24" Widescreen CRT (FW900) From Ebay arrived,Comments.

would it be possible to open up the amplifer and test/replace the culprit internal components?
That's way beyond my little experience with electronics. But I don't think there are internal components you can replace in an integrated circuit, even in a huge one like this. That's the purpose of being integrated, to be a single block.

few shitty pics from two brand new fw900s I stumbled upon recently
Bloody hell, brand new ones you don't need to repair. :arghh:
 
But I don't think there are internal components you can replace in an integrated circuit, even in a huge one like this. That's the purpose of being integrated, to be a single block.

Ahh, light bulb moment :)

Bloody hell, brand new ones you don't need to repair. :arghh:

heh, imagine how I felt when I learned that these puppies were being kept but a 2 minute drive from my girlfriend's place.
 
Bloody hell, brand new ones you don't need to repair. :arghh:

Sadly one of them won't power on (the one that was in the box but previously opened) so I have to start swapping boards from a working one to try and figure out what the issue could be. Who knows why these sat at nikon for 13 years

heh, imagine how I felt when I learned that these puppies were being kept but a 2 minute drive from my girlfriend's place.

It's pretty crazy when you think about it, who knows how many are out there in garages/basements
 
Sadly one of them won't power on (the one that was in the box but previously opened) so I have to start swapping boards from a working one to try and figure out what the issue could be. Who knows why these sat at nikon for 13 years
If not powering on, look for the G board first. Or even a power cord/plug issue. Does the diode light up at least ? Orange or green ?
 
Cripes, that's bad if it doesn't even try to start up. My FW900 actually powers on and lights up, just that something starts visibly and audibly sparking inside for a sec before shutdown protections kick in and the power/status LED starts blinking. Perhaps I could even get a more exact diagnosis through the UART serial port and WinDAS for all I know.

If only we were nearby and could try swapping out parts between the problem units for troubleshooting's sake...
 
If the diode light doesn't come on, then it might well be a power supply issue on the G board like Strat says, unless I'm mistaken. Have you been able to swap the G board from one of your other units that does power on?

Also, next time you visit, maybe we can use my sencore to see if the filaments glow when powered by sencore. That would at least show that the filaments are ok, although the fact that the diode isn't lighting on suggests power supply.
 
Well, if it's not even glowing orange, I think the current doesn't come to the power supply part. If there was a defect there may be at least some kind of light for a couple of seconds.

Check the power cord is properly inserted in the monitor's plug, then check the plug is connected to the G board and all connectors/masses are properly connected. Then check the fuses on the G board.
 
Well, if it's not even glowing orange, I think the current doesn't come to the power supply part. If there was a defect there may be at least some kind of light for a couple of seconds.

Check the power cord is properly inserted in the monitor's plug, then check the plug is connected to the G board and all connectors/masses are properly connected. Then check the fuses on the G board.

Are there even fuses on the board?

Cripes, that's bad if it doesn't even try to start up. My FW900 actually powers on and lights up, just that something starts visibly and audibly sparking inside for a sec before shutdown protections kick in and the power/status LED starts blinking. Perhaps I could even get a more exact diagnosis through the UART serial port and WinDAS for all I know.

If only we were nearby and could try swapping out parts between the problem units for troubleshooting's sake...

I have a feeling its something simple, work case scenario its an excellent condition parts unit for the other new one.

If the diode light doesn't come on, then it might well be a power supply issue on the G board like Strat says, unless I'm mistaken. Have you been able to swap the G board from one of your other units that does power on?

Also, next time you visit, maybe we can use my sencore to see if the filaments glow when powered by sencore. That would at least show that the filaments are ok, although the fact that the diode isn't lighting on suggests power supply.

Haven't had a chance to swap boards yet, want to go slow and not leave any marks on the new one


Can anyone recommend a good power/noise "cleaner"? theres a fridge and microwave outside the room I use the fw900 in and it sometimes shakes the screen a bit depending on if the fridge is on etc.

Also heres some more pics of the accessories boxes, the cables are really thick and high quality
 

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Are there even fuses on the board?



