens to my giant HDTV on the opposite wall (extremely hard to work with this particular orientation), the mouse and keyboard are fine.

The last throws of summer are in full swing, everyone wants to constantly hang out and enjoy what's left of it by gaming: xbox 360, or nerding: Magic The Gathering.  Poke fun, mock, and belittle all you like... It's a fun way to pass the time.  Mok offered to help me solve my screen issues and we took it apart to look at the power board.

First time we took it apart was sort of annoying since the plastic shell is a two piece snap-in that holds itself together.  A butter knife did the trick eventually, and we ran into the other problem of having to try and get around the stem for the stand where it connects to the back of the screen.  Once we got it off we disconnected 3 sets of connections that bound all the various components together.

While the particular fashion in which Samsung designed the screen can be annoying to work on because of the molded plastic back shell being cast through the metal bracket that holds the hinge and stem piece for the stand to sit in, we managed to get access to the the 2 boards in the chassis that house the electronics.

Disconnecting the power from the logic board allowed us to easily unscrew the power board and disconnect the two backlight connectors buried in the right side of the chassis.  Once we got the power board out Mok and I immediately noticed one major problem with it.

Not only was the PCB around the resistor burnt black, but the original capacitor had faded beyond recognition and we thus set about replacing it.  A quick stop at "The Shack" and later another visit to get a 60-watt Soldering Iron because of the heavy duty solder used on the board remedied the situation nicely.  We also replaced 8 capacitors i had purchased online from a DIY mod site that matched the main ones that the board relies on.  We stuck the board back in and despite our effort, were greeted with a dark but still functioning screen.  So I ordered a whole new power board on eBay...

A couple of days passed...  Busy with life things, like friendly gatherings, keeping up with my exercises...

Taking care of things at home...  Lazy cats...

More exercising...

Oh... and some more friend time:

S'mores anyone?

Before the board arrived, Mok came over and was curious to check out the backlights with me.  We set about taking apart the entire screen.

Removing the front plastic bezel

Snapping out the metal frame that encases the inner screen components.

For those of you that don't know how an LCD screen works.  There's several layers to the whole thing.  Here's how it goes.  Below you can see the Panel which is covered with a diffusion anti-glare material.

Beneath the actual panel is several layers of Diffuser sheets, think of them as transparency sheets like those used in schools for overhead projectors, except they help to evenly scatter the light instead of being completely transparent.

Underneath those diffuser sheets is a large and thick panel that is somewhat diffusive.

This panel acts like a lens when light is emitted into it from it's sides, it illuminates the whole area scattering the light in all directions and as the light catches on the diffusive surface area, it brightens the whole thing.

These backlights are very tiny, long and thin. There are two sets, a pair on top and a pair on the bottom, which are powered by the power inverter board.

The logic board is connected directly to the LCD matrix panel which controls the various cells in the matrix.

And there you have it.  While we had fun taking it completely apart and reassembling it we found nothing wrong with the CCFLs.  Backlights had absolutely no burn marks, blackened edges or anything that would be akin to failure.

The board arrived, and I have some free time during the day to tackle a quick modification to the plastic shell with my dremel. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that I got the plastic piece completely cut out the shell could be completely removed from the chassis.  I cleaned up everything and took it back inside to remove the old power board and put the new one in.

I quickly and easily took out the old powerboard thanks to the handy removal of that plastic section that bound the shell to the hinge.

Swapped out the old power board, put the new one in, screwed it in place, and reconnected the power to the logic board, and the two CCFL backlight sets. 

Swung the chassis back on top of the screen and connected the data cable to the logic board for the display and the connection for the power sensor on the front bezel piece, plugged the thing back in to some power and tested it out.  The whole thing lit up perfectly so I finished snapping together the shell, put the mount piece back on the hinge and stem and placed it back on my desk.  I hooked my screen back up to my computer and now everything is back up and running!

The rest of this month has been rather slow.  The usual daily exercising, routine job hunting, working on the final bits of the orchestra project commissioned by Trials & Memories which can be found on facebook.  Lots of working on my novel project as well.

School should be back in session, summer is closing to its end, and my guess is if you're reading this late on a school night you're probably chatting with me on facebook!  Hope everyone enjoyed their summer.  Hopefully I'll have more buzzworthy stuff to post on here soon.