were you doing it while monitor was on? and did the picture change at any point? this would mean its not the strips, Tcon chip and glass left
No. Monitor was off when I applied heat. Temp = 300C = Middle of the dial Tabiger variable soldering iron: 60W Temp Range: 200-450C
you are supposed to do the soldering iron over the strips with monitor turned on for immediate feedback
-either you locate spot where picture gets better, only this spot needs fixing
-or you cant locate such a spot, meaning strips are not the problem, and replacing tcon chip is the last resort
OK. Thanks!!! Good to know.
Except moving my finger on the tape. Very interesting results. 1st time, the monitor screen seemed to flash light. At one strip the text (Dell Self Test) was all clear.
-was it all clear and moving around? good
Yes
-or did screen flash and got undistorted for a split second before going blank? this means nothing
It did this at first. Then after spraying DEOXIT on the ends of the ribbon connectors and on the connectors themselves, the flashing stopped.
-or it froze during refresh, this is why its best to have something moving playing on the tv
Very good point.
You cant fix something without first diagnosing actual source of the problem. So far your efforts went in the opposite direction, replacing not broken things just because they were easy to get
I agree. Replacing caps not broken - not needed. Overkill. Took 5 min. Just checking if there might be any improvement with higher quality Panasonic caps / greater voltage 35V vs 25V.
Tests I did that were valid -
- Using a replacement power board / main board - confirmed caps were not a problem
- Switching flat ribbons and using them with a replacement main board - told me ribbons / connectors were not the problem
- Spraying ribbon connectors with Deoxit cleaner - even rubbing them with a pencil eraser - helped a little - doing this corrected another bad LCD Screen with line problems (Tamil video)
- Running a finger over the strips - while monitor was on to see if lines stopped (did this 1st time) - double text box + garbled text + lines - still remained (Dell Self Test = only power on)
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Will try the heat on the strips with the monitor turned ON.
What about the monitor power on switch - always on?
Thanks.