I have a feeling its something simple, work case scenario its an excellent condition parts unit for the other new one.



Haven't had a chance to swap boards yet, want to go slow and not leave any marks on the new one


Can anyone recommend a good power/noise "cleaner"? theres a fridge and microwave outside the room I use the fw900 in and it sometimes shakes the screen a bit depending on if the fridge is on etc.

Also heres some more pics of the accessories boxes, the cables are really thick and high quality


i am just logging on HF and read these posts about the two (2) GDM-FW900 units that were shipped to Nikon Canada, to which one (1) has an issue...

Here is my take on this fix...

Whereas it may seem logical and practical to swap/reinstall parts cannibalized from used units in order to try to pinpoint the culprit(s) is not the recommended way to fix a monitor, and this may end up making the potential issue(s) worst. The process indicated in the Sony maintenance manuals from factory must be followed, and all the internal components indicated on the manuals must be tested before any replacement(s) is to be made. Follow this simple process and you will fix this unit.

That is my suggestion on this issue, and hope this helps...

Sincerely,

Unkle Vito!
 
So I'm checking in here, kind of like Unkle Vito. I don't have much suggestions though. I'm way too busy to be doing this stuff anymore. That said, I wanted to give you all an update with the G70. Currently they don't work. I have a broken convergence board. I am buying a full set of boards for a good price though, and if the deal checks out then I'll have a working set again.

My impression on all of this? Well, G70's suck. :D They're one of the worst projectors, as far as reliability is concerned. I sunk more money than I want to admit in getting the freebies working. Even when it was working, the image was a tad soft. 1080p worked just fine, but I was a little disappointed to see that even my Artisan was sharper than it. Once I get the set working again (and I know for sure that it's working reliably), I'm going to pull it down and do another full setup. This time I'll do it the right way. Once I get it fully calibrated and adjusted then hopefully it will be even sharper. I know that G70's cannot fully resolve 1920x1080, but neither can the Artisan.

That said - if there are any of you looking to get into CRT projectors, I would pretty much advise you to steer clear of them. Only the 9-inch sets are really good. Curt Palme has them for reasonable prices (his website prices are WAY out of date at this point - email him for more accurate pricing - you will be very pleasantly surprised). So basically, go big or go home (9 inch). 8-inch sets like the NEC XG and the Sony G70 (when it works) are fine, but only the 9-inch sets are able to fully resolve 1080p.

If I cannot get the G70 working, or if it only works for like a few months or something, my plan is to simply ditch CRT projection altogether and just go with the Benq HT-2050 DLP projector. No, it won't have stunning contrast and blacks but you can do things to curtail this (neutral density filter for example). So a little bit of a disappointment, but it is what it is. There are still a few diehard CRT fans out there, but for movies, it's been more or less obsoleted by the JVC D-ILA projectors. Only area they fall short in is input lag. They (frankly) suck at it. Oh well. Such is life. Be on the look out for my Artisan and F520 for sale. I'll let both of them go for a steal of a price. I will probably put up my Quantum Data 801GG as well. Simply put - I don't have time for this anymore. :( It was fun while it lasted.
 
Yeah, only the 9-inchers can do it. But if you've ever seen 1080p on the artisan then you know it can be quite lovely. That's what I was hoping to get from the G70.
 
I'm also checking in here once in a while, see if there are any updates on the Analogix stuff and what's up in general with the CRT community here.

That's sad news jbltecnicspro. I hope you will be satisfied with your G70 at last, after the repair and final calibration.

I remember a few years back when you got the Quantum Data 801GG, I really wanted one of these. It's been a while now I haven't spent time in front of my CRT, my graphics card not supporting VGA being the main reason. I'm still interested by the pattern generator though, in case you end up selling it and if I can afford it.

Right now I can't say I have so much time either, but as soon as either the Analogix or the HDFury5 is released, I'll try to find some time to go through the full calibration process again, and set things right for my FW900 so I can finally enjoy using it once again.

