Repairing Crossover 30Q5 PRO 30" monitor

[Specmaster]

I have been given this monitor as it had stopped working and I fancied playing around to see if I could get it working again thinking it was going to be a capacitor failed.

Plugged it in and it seemed to be dead apart from a blue power on indicator. A couple of seconds later there was a quick flash across the screen and the indicator turns red and the screen was dead.

Opened it up and took out the power distribution board and the video board, the other board is the back lights. Looking at the boards with a microscope it looked like some of the IC legs had tin whiskers growing on them and I also checked caps and all seemed to be OK but I did change one as it was unbranded but still checked OK.

I got my hot air gun and went over the board trying to get it hot enough to reflow the joints but nothing seemed to happen (dammed lead free solder), all the time  that I had fried the chips with the amount of heat there were getting blasted with.

After they had cooled down and checked under the microscope and the whiskers had gone, so put them back in the monitor and power up and scared that I fried everything but was surprised to be greeted with this screen. There is a FPGA on the video card and I'm wondering if the heat had reflowed some of the balls that make up the connections between board and chip?

Now, I don't know where else to go and what to do at this point as I cannot locate any information on this monitor on the web, so has anyone any ideas and advise that you could give me at all please?

[mnementh]

[Carried over from original response in TEA thread]

These are a Korean made "Bottom rung" niche market monitor made specifically to leverage the mid-side LG IPS displays into the $350-450 market niche. LOTS of variables here in this market segment; you have to pay extra for a "zero dead pixels" guarantee, and as you've found out, manufacturer service is vaporware.

What you're describing is high probability to be either a video processor or switcher IC fault (mainboard) or a T-con board (usually attached directly to the panel, between the panel and the LVDS cable to the mainboard). The T-Con and the panel are USUALLY sold as a matched pair; as in the T-Con is designed and firmware-specific to the particular panel. In many cases, even different product runs of the same panel will require a differently calibrated T-Con.

Fortunately, as the T-con is produced this way, you MAY be able to find a generic part by the LG Part no that will work most of the time but may have inaccurate color reproduction; in many cases these are pretty cheap and well-worth taking a gamble on resurrecting your screen.

Some screens may have an LED Driver between the mainboard and T-Con; this processes the LVDS signal to control the LED backlighting zones for dynamic contrast. It is usually a go/no-go part, but can kill all picture to the screen as well.


[EDIT] Almost 100% certain now; dead T-Con board. You'll want to check the power rails to the T-Con and make sure they're within spec before you change it. If you can find one. [/EDIT]


mnem
Needs more cowchip.

[neo]

This is just my opinion, but i think it's worth considering how far down the rabbit hole you want to go. It is definitely worth fixing, if it can be but the lead free solder, Korean origins and the magic mystery hour of problems would make me wonder.

That said will definitely be interesting to see what happens to it.

[Specmaster]

[Carried over from original response in TEA thread]

These are a Korean made "Bottom rung" niche market monitor made specifically to leverage the mid-side LG IPS displays into the $350-450 market niche. LOTS of variables here in this market segment; you have to pay extra for a "zero dead pixels" guarantee, and as you've found out, manufacturer service is vaporware.

What you're describing is high probability to be either a video processor or switcher IC fault (mainboard) or a T-con board (usually attached directly to the panel, between the panel and the LVDS cable to the mainboard). The T-Con and the panel are USUALLY sold as a matched pair; as in the T-Con is designed and firmware-specific to the particular panel. In many cases, even different product runs of the same panel will require a differently calibrated T-Con.

Fortunately, as the T-con is produced this way, you MAY be able to find a generic part by the LG Part no that will work most of the time but may have inaccurate color reproduction; in many cases these are pretty cheap and well-worth taking a gamble on resurrecting your screen.

Some screens may have an LED Driver between the mainboard and T-Con; this processes the LVDS signal to control the LED backlighting zones for dynamic contrast. It is usually a go/no-go part, but can kill all picture to the screen as well.


[EDIT] Almost 100% certain now; dead T-Con board. You'll want to check the power rails to the T-Con and make sure they're within spec before you change it. If you can find one. [/EDIT]


mnem
Needs more cowchip.

Here are 3 photos, not of the actual monitor but of one that I found a link to on the web, but mine is identical to this, the first one is of the thing with the back removed and shows the LVDS board at the bottom, the inverter for the screen lighting to the left and at the top under the cover is the T-Con board, the only other board that I can see in the bottom left corner (on the bottom) and holds the on/off switch and brightness up/down buttons all of which is working OK. I cannot see any other boards or leads disappearing off anywhere other then the 2 ribbon cables leaving the T-Con board and presumedly connecting to the screen?

The 2nd photo shows the T-Con board and the 3rd shows the Inverter.

[Specmaster]

This is just my opinion, but i think it's worth considering how far down the rabbit hole you want to go. It is definitely worth fixing, if it can be but the lead free solder, Korean origins and the magic mystery hour of problems would make me wonder.

That said will definitely be interesting to see what happens to it.

Yes, I think it would be good to save it if possible, make a great screen for schematics sat at the back of my bench while working on gear. It looks like its almost new, the case is all metal and there no visible scratches on it or the screen and Apple use the LG Panel on their high end systems calling it "Cinema" and costing £1100, Dell also use the same panel and it costs around £600 from them but it does demand a good graphics card because judging from what I can glean from the scant info on the makers web site it only has a native screen resolution of 2560 x 1600 fortunately, my card is capable of driving that. 

[mynameissteve]

Have you seen this? http://nand-hate.com/2015/11/crossover-30q5-pro-black-30-2560-x-1600-korean-ips-monitor-repair-notes/ I have the same monitor and had a capacitor blow in the power supply just the other day. I actually posted about it in the "beginner" thread, because it was my first time posting and it seemed more appropriate.


https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/am-i-in-the-right-place-power-supply-capacitor-replacement/

Good luck!

[Specmaster]

Have you seen this? http://nand-hate.com/2015/11/crossover-30q5-pro-black-30-2560-x-1600-korean-ips-monitor-repair-notes/ I have the same monitor and had a capacitor blow in the power supply just the other day. I actually posted about it in the "beginner" thread, because it was my first time posting and it seemed more appropriate.


https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/am-i-in-the-right-place-power-supply-capacitor-replacement/

Good luck!

Yes I did see that site thanks, thats where I got my photos from and I see he also had tin whiskers.

My power supply is similar to yours but there seems to be different versions, mine only has the illustration of a barrel plug with a centre pin positive but the monitor has a 4 pin mini din socket, strange.

[mnementh]

Since you have a pic that identifies all the main power rails, I'd start there with voltmeter and scope. Odds are a noisy/glitchy regulator killed the T-Con. I didn't realize this monitor was old enough to have CCFLs in it; once you get it fired up it may still not have proper color anyways as these high-brightness screens drive the CCFLs pretty hard and tend to fail by turning yellow then reddish.

Research a new T-con by the LG part number; you'll probably play hell finding it any other way.


Good hunting!


mnem
And Happy 2o18!

[Specmaster]

Since you have a pic that identifies all the main power rails, I'd start there with voltmeter and scope. Odds are a noisy/glitchy regulator killed the T-Con. I didn't realize this monitor was old enough to have CCFLs in it; once you get it fired up it may still not have proper color anyways as these high-brightness screens drive the CCFLs pretty hard and tend to fail by turning yellow then reddish.

Research a new T-con by the LG part number; you'll probably play hell finding it any other way.


