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Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Title:	AMIGA NOTES
Notice:	Join us in the NEW conference - HYDRA::AMIGA_V2
Moderator:	HYDRA::MOORE

Created:	Sat Apr 26 1986
Last Modified:	Wed Feb 05 1992
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	5378
Total number of notes:	38326

1516.0. "Exorcising your monitor?" by GIDDAY::BAKER (DRUGS thug, JUST SAY NOriega) Thu Jul 07 1988 00:21

    Hi,
    
    Help, I think one of those wonderful amiga games graphic entities
    has escaped and is living in my monitor.    
    First it sounded real cute, a little sort of hissing
    noise from the top front of the tube. If you touched the top the
    hissing would go away, fun. I thought at first it may have been
    a vibrational gremlin noise, but then I started to smell a sort of ozone
    smell (like your local LN03 is fond of pumping out). Then I knew
    it was not of this world (i.e If it breathes methane, its probably
    hostile).

        Well, sometimes the noise goes away (still smells though) and sometimes
    the noise is just darn irritating. I think the noise is one of those
    lovely arcing-type noises. In fact I now know its one of those arcing
    noises, it had a go at my arm the other day (just a polite little
    lightning bolt).
    The picture is still as bad as any normal Commodore monitor (I was
    worried my Amiga may fail & become an IBM-PC) so he hasnt eaten
    the insides of it yet.
    
    	Having taken course EY-1234E-DP,'Cooking trolls on top of your
    Vaxmate' and watched more than one VR-201 set up primitive data 
    communications with the overhead smoke detectors, I think I may just
    talk to my local shopkeeper. Perhaps I could trade this monster for a 
    cheeseburger with HAM.
    
    Anyone had any similar fun?
    
    Yours in post-warranty consumer purgatory,
    
    John Baker

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
1516.1		CRVAX1::ANDREWS	Out of his mind, but not dangerous	`Thu Jul 07 1988 01:42`	5
	Is it a 1080? I've heard several instances of those making the exact type of noise you are refering to. The hiss, pop and arc inside the case. The solution? Take it in and get it repaired. Rob
1516.2		WJG::GUINEAU		`Thu Jul 07 1988 08:39`	11
	Well, I used to repair TV sets. I had a similar problem (with my own set!) one day. Turned out to be the High Voltage Tripler. What happened is the plastic case of it was mounted flush against a big metal (grounded) plate. Over time, the plastic decomposed enough under the high voltage stress to allow a small hole to break through (which got bigger and bigger...) allowing HV to arc through. I fixed it myself for (I think around) $50.00 John
1516.3	Monitor heal thy self, No?	GIDDAY::BAKER	DRUGS thug, JUST SAY NOriega	`Thu Jul 07 1988 20:48`	12
	Yes, the monitor is a 1080 and the description you gave sounds exactly like what is happening with my machine (and I thought all the synthesised noises were generated in the Amiga itself). I think I'll give the thing bus fare and tell it to get down to its local repair doctor straight away. I seem to have a bad run with anything vaguely related to video. Thanks, John
1516.4	All fixed, by me, thanks.	GIDDAY::BAKER	RASTPORT <> RAT PORT	`Tue Jul 26 1988 20:05`	22
	Well, all my monitor really needed was some chiropractic manipulation rather than major surgery. After chatting to an experienced DEC field service engineer it was suggested only 4 things could be wrong, 1. Power Supply on the way out 2. Coil on the way out 3. Anode not making proper contact in its hole. That's the funny rubber suction thing that connects to the tube. 4. Insulation on 2 & 3 above where breaking down With instructions about letting machine rest for a while after turning off I opened it up. Since the noise was coming from closer to 3 I carefully removed this & cleaned it with a cloth, repositioning it back in its hole--> No good. I did it again but changed the position of contact of the anode, this time the noise went away & has stayed away thus far. This also seemed to confirm that the problem did in fact lie with that part, so any future replacement should be reasonably cheap. Thanks for the help, John.