Good hunting!


mnem
And Happy 2o18!

I have decided to start of with a total recap of the LVDS panel and the Inverter Panel, particularly as for the 30" screen requires 18V and yet there is 16V cap on that particular section.

It looks like there some of T-Con panels available but it does not look like the seller will send them to the UK or USA, other people are also apparently looking for the same panel and the general consensus is that maybe Apple have blocked it because they use the same LCD panel and T-Con panel and don't anyone breaking their strangle hold on the supply of parts? Seems possible as I heard many of unofficial apple repairers complain about will not allow them access to parts and schematics.

So far no success in locating a supplier of the LVDS panel should I need one of those.

[wraper]

If there were tin whiskers, you should wash the board in ultrasonic bath, or maybe just with some cleaning chemical. Not heat it without having appropriate equipment.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/free-shipping-original-for-LG-LM300WQ5-SDA1-6870C-0314B-logic-board/32759694802.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.13.zp2cUJ&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_4_10152_10151_10065_10068_10344_10342_51102_10343_10340_10341_10084_10083_10307_10303_10302_10059_10314_10534_5790011_100031_10604_10103_10142,searchweb201603_40,ppcSwitch_7&algo_expid=c824583d-df22-4c1f-8525-fd388cc3199f-2&algo_pvid=c824583d-df22-4c1f-8525-fd388cc3199f&rmStoreLevelAB=5

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/LM300WQ5-SDA1-6870C-0314B-Logic-board/32825382638.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.7.zp2cUJ&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_4_10152_10151_10065_10068_10344_10342_51102_10343_10340_10341_10084_10083_10307_10303_10302_10059_10314_10534_5790011_100031_10604_10103_10142,searchweb201603_40,ppcSwitch_7&algo_expid=c824583d-df22-4c1f-8525-fd388cc3199f-1&algo_pvid=c824583d-df22-4c1f-8525-fd388cc3199f&rmStoreLevelAB=5

[Specmaster]

If there were tin whiskers, you should wash the board in ultrasonic bath, or maybe just with some cleaning chemical. Not heat it without having appropriate equipment.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/free-shipping-original-for-LG-LM300WQ5-SDA1-6870C-0314B-logic-board/32759694802.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.13.zp2cUJ&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_4_10152_10151_10065_10068_10344_10342_51102_10343_10340_10341_10084_10083_10307_10303_10302_10059_10314_10534_5790011_100031_10604_10103_10142,searchweb201603_40,ppcSwitch_7&algo_expid=c824583d-df22-4c1f-8525-fd388cc3199f-2&algo_pvid=c824583d-df22-4c1f-8525-fd388cc3199f&rmStoreLevelAB=5

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/LM300WQ5-SDA1-6870C-0314B-Logic-board/32825382638.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.7.zp2cUJ&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_4_10152_10151_10065_10068_10344_10342_51102_10343_10340_10341_10084_10083_10307_10303_10302_10059_10314_10534_5790011_100031_10604_10103_10142,searchweb201603_40,ppcSwitch_7&algo_expid=c824583d-df22-4c1f-8525-fd388cc3199f-1&algo_pvid=c824583d-df22-4c1f-8525-fd388cc3199f&rmStoreLevelAB=5

Thank so much for these links.

[mnementh]

Since you have a pic that identifies all the main power rails, I'd start there with voltmeter and scope. Odds are a noisy/glitchy regulator killed the T-Con. I didn't realize this monitor was old enough to have CCFLs in it; once you get it fired up it may still not have proper color anyways as these high-brightness screens drive the CCFLs pretty hard and tend to fail by turning yellow then reddish.

Research a new T-con by the LG part number; you'll probably play hell finding it any other way.


Good hunting!


mnem
And Happy 2o18!

I have decided to start of with a total recap of the LVDS panel and the Inverter Panel, particularly as for the 30" screen requires 18V and yet there is 16V cap on that particular section.

It looks like there some of T-Con panels available but it does not look like the seller will send them to the UK or USA, other people are also apparently looking for the same panel and the general consensus is that maybe Apple have blocked it because they use the same LCD panel and T-Con panel and don't anyone breaking their strangle hold on the supply of parts? Seems possible as I heard many of unofficial apple repairers complain about will not allow them access to parts and schematics.

So far no success in locating a supplier of the LVDS panel should I need one of those.

Not likely any such evildoing on Apple's part; Apple wasn't able to stop LG from selling the original panels to your manufacturer in the first place.  As I've said before; there's enough real evil in the world without listening to haters who invent more just to have something to bitch about.

Much likelier, Apple discovered these were a high-failure part, so at some point bought out LG's entire stock of spares while there were still a sizable number of units out in the wild but still under Apple warranty. LG isn't interested in servicing 7-10 year old LCD panels OOW, they want to sell new panels; so market forces would tend to drive them to NOT produce spares that would cannibalize such future sales.

Remember... the logic of large-scale manufacturing has NOTHING to do with the logic of ordinary, real people in the real world. These are ALL people with MBAs or WORSE. Their daily operation is built upon a level of BS that would make any normal, sane person gag.

Good idea re: recapping all the power supplies. Dirty power and lack of cooling are the primary cause of failures in the T-con and video compression processing boards, which it looks like are combined into one on this model. You might also want to stick some heat sinks on the outside of the tin plate right where the processors have thermal pads; every 8-10° you drop operating temp here doubles the life of the chip.


mnem
No rest for the wicked.

[wraper]

30" LG panels never had a high failure rate. They had a lot of backlight bleed issues but not electronic failures. On the other hand, Samsung 30" panels of the same age had T-CON dying like cockroaches. They had Altera FPGA with the same BGA internal solder bump problem as NVIDIA GPUs.

[neo]

30" LG panels never had a high failure rate. They had a lot of backlight bleed issues but not electronic failures. On the other hand, Samsung 30" panels of the same age had T-CON dying like cockroaches. They had Altera FPGA with the same BGA internal solder bump problem as NVIDIA GPUs.

I can report that cockroaches have a very low fatality rate.

[Specmaster]

Not likely any such evildoing on Apple's part; Apple wasn't able to stop LG from selling the original panels to your manufacturer in the first place.  As I've said before; there's enough real evil in the world without listening to haters who invent more just to have something to bitch about.

mnem
No rest for the wicked.

These were new boards, not refurbished and the seller had plenty of them and judging by the long list of countries in his shipping list on the order form, it was to just about every other country you could think of but the notably missing ones was the USA and UK for some strange reason. I'm not so sure that it can be explained quite that simply as evil word of haters, my son used to work for the largest national chain of electronic and domestic products distributors in the UK and loves Apple but he tells me of some of the really anal things that Apple do and enforce with their distributors, things that are supposed to banned in most countries and yet they get away with it. 

Remember... the logic of large-scale manufacturing has NOTHING to do with the logic of ordinary, real people in the real world. These are ALL people with MBAs or WORSE. Their daily operation is built upon a level of BS that would make any normal, sane person gag.

mnem
No rest for the wicked.

Can't argue against that. 

Good idea re: recapping all the power supplies. Dirty power and lack of cooling are the primary cause of failures in the T-con and video compression processing boards, which it looks like are combined into one on this model. You might also want to stick some heat sinks on the outside of the tin plate right where the processors have thermal pads; every 8-10° you drop operating temp here doubles the life of the chip.


mnem
No rest for the wicked.

This is one of those areas where a good in circuit ESR meter would be so handy as all of these caps are of the aluminium SMD electrolytic type and its almost impossible to get sufficient heat onto the pads to melt the Pb free solder because the pads and contacts go under the caps. The only safe way of removing them without running the risk of lifting the pads, is to cut them off with side cutters and then apply heat to the centre of the pad to remove the legs. Obviously, this destroys the cap so you'll never know if it was good or not unless its showing signs of stress an started to spew its guts out on the board.

Turns out there are at least 2 sellers on AliExpress that sell these T-Con boards (new) at reasonable prices (thanks to wraper for the links) so if nothing doing after the recap (caps on order) I'll try one of those new boards, worth a try as the monitor has lots of good reviews under its other guises, Apple, Dell and I think HP.

Those additional heat sinks are a good idea providing there is enough clearance between them and the back metal casing, the 470uF 35v cap by the powerjack, was replaced by me for 470uF 50v one as the only one with a high enough voltage was too high and would not allow the case to be reassembled, so I had to replace it again and this time lay it sideways.

[wraper]

30" LG panels never had a high failure rate. They had a lot of backlight bleed issues but not electronic failures. On the other hand, Samsung 30" panels of the same age had T-CON dying like cockroaches. They had Altera FPGA with the same BGA internal solder bump problem as NVIDIA GPUs.

I can report that cockroaches have a very low fatality rate.

I can report that you fail to observe fatality rate because they have high replication rate.

[wraper]

Turns out there are at least 2 sellers on AliExpress that sell these T-Con boards (new) at reasonable prices (thanks to wraper for the links) so if nothing doing after the recap (caps on order) I'll try one of those new boards, worth a try as the monitor has lots of good reviews under its other guises, Apple, Dell and I think HP.

There is nearly zero chance they are new. And basically zero chance you can get a new board, especially for such price. This LCD panel is around 7 years old, you cannot expect any new boards to be still available.

[Specmaster]

Turns out there are at least 2 sellers on AliExpress that sell these T-Con boards (new) at reasonable prices (thanks to wraper for the links) so if nothing doing after the recap (caps on order) I'll try one of those new boards, worth a try as the monitor has lots of good reviews under its other guises, Apple, Dell and I think HP.

There is nearly zero chance they are new. And basically zero chance you can get a new board, especially for such price. This LCD panel is around 7 years old, you cannot expect any new boards to be still available.

Hmm, I assumed that they were new because there is zero there to suggest that these are equipment pulls or anything stating that they are used etc. I did notice that in one feedback it was mentioned that the item was used but worked well. Either way, if it works, if it turns out that I need one, I'll be happy with that.

[mnementh]

30" LG panels never had a high failure rate. They had a lot of backlight bleed issues but not electronic failures. On the other hand, Samsung 30" panels of the same age had T-CON dying like cockroaches. They had Altera FPGA with the same BGA internal solder bump problem as NVIDIA GPUs.

I can report that cockroaches have a very low fatality rate.

I can report that you fail to observe fatality rate because they have high replication rate.

SNARRFFF! 

You made me snort tea (not TEA) all over my keyboard. Fortunately, I learned the hard way and bought a washable one years ago. 

While these particular panels may not be high-failure, t-cons in general are a common failure item, and these are connected to a video signal source and power supplies that were of cheapest design and as many corners cut as possible. Plus this one appears to incorporate the video compression processing as well, so even more points of failure concentrated in a single board.

Agreed unlikely these are new at that price, unless somebody bought a containerload of them at a dockside auction that were lost for a few years... I've seen much weirder occurrences.

Apple does require some stuff of their supply chain that seems over the top... until you realize that their entire ecosystem and customer service ethic revolves around steering the customer towards replacement rather than repairing product. This is a plus to those who can afford it; you walk in with your busted, you walk out with new as good or better than you had.

They don't consider the time you have to spend setting up the replacement unit to be part of the equation; you're supposed to just be happy with the "new wonderful". Besides, if you fully buy into their ecology, pretty much anything you bring them can be restored onto a new unit from backup and you lose at most a day or three of your i-Life.

Again; the true Apple customer are folks who consider time to be more precious than money, and Apple caters to that mentality... and in reality, there is something to that point of view.

I've long said that money exists for one purpose; to allow the greedy to set their own price on another man's most precious resource - time.


mnem
"Run, don't walk away from anyone who says 'Time is money.' They grossly undervalue your time, and they do so only so they can rob you of it." ~me

[Specmaster]

SNARRFFF! 

You made me snort tea (not TEA) all over my keyboard. Fortunately, I learned the hard way and bought a washable one years ago. 

While these particular panels may not be high-failure, t-cons in general are a common failure item, and these are connected to a video signal source and power supplies that were of cheapest design and as many corners cut as possible. Plus this one appears to incorporate the video compression processing as well, so even more points of failure concentrated in a single board.

Agreed unlikely these are new at that price, unless somebody bought a containerload of them at a dockside auction that were lost for a few years... I've seen much weirder occurrences.

Apple does require some stuff of their supply chain that seems over the top... until you realize that their entire ecosystem and customer service ethic revolves around steering the customer towards replacement rather than repairing product. This is a plus to those who can afford it; you walk in with your busted, you walk out with new as good or better than you had.

They don't consider the time you have to spend setting up the replacement unit to be part of the equation; you're supposed to just be happy with the "new wonderful". Besides, if you fully buy into their ecology, pretty much anything you bring them can be restored onto a new unit from backup and you lose at most a day or three of your i-Life.

Again; the true Apple customer are folks who consider time to be more precious than money, and Apple caters to that mentality... and in reality, there is something to that point of view.

I've long said that money exists for one purpose; to allow the greedy to set their own price on another man's most precious resource - time.


mnem
"Run, don't walk away from anyone who says 'Time is money.' They grossly undervalue your time, and they do so only so they can rob you of it." ~me

How very true, I think that you've summed up the whole Apple ethos nicely there which for those of us who are wealthy enough to be able to afford to accept that, its OK. Trouble is however that there are those that see these people as role models and they desperately want to be seen as being upwardly mobile and either get into debt to be able to have the Apple products with their upmarket image, or are prepared to commit crimes in order to acquire them.

It was not that many years ago that the UK police had a problem with the number of youths that were snatching high end phones, especially iPhones out of peoples hands and making off with them on bikes, in fact I believe it started with iPods and the iconic white ear buds which gave them away. IIRC there was even advice issued to keep your white ear buds for indoor use and get a cheap pair of black ear buds which normally signalled that you only had a cheap and lowly MP3 player.

mnem
"Run, don't walk away from anyone who says 'Time is money.' They grossly undervalue your time, and they do so only so they can rob you of it." ~me

[Specmaster]

Update, all recapped and power rails would appear to be correct so its looking increasingly like the T-Conn board is at fault, so just about to order one from AliExpress and then have to wait for it crawl its way to me. 

EDIT, T-Conn board is on order, fingers crossed that cures it brings this monitor back to life again.

[Specmaster]

Turns out there are at least 2 sellers on AliExpress that sell these T-Con boards (new) at reasonable prices (thanks to wraper for the links) so if nothing doing after the recap (caps on order) I'll try one of those new boards, worth a try as the monitor has lots of good reviews under its other guises, Apple, Dell and I think HP.

There is nearly zero chance they are new. And basically zero chance you can get a new board, especially for such price. This LCD panel is around 7 years old, you cannot expect any new boards to be still available.

Well I've ordered a board from AliExpress and I understand that it will be on it's way to me soon. Hopefully it will work OK and I'll have a working monitor again.

[Specmaster]

Just had an email informing that the T-Conn board has today finally been shipped, so it be at least 2 weeks before I get it. Just that hope it is the correct one and it works and cures my problem. Time will tell.

[Specmaster]

Here's the latest tracking info on my T-Conn board for this monitor WTF is going on here?

[wraper]

It means that item was never dispatched. Recommended solution is waiting till protection time will end in like a week and open the dispute. Opening dispute early may result in loosing it. Of course you can contact the seller and ask why item was not dispatched.

[Specmaster]

It means that item was never dispatched. Recommended solution is waiting till protection time will end in like a week and open the dispute. Opening dispute early may result in loosing it. Of course you can contact the seller and ask why item was not dispatched.

I have just emailed them to enquire whats happening. Thing is that for the last 9 or 10 days it was shown on the tracking system as dispatched, in transit??

[wraper]

It was shown as waiting for pick-up. The fact that tracking number was created does not mean it was ever dispatched.

[Specmaster]

It was shown as waiting for pick-up. The fact that tracking number was created does not mean it was ever dispatched.

Well according to an email I got from Aliex on 14th Jan it was dispatched but when I never saw any activity on the tracking I contacted the seller directly on the 18th Jan and was told that they were ready to dispatch it.

Given the hassle factor and that it would seem that the seller is not being 100% truthful with me, I shall be requesting a full refund via Aliex and I have now ordered another from another supplier who assures me that the one they have is identical to a photo I sent them, so fingers crossed it is and it arrives.

[Bashstreet]

It was shown as waiting for pick-up. The fact that tracking number was created does not mean it was ever dispatched.

Well according to an email I got from Aliex on 14th Jan it was dispatched but when I never saw any activity on the tracking I contacted the seller directly on the 18th Jan and was told that they were ready to dispatch it.

Given the hassle factor and that it would seem that the seller is not being 100% truthful with me, I shall be requesting a full refund via Aliex and I have now ordered another from another supplier who assures me that the one they have is identical to a photo I sent them, so fingers crossed it is and it arrives.

To be fair it might be more to do with incompetence rather than actual lies. Bad seller any case 

[Specmaster]

It was shown as waiting for pick-up. The fact that tracking number was created does not mean it was ever dispatched.

Well according to an email I got from Aliex on 14th Jan it was dispatched but when I never saw any activity on the tracking I contacted the seller directly on the 18th Jan and was told that they were ready to dispatch it.

Given the hassle factor and that it would seem that the seller is not being 100% truthful with me, I shall be requesting a full refund via Aliex and I have now ordered another from another supplier who assures me that the one they have is identical to a photo I sent them, so fingers crossed it is and it arrives.

To be fair it might be more to do with incompetence rather than actual lies. Bad seller any case 

Could be right, but I haven't told the whole story, they kept saying for days before the email arrived from Aliex that they were ready to dispatch it, so if they were, why not do it then. I ordered the board at the same as I ordered a lot of T12 soldering bits and bobs from various sellers on Aliex and that was dispatched and traceable for days before I began to ask this seller questions about what the delay was ..

[Bashstreet]

It was shown as waiting for pick-up. The fact that tracking number was created does not mean it was ever dispatched.

Well according to an email I got from Aliex on 14th Jan it was dispatched but when I never saw any activity on the tracking I contacted the seller directly on the 18th Jan and was told that they were ready to dispatch it.

Given the hassle factor and that it would seem that the seller is not being 100% truthful with me, I shall be requesting a full refund via Aliex and I have now ordered another from another supplier who assures me that the one they have is identical to a photo I sent them, so fingers crossed it is and it arrives.

To be fair it might be more to do with incompetence rather than actual lies. Bad seller any case 

Could be right, but I haven't told the whole story, they kept saying for days before the email arrived from Aliex that they were ready to dispatch it, so if they were, why not do it then. I ordered the board at the same as I ordered a lot of T12 soldering bits and bobs from various sellers on Aliex and that was dispatched and traceable for days before I began to ask this seller questions about what the delay was ..

]

Who knows.

Any case you have it coming from different seller.

[Specmaster]

It was shown as waiting for pick-up. The fact that tracking number was created does not mean it was ever dispatched.

Well according to an email I got from Aliex on 14th Jan it was dispatched but when I never saw any activity on the tracking I contacted the seller directly on the 18th Jan and was told that they were ready to dispatch it.

Given the hassle factor and that it would seem that the seller is not being 100% truthful with me, I shall be requesting a full refund via Aliex and I have now ordered another from another supplier who assures me that the one they have is identical to a photo I sent them, so fingers crossed it is and it arrives.

To be fair it might be more to do with incompetence rather than actual lies. Bad seller any case 

Could be right, but I haven't told the whole story, they kept saying for days before the email arrived from Aliex that they were ready to dispatch it, so if they were, why not do it then. I ordered the board at the same as I ordered a lot of T12 soldering bits and bobs from various sellers on Aliex and that was dispatched and traceable for days before I began to ask this seller questions about what the delay was ..

]

Who knows.

Any case you have it coming from different seller.

I had gear coming from 5 different sellers, all ordered at the same time and the other 4 have delivered and one actually delivered in only 2 weeks and they all said the items were in stock and dispatch would be within a couple of days once payment was received. Payment was done at time of ordering and bank records can prove this, so speculate as much as you want just what could have happened. I have messaged them numerous times and never once have I had a straight forward answer to my questions. Its not my idea of how a business should be run or how business should be conducted.

[Specmaster]

I have raised a dispute about this shipment with AliEx and they agree that it is abnormal and said that a refund was in order and I should see it my bank in a few days time. 

EDIT, Update, AliEx have processed the refund already, they did it within about 30 minutes of me raising the dispute with them, so well done AliEx, respect to you for prompt action.

[Specmaster]

An update on this long winded repair, I ordered a replacement board from another supplier on AE and the first one they sent never appeared on the tracking system and when I questioned this they said that might be due to bad weather delaying the shipping and asked me to wait a bit longer. I did that and a couple of weeks later, there was still no tracking info so the supplier sent out another and gave me a new tracking number for it which worked perfectly but only while the item was in China. Once the airline took control of it, all tracking stopped but today it arrived 

It does rather have the look of being a brand new board, there is no evidence of it ever being fitted into anything, no marks left behind at all at any of the fixing locations?

However it come wrapped in bubble wrap which is worrying because of the risk of static and it is bowed as can be seen in the photos. I shall be fitting this shortly and see if it works or has been damaged in transit, the seller has been informed.

[neo]

Good luck! 

[coromonadalix]

dont forget to put the thermal pad on the main cpu ...

[Specmaster]

dont forget to put the thermal pad on the main cpu ...

I have one for it but it might be too thick at 5mm as ordered it after I had reassembled it 3 months ago. I may have to try and reuse the old one or use spacer washers, at least to test it with and order a thinner one if it works.

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

[Specmaster]

Managed to reuse the thermal ad from the old CPU on the one, and fitted the board, switched on and nothing at all on the screen so it looks like my worst fears have happened. I refitted the old board and the same thing, not even the colour bars this time around so maybe the screen or the ribbon cable has gone has gone. In a darkened room it is possible to see the screen backlight working and can be dimmed or brightened on the control panel and it would seem that the logic panel is working OK as the monitor will only switch on once it is receiving a video signal so switching of the computer also switches off the monitor which is a neat design touch. 

The monitor itself is a pig to work on as the screen is held in place by being sandwiched between the metal fascia and the metal back cover so it has to be laid flat on its screen making it impossible to watch it while prodding and flexing things to see if anything changes. You have to fix it together temporary with sufficient screws to hold it all together to stand it up to see what if anything is going on with it so its a long winded process to do anything with so in that regard is a crap design. Surely its not beyond the designers imagination to devise a way of holding the screen in the fascia so you could work on it as a whole item less the back cover 

As parts and information for this are as common as hens teeth I think its time I cut my losses and either offer it on Ebay as spares or repair or just dump it, then I can get my bench back again and get on with my radio repairs / restorations instead of twiddling my fingers 

[wraper]

will only switch on once it is receiving a video signal so switching of the computer also switches off the monitor which is a neat design touch. 

You mean just like any other monitor? I don't see any design touch here.

[Specmaster]

will only switch on once it is receiving a video signal so switching of the computer also switches off the monitor which is a neat design touch. 

You mean just like any other monitor? I don't see any design touch here.

No I don't, most monitors that I have seen, used and indeed own and between the family we own a few, do not switch off when the computer switches off. The last one I had like that (apart from laptops) was an early IBM clone by Amstrad, a PC1525 and a PC1640 which shared a common power supply in the monitor. Most modern computers have a LCD monitor which has its own dedicated ON/OFF switch and power supply so the computer can be switched off but the monitor is still on. Screen is blanked but the system is still powered up and the power light will blink ON/OFF meaning that to be totally green you need to switch it off via its own power button.

[wraper]

So what's the difference? There is no LED light on front bezel when it's in standby mode ?

Screen is blanked but the system is still powered up and the power light will blink ON/OFF meaning that to be totally green you need to switch it off via its own power button.

And what makes you think it's completely switched off without video signal present?

power light will blink ON/OFF meaning that to be totally green you need to switch it off via its own power button.

Do you realize there is no hard power switch in modern monitors?

[Specmaster]

I don't know what you mean, we have 2 LG 24" monitors, 2 x Samsung 23" monitors and a Samsung 19" one and the all have LED's on the front and these flash and a darkened room you still clearly see that the monitor is powered as the screen back light is on and is visible as a grey screen, not visible in a lit room but at night time it plainly visible if the lights are off. This means that they are drawing power and not only wasting valuable screen use hours but are also a possible fire hazard to say the least.

[wraper]

I don't know what you mean, we have 2 LG 24" monitors, 2 x Samsung 23" monitors and a Samsung 19" one and the all have LED's on the front and these flash and a darkened room you still clearly see that the monitor is powered as the screen back light is on and is visible as a grey screen, not visible in a lit room but at night time it plainly visible if the lights are off. This means that they are drawing power and not only wasting valuable screen use hours but are also a possible fire hazard to say the least.

I'll ask you again, why do you assume other monitors are not drawing power when you "switch them off" with power button. There is no hard power switch, they are always in standby regardless if LED is blinking or not. It might be just they draw less power when you "switch them off", but not guaranteed. And for some stupid reason assume this monitor is not drawing power without video signal present?

back light is on and is visible as a grey screen, not visible in a lit room but at night time it plainly visible if the lights are off.

Any monitor switches off backlight when no video signal is present.

[Specmaster]

I don't know what you mean, we have 2 LG 24" monitors, 2 x Samsung 23" monitors and a Samsung 19" one and the all have LED's on the front and these flash and a darkened room you still clearly see that the monitor is powered as the screen back light is on and is visible as a grey screen, not visible in a lit room but at night time it plainly visible if the lights are off. This means that they are drawing power and not only wasting valuable screen use hours but are also a possible fire hazard to say the least.

I'll ask you again, why do you assume other monitors are not drawing power when you "switch them off" with power button. There is no hard power switch, they are always in standby regardless if LED is blinking or not. It might be just they draw less power when you "switch them off", but not guaranteed. And for some stupid reason assume this monitor is not drawing power without video signal present?

back light is on and is visible as a grey screen, not visible in a lit room but at night time it plainly visible if the lights are off.

Any monitor switches off backlight when no video signal is present.

Yes I do know that just because the monitor has been switched OFF via the button on the front that it is still drawing some power, but that level of power being used is much less and so is any risk associated with it.

No, not every monitor nor TV for that matter switches of the back light when the video signal switches off. What happens is that the pixels are effectively switched off because the polarising action ceases as the transistors are no longer getting instructions to rapidly switch on and off according to whether the pixel should a bright light source of a dim one etc, they go to their resting state which assumes that they are supposed to be blocking the transmission of the light from the back light through to front of the screen.

This is why the back light can be seen most clearly in a blacked room when the monitor or TV is still switched on but not getting a video signal, its looks like a dull grey screen and switching the display OFF you will see the screen going really black.

If you have satellite or cable TV, try turning off the receiver box at night with the lights off and watch the screen, then watch again as you operate the switch to put the display into standby mode, it really is very clearly visible.

I have also double checked this with a power meter, with a video signal, the display will draw its maximum power, disconnect or switch off the source of that video signal, the power consumption of the display unit will drop again, use the TV remote, or the touch switch/pad on the monitor and you will this power consumption drop yet again as display circuits and back light LED's are switched off, the unit should now only be drawing 1 or 2 watts in standby mode ready to come again when you operate the on control be it directly on the monitor or infra red via the TV remote.

As you rightly pointed out, there is no actual physical power button any more.

In the case of the Crossover monitor, if I switch it on without a video signal being present, then after a couple of seconds, it switches off again. Give it a video signal and switch it on, it will remain on as long as the video signal is present. Remove the video signal, the monitor switches off. Reinstate the video signal and the Crossover remains off until I press the wake up button, so the video signal does actually switch off the monitor into standby mode.

The Samsung and LG monitors and TV's will spring back to live instantly again as soon the video source is made available.

Physically check it and see.

[wraper]

No, not every monitor nor TV for that matter switches of the back light when the video signal switches off. What happens is that the pixels are effectively switched off because the polarising action ceases as the transistors are no longer getting instructions to rapidly switch on and off according to whether the pixel should a bright light source of a dim one etc, they go to their resting state which assumes that they are supposed to be blocking the transmission of the light from the back light through to front of the screen.

Obviously you have no clue. Dunno how you got the impression that backlight is not switched off, but you are completely wrong about this.

[wraper]

BTW high resolution displays are generally pretty slow to boot up from standby. Except some 30 inchers without scaler board and therefore no OSD as well.

[Specmaster]

No, not every monitor nor TV for that matter switches of the back light when the video signal switches off. What happens is that the pixels are effectively switched off because the polarising action ceases as the transistors are no longer getting instructions to rapidly switch on and off according to whether the pixel should a bright light source of a dim one etc, they go to their resting state which assumes that they are supposed to be blocking the transmission of the light from the back light through to front of the screen.

Obviously you have no clue. Dunno how you got the impression that backlight is not switched off, but you are completely wrong about this.

All I'm saying is to try it for yourself. If my wife gets up and goes to bed and switches off the cable box, the TV has no picture nor sound being emitted. When I go round the house at night before turning in myself, checking that doors are locked etc, in a pitch black room I can physically see the light dimly radiating from out Samsung 42" LCD TV and it also has a sort of swirling pattern to it, getting the remote control and pressing the power OFF button, the light and fussy swirling disappears and the screen goes jet black and a RED LED on the front lights indicating that the set is now in standby mode. If as you say, the back light is off, can you explain to me then just where this visible light is coming from??

[wraper]

All I'm saying is to try it for yourself. If my wife gets up and goes to bed and switches off the cable box, the TV has no picture nor sound being emitted. When I go round the house at night before turning in myself, checking that doors are locked etc, in a pitch black room I can physically see the light dimly radiating from out Samsung 42" LCD TV and it also has a sort of swirling pattern to it, getting the remote control and pressing the power OFF button, the light and fussy swirling disappears and the screen goes jet black and a RED LED on the front lights indicating that the set is now in standby mode. If as you say, the back light is off, can you explain to me then just where this visible light is coming from??

TV is not the same as monitor. It does not switch off automatically unless there is setting to auto switch off after some timeout without signal present. Think about how TV works, you are supposed to be switching between channels and video inputs. Say, you switch off TV box. If TV would automatically go into standby, you no longer would be able to select other video source or TV channel.
For Samsung:

Depending on your TVs model this may be available for you. The option is included in Eco solution. Go to menu > system > Eco solution > no signal power off.

On the other hand, monitor is supposed to work only when signal source is present on the input and there is no remote you will play with. TV is a standalone device, monitor is not.

[Specmaster]

All I'm saying is to try it for yourself. If my wife gets up and goes to bed and switches off the cable box, the TV has no picture nor sound being emitted. When I go round the house at night before turning in myself, checking that doors are locked etc, in a pitch black room I can physically see the light dimly radiating from out Samsung 42" LCD TV and it also has a sort of swirling pattern to it, getting the remote control and pressing the power OFF button, the light and fussy swirling disappears and the screen goes jet black and a RED LED on the front lights indicating that the set is now in standby mode. If as you say, the back light is off, can you explain to me then just where this visible light is coming from??

TV is not the same as monitor. It does not switch off automatically unless there is setting to auto switch off after some timeout without signal present. Think about how TV works, you are supposed to be switching between channels and video inputs. Say, you switch off TV box. If TV would automatically go into standby, you no longer would be able to select other video source or TV channel.
For Samsung:

Depending on your TVs model this may be available for you. The option is included in Eco solution. Go to menu > system > Eco solution > no signal power off.

On the other hand, monitor is supposed to work only when signal source is present on the input and there is no remote you will play with. TV is a standalone device, monitor is not.

Arh, yes that now makes sense, thank you for enlightening me, however my original comments about the Crossover is still correct in stark contrast to the other monitors. The others will display images as soon as the video signal is present, provided I have not physically touched the power button. The Crossover will not, you have to give the power button a press to bring it back to life again, which to me is a good feature  as I like to switch off when not using anything.

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

[wraper]

The others will display images as soon as the video signal is present, provided I have not physically touched the power button. The Crossover will not, you have to give the power button a press to bring it back to life again, which to me is a good feature  as I like to switch off when not using anything.

It sounds like faulty scaler board, not feature.

[Specmaster]

Hmm you might well be right, I just don't know because information about this monitor is unobtainable and it only has 4 boards with in it, the Invertor board, the T-Conn, the button board and the 4 port LVDS board and the only board that I have been able to locate is the T-Conn. The Invertor is working as I see the lighting taking effect and can control the level of it and therefore the button board must be working for that to happen so that only leaves the 4 port LVDS one, so is the scaler board part of that board? In your opinion, could that board be the reason why I'm not getting any video displayed and not the T-Conn as previously was thought to be the faulty item?

[wraper]

Probably it's just an interface converter board and not scaler and this display don't have OSD. Someone had tin whiskers on it http://nand-hate.com/2015/11/crossover-30q5-pro-black-30-2560-x-1600-korean-ips-monitor-repair-notes/
So you might try cleaning QFP IC pins with a brush with alcohol.

[wraper]

Is monitor detected by PC? As it does not seem to have scaler, it should support only 2560x1600 and, likely, 1280x800 resolutions. 2560x1600 resolution needs Dual link DVI cable. Also integrated graphis card on the motherboards do not have dual link DVI AFAIK. If this monitor receives wrong signal, it won't show anything as it does not have it's own OSD/menu.

[Specmaster]

I have been using that thread as my guide through this process and I too thought I saw tin whiskers re-flowed the connections and they disappeared. I also replaced every electrolytic cap on the LVDS board.

[wraper]

I have been using that thread as my guide through this process and I too thought I saw tin whiskers re-flowed the connections and they disappeared. I also replaced every electrolytic cap on the LVDS board.

As I understood you reflowed T-CON board, not this one . And QFP IC shuold not be reflowed, but soldered with soldering iron.

[wraper]

As monitor reacted on your manipulations on interface converter board, LCD panel and T-CON likely were fine to begin with.

[Specmaster]

Current DVI cable is single but the graphics does support Dual DVI leads and is capable of resolutions upto 5120 x 3200, so are saying that in essence, without a dual link DVI cable between the two then, I won't get any form of display on the screen?

[wraper]

Current DVI cable is single but the graphics does support Dual DVI leads and is capable of resolutions upto 5120 x 3200, so are saying that in essence, without a dual link DVI cable between the two then, I won't get any form of display on the screen?

What are available resolutions? IME with single link DVI, 1280x800 should be only resolution available.

[Specmaster]

Current DVI cable is single but the graphics does support Dual DVI leads and is capable of resolutions upto 5120 x 3200, so are saying that in essence, without a dual link DVI cable between the two then, I won't get any form of display on the screen?

What are available resolutions? IME with single link DVI, 1280x800 should be only resolution available.

Well at present it is connected to a LG Flatron W2261VP monitor and the available settings on the graphics card for this monitor are as follows:-
800 x600
1024 x 768
1152 x 864
1280 x 720
1280 x 768
1280 x 800
1280 x 960
1280 x 1024
1360 x 768
1366 x 768
1600 x 900
1600 x 1024
1680 x1050
1920 x 1080 which what I have set it at for the best quality image on screen.

[wraper]

Well at present it is connected to a LG Flatron W2261VP monitor and the available settings on the graphics card for this monitor are as follows:-

Why would it matter which supported resolutions are shown with other monitor?

[Specmaster]

Well, they are the only things I can offer you as I have yet to get the Crossover working so I can see an image on it. I have zero information on it other then than whats contained in the other link about another one that was nursed back to life again, the same link you found?

[wraper]

Connect it to PC and check what supported resolutions are displayed for it. It does not need to be fully operational for that.

[Specmaster]

OK, I'll do that shortly, right now I'm about midway through copying one drive over to another and don't wont to interrupt the process.

[Specmaster]

Connect it to PC and check what supported resolutions are displayed for it. It does not need to be fully operational for that.

Just been thinking about this, how am I going to be able to see what these supported resolutions are if I can't get any display on the screen then? Is this an April fools joke?

[wraper]

Connect it to PC and check what supported resolutions are displayed for it. It does not need to be fully operational for that.

Just been thinking about this, how am I going to be able to see what these supported resolutions are if I can't get any display on the screen then? Is this an April fools joke?

, it's not April here yet. Do you realize that PC usually can see even dead monitor if EEPROM containing E-EDID is still alive. And what are you going to check on the monitor without screen menu?
I remind you again, this monitor will just show black screen if input signal is not supported. So it's useful to check if at least monitor is detected by PC and signal with right resolution is outputted.

[Specmaster]

Connect it to PC and check what supported resolutions are displayed for it. It does not need to be fully operational for that.

Just been thinking about this, how am I going to be able to see what these supported resolutions are if I can't get any display on the screen then? Is this an April fools joke?

, it's not April here yet. Do you realize that PC usually can see even dead monitor if EEPROM containing E-EDID is still alive. And what are you going to check on the monitor without screen menu?
I remind you again, this monitor will just show black screen if input signal is not supported. So it's useful to check if at least monitor is detected by PC and signal with right resolution is outputted.

No, its not April here yet either, but we do it seems all getting different time stamps, 3 of us in the UK are reporting times so we have a bug in the system 

Yes I understand that the backlight is dependant on the video signal and I have already stated in post #43 "In the case of the Crossover monitor, if I switch it on without a video signal being present, then after a couple of seconds, it switches off again. Give it a video signal and switch it on, it will remain on as long as the video signal is present." So that means the PC  can clearly see the monitor is attached and the backlight is on all the time it is connected. If I disconnected the video lead and then switch on the monitor. it will within 2 seconds switch off completely.  As soon as I reattach the LG monitor then when I check on the resolutions it is going to give the resolutions that the LG is capable of displaying unless I'm missing something here?

[wraper]

Monitor may turn on backlight even with incompatible signal.

As soon as I reattach the LG monitor then when I check on the resolutions it is going to give the resolutions that the LG is capable of displaying unless I'm missing something here?

Yes.

[Specmaster]

Monitor may turn on backlight even with incompatible signal.

As soon as I reattach the LG monitor then when I check on the resolutions it is going to give the resolutions that the LG is capable of displaying unless I'm missing something here?

Yes.

So maybe its worth me ordering up a dual link DVI cable and trying it again then?

[Specmaster]

Duallink DVI lead ordered to test the theory out and should hopefully be with me by the end of the week. 

[wraper]

Monitors without scaler I've seen before still worked at half resolution (1 pixel is displayed as 4 physical) with single link cable. You could google if this model works at 1280x800. I still suggest checking which resolutions are reported as supported.

[Specmaster]

Done some more research on Google (seems to more on there now than there was before) and it seems that this particular monitor must be used with the DVD-D leads as it is not compatible with the DVI-I system at all. So it would seem that I have struggling to get it working when it should not have been doing so with the particular leads that I have.

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction, as mentioned before, DVD-D lead is ordered and I hope will with my by Friday so I can test it again using that lead, watch this space for further updates.

EDIT update with link http://2560x1600monitorek4.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/crossover-30q5-pro-black-30-30-inch.html.

Another site states that this will only work at 2560 x 1600 so will therefore not be able to display the normal boot up screens, so the screen will be blank until the PC is up and running and the full resolution comes into effect. I may have to configure the pc to use 2 monitors, the smaller on for boot up displays in case of any errors occurring otherwise it seem that the Crossover monitor has failed 

[wraper]

DVI-I is the same as DVI-D but has a few additional pins to output VGA over DVI connector.

[wraper]

It still may display bios/boot screen if GPU can upscale by itself therefore doing the task instead of monitor. It certainly worked with Geforce 8800GT, HD4870x2 and HD6950 I had in the past. Although that 30" monitor without scaler I had supported both 2560x1600 and 1280x800 (bios outputs 640x480).

[Specmaster]

It seems the page that the last link I posted has been taken down now, strange because it was there a few minutes earlier.

https://joannehears.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/cheap-deals-crossover-30q5-pro-black-30-monitor-lcd-for-sale/

[Specmaster]

It still may display bios/boot screen if GPU can upscale by itself therefore doing the task instead of monitor. It certainly worked with Geforce 8800GT, HD4870x2 and HD6950 I had in the past. Although that 30" monitor without scaler I had supported both 2560x1600 and 1280x800 (bios outputs 640x480).

Well, we will find out if it works soon enough 

[Specmaster]

Just found another link to a page that mentions that tin whiskers was the problem on the 30Q5 monitor as well and they reflowed the connections with a hot air gun successfully. Lead free solder has a lot to answer for in my opinion.

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=50751&styleid=8

[Specmaster]

Update on this drawn out repair.

New T-Conn board purchased, fitted but still no picture. Coloured bars have disappeared and the screen is being back-lit and can be seen to adjusting on the controls.

New video cable sourced a DVI-D one as it seems that the monitor needs this type of lead to function by all accounts, fitted cable, no change from above.

Video card double checked and it is more then capable of driving the monitor, so has anyone else got any ideas what next or is just time to call enough and dump the monitor? 

[wraper]

As I said closer to the end, interface converter board likely is faulty. As it is what originally caused color strips and what you reflowed (I initially thought you reflowed T-CON). I also asked many times about how this display is recognized by PC but you wrote a ton of nonsense instead of checking that once.

[Specmaster]

The colour strips was after I re-flowed the interface board. That board has not be touched since. I was advised that the T-Conn board was the culprit which has been swapped out . The colour strips are no longer with either one of the T-Conns connected.

Maybe I'm a bit thick but I can't see just how I'm going to be able to see how the PC "recognises" the monitor as it surely requires a display to be working for me to see what the graphics card is detecting unless I'm mistaken?

[wraper]

Maybe I'm a bit thick but I can't see just how I'm going to be able to see how the PC "recognises" the monitor as it surely requires a display to be working for me to see what the graphics card is detecting unless I'm mistaken?

Yes you are, and I already said this too  .

[wraper]

Don'y you realize that GPU is not talking with LCD panel? Over DVI interface all it does is reading data from EEPROM (or IC that emulates EEPROM) connected to two I2C interface lines (DDC) in DVI cable.

[Specmaster]

These are the 2 screen prints that I can get from my PC with the 22" LG monitor connected, one if the Nividia control panel, the other is the Win10 screen for screen resolution.

What I'm saying is that the PC detects which is monitor is connected, the first screen print is the Windows 10 screen info and the second is how the Nvidia control panel detects the monitor type and displays the possible options.





In order for me to interrogate these options/settings I first need to have a window into the PC, and that window is going to be the monitor? With Crossover monitor connected, I cannot get to see just what is being detected because there is no on screen display at all for to take a print screen off and process 

[wraper]

Don't you have second video output to connect 2 monitors? As of screenshot, it was obviously resized in the process and actual resolution is unreadable.

Maybe I'm a bit thick but I can't see just how I'm going to be able to see how the PC "recognises" the monitor as it surely requires a display to be working for me to see what the graphics card is detecting unless I'm mistaken?

I was assuming you'll attach as additional monitor, not connect it instead of what is currently used.

[Specmaster]

Yes, I do have the option for 2 monitors, but my monitors are both DVI interfaces and the graphics card only has 1 DVI interface, Display ports and 2 HDMI ports so therefore as I have already said, with the Crossover connected, I cannot see anything on the screen, only with the LG connected can I see these print screens.

If one of the monitors had an HDMI interface I connect them both and then I might be able to see the info, as I have HDMI leads for my home cinema setup. I do not have any Display port leads and as menbtioned, neither monitor sport anything other then a DVI interface so from that angle I'm currently screwed.

Here the print screens but this I have not reduced the size at all and I also include prints of the graphics card specs and the outputs.

[wraper]

Don't you have HDMI-DVI adapter? As of screenshots, it can certainly be taken blind with crossover monitor attached. Also you could use teamwiever to control computer remotely from say laptop. And there is no use of what is displayed for another monitor.

[Specmaster]

No, I don't have HDMI to DVI adaptor, but I can certainly try and get hold of one, give me a few days and I'll see what I can come up with.

[Specmaster]

Adaptor ordered, should be with me Tuesday hopefully 

[Specmaster]

Update time, some slight progress now that the HDMI to DVI-D adaptor has arrived.

I have the Crossover monitor set up the DVI-D to DVI-D interface and the LG on the HDMI to DVI-D one, on the following print screens the LG is monitor 1 and Crossover is monitor 2 (on the windows screen resolution setting screen, on the Nvidia print screen the Crossover is recognised by its model number and the LG is shown as LG. On both screen prints the monitors native resolutions are being recognised correctly as well and the Crossover indicator light remains blue and the screen is lit by the back light but no screen image of any sort.

If I connect the Crossover as screen 1 and LG, screen 2, the Crossover indicator lights lights up the normal blue colour when it receives a signal but after a few seconds lights up red and the screen switches off.

So then, would I be correct in thinking then that the interface board board is functioning correctly and the fault still lays within the T-Conn or the panel itself?











EDIT
After the Crossover has been switched on for about 30 mins (while I was trying a few things out), the power brick got extremely hot as did the actual monitor itself. I have never known a monitor to get so hot, you could feel the hot radiating from the panel so that is not a good sign.

[wraper]

So then, would I be correct in thinking then that the interface board board is functioning correctly and the fault still lays within the T-Conn or the panel itself?

No, it only means that EEPROM is read properly and therefore correct signal is outputted. If you connect it to HDMI adapter, it will act as single link DVI, therefore PC cannot output right resolution. I think that interface board is at least partially alive as it reacts to video signal.
You said that you reflowed IC, I would certainly check soldering quality and if no legs are shorted. Also there is IC under heatsink failure of which or around it would prevent displaying image but won't prevent monitor detecting signal.

[Specmaster]

It is getting very hot and so is the power brick, so I've switched it off for tonight but tomorrow I'll see if I get the time to crack the monitor open and double check the solder joints. The IC that had what I took to be tin whiskers is the large on just above the DVI socket.

The only IC that has a heat sync on is the one on the T-Conn board which has a thermal pad on it to dissipate heat into the metal cover as shown in the rear view photo attached.

[wraper]

The only IC that has a heat sync on is the one on the T-Conn board which has a thermal pad on it to dissipate heat into the metal cover as shown in the rear view photo attached.

May I ask you what is on top of U7 then? Also tell yow you done so called "reflow"? Just blown with hot air without flux? Apply some liquid or gel flux and do the job properly with soldering iron.

[Specmaster]

The only IC that has a heat sync on is the one on the T-Conn board which has a thermal pad on it to dissipate heat into the metal cover as shown in the rear view photo attached.

May I ask you what is on top of U7 then?

Oops, sorry, my mistake, that one I didn't use the hot air on as the solder joints looked OK under the microscope, it was only the large one that I heated up with a small nozzle played onto the legs until I could see the tin whiskers disappear via the microscope which did not need much in the way of heat.

[wraper]

Just resolder the pins properly.

[Specmaster]

Will do, any idea why the thing is getting so hot?

[wraper]

Will do, any idea why the thing is getting so hot?

When I had similar monitor (likely exactly the same LCD panel) IIRC it consumed around 150W at max brightness. So it's not that strange it gets hot.

[Specmaster]

Just checked it and at minimum it draws 57W and full brightness it draws 133W and so maybe it takes even more once its producing a image. I did have set at full brightness in order to observe the screen  for any changes so that would account for the heat. If we can get it to work, I might have look for an alternative power brick that runs a lot cooler as it almost burns you when touching it and that amount of heat is not any good long term on components, especially the smoothing cap sitting as it does right by the heatsink. I think that I read it somewhere that the power supplies are prone to failure and thats maybe why?

[wraper]

Power brick at such power will never be cool or just warm. It's a lot of heat dissipation within closed plastic box. It's basically as much as quiet powerful desktop computer (without dedicated GPU) consumes at idle/max load. And it has passive cooling only, unlike PC.

[Specmaster]

I could power it up from a bench power supply that has significantly better heat dissipation with or with out cooling fans as the heatsinks are far bigger and have better airflow over them but thats a decision for later if it can be made to work, I'll be able to see just how hot it runs once I have the display settings right. Just measured the wattage of my LG 22" monitor and its 37W at full power and on its normal setting it draws only 28W so I estimate that the Crossover would be roundabout 80W which should be quite a bit cooler. 

[wraper]

I could power it up from a bench power supply that has significantly better heat dissipation

And much worse efficiency. Not to say you are risking frying the monitor by accidentally setting wrong voltage. It's just plain stupid to replace original psu for far-fetched reason.

[Specmaster]

Checked the board over for failed joints, tin whiskers etc, nothing found. I double checked the connections to the large chip with a soldering iron, results..nothing is changed.

Done a google search to see if it was possible to locate a replacement board for it but it seems that these monitors has a history of regular failures with loads of people looking for  replacement DigitalWave DW270QDP boards in a quite a few countries across the world. I've had a search for one as well this afternoon without any luck.

[wraper]

Do you have oscilloscope? What model if you do.

[Specmaster]

Do you have oscilloscope? What model if you do.

I have a Iwatsu SS-5710 and also a Hitachi V525, both are 50Mhz.

[wraper]

This board is basically DVI to LVDS converter (bottom IC) + LVDS to DP converter (top IC with heatsink). There are 2 underpopulated LVDS connectors which you could probe to see if there is any signal transmitted by first IC. But bandwidth of scopes is too low. Dunno, maybe they will show something, but at least twice bandwidth is desirable. eDP after second IC is a few times faster so even harder to probe.

BTW as monitor has eDP interface, I think it should be possible to directly connect it to displayport output of PC with DIY connector adapter. Although it still would need power, and will have no backlight control. But as a way to check functionality of LCD panel...
http://www.beyondinfinite.com/lcd/Library/LG-Philips/LM300WQ5-SDA1.pdf

[wraper]

I think you should check if at least both crystal oscillators are working.

[Specmaster]

How would I check the crystals, carefully extract them and test with the scope, signal gen and frequency counter?

[wraper]

How would I check the crystals, carefully extract them and test with the scope, signal gen and frequency counter?

Why would you care about crystal itself. What you should care is if there is oscillation present in the circuit. As if there is none, IC connected to the crystal probably could be faulty.

[Specmaster]

I'm seriously thinking about putting this repair on hold while I tackle some of the other projects that I already have on the go which in turn have been on hold because I have nowhere else for this monitor to stand apart from on my bench which prevents anything else from happening.

So I may have to resort to storing it in the garage for a while I finish off these other projects before I forget what goes where so to speak to say nothing of new items of test gear arriving all the time that needs to be cleaned, checked, re-capped/repaired and shoe horned into my growing stack of test apparatus, many of which are sitting around the room in less then useful locations.

I thank all of those members who have given help and advise so far on this project, especially wraper who I think at times has felt like pulling his hair out because I'm not as up to speed as he is and for those don't know, I'm 69 and the last time I was actively involved in electronics was about 45 years ago so there has been many changes in that time and it takes me a little time to get to grips with them but I'm getting there, so thank you for your support and understanding.

[rancor]

My 30Q5 has gone through two power supplies and gets very warm to the touch. I think they power consumption and heat just come from the old style cold cathode higher gamut backlights. If the display is working the heat is likely to be normal.

[Specmaster]

It seems to be impossible to locate any service information for these monitors on the web and searching for replacement boards draws a blank apart from Aliexpress where you can get replacement T-Conn boards and thats it, why?