Btw, just before I stopped using the FW900, I had issues with the flyback transformer, it was arcing inside making the focus go crazy sometimes. I've been using the FW900 every once in a while since then, sometimes it even stayed on for almost an entire day, and it never went wrong again... Now it seems perfectly stable as if nothing ever happened. I hope it will stay that way, but if not, I guess I'll have to open it up and find a replacement for the flyback transformer, assuming that there are still flybacks around nowadays.
 
I'm also checking in here once in a while, see if there are any updates on the Analogix stuff and what's up in general with the CRT community here.

That's sad news jbltecnicspro. I hope you will be satisfied with your G70 at last, after the repair and final calibration.

I remember a few years back when you got the Quantum Data 801GG, I really wanted one of these. It's been a while now I haven't spent time in front of my CRT, my graphics card not supporting VGA being the main reason. I'm still interested by the pattern generator though, in case you end up selling it and if I can afford it.

Right now I can't say I have so much time either, but as soon as either the Analogix or the HDFury5 is released, I'll try to find some time to go through the full calibration process again, and set things right for my FW900 so I can finally enjoy using it once again.
.

Thanks! Regarding the 801 - if I do sell it, it will be priced to sell. Not sure if I want to yet. It's very convenient to have! :). Thanks for the well wishes of the G70. I hope I get to use it.
 
I'm also checking in here once in a while, see if there are any updates on the Analogix stuff and what's up in general with the CRT community here.

That's sad news jbltecnicspro. I hope you will be satisfied with your G70 at last, after the repair and final calibration.

I remember a few years back when you got the Quantum Data 801GG, I really wanted one of these. It's been a while now I haven't spent time in front of my CRT, my graphics card not supporting VGA being the main reason. I'm still interested by the pattern generator though, in case you end up selling it and if I can afford it.

Right now I can't say I have so much time either, but as soon as either the Analogix or the HDFury5 is released, I'll try to find some time to go through the full calibration process again, and set things right for my FW900 so I can finally enjoy using it once again.

Btw, just before I stopped using the FW900, I had issues with the flyback transformer, it was arcing inside making the focus go crazy sometimes. I've been using the FW900 every once in a while since then, sometimes it even stayed on for almost an entire day, and it never went wrong again... Now it seems perfectly stable as if nothing ever happened. I hope it will stay that way, but if not, I guess I'll have to open it up and find a replacement for the flyback transformer, assuming that there are still flybacks around nowadays.


We still have parts for the GDM-FW900 and all the GDM/CPD monitors...

Sincerely,

Unkle Vito!
 
fw900 owners, do you have this parameters on your monitor?
DBF or dynamic beam focus. It's such a pain in the ass to calibrate, it seems like you always have to sacrifice a corner and lateral. The monitor is a lacie electron 22 blue IV (diamondtron 2070sb, hp p1230...) Convergence is fine, it's just that set of dbf settings.
28w75lj.png

H-phase is the one that is driving me nuts, it basically focus one lateral or the other. If you place it on the middle both laterals end up being mediocre, not full blurry but noticeable softer. I have noticed that some of this settings change with the timmings, am I missing something? I have to say that I might be too picky, resolution I'm trying to "perfect" is 1440x1080@100hz. It should be capable to resolve it without problems, his older brother electron 22 blue II displays it perfectly.
 
I don't think the FW900 has as many independent focus parameters as that. Just two focus knobs and that's it. btw, when you use the term "lateral", what exactly are you referring to - the edge? or the entire right or left half of the screen?
 
oVFkM6q.png

Both top and bottom of those laterals are somewhat fixable with the top and bottom presets, but the red dot zone is either one or the other.
 
Do you have the service manual for the Mitsubishi 2070SB ? How to set DBFV2, H-AMP, V-AMP and H-PHASE is well described section 2.4.3.4, page 44. I don't remember exactly, but DBFV4 must be a weaker setting similar to DBFV2 (I once messed with a Mitsu).

Beware, the AMP settings require an oscilloscope for a proper adjustment so it's better to leave the default settings unless you find out a visual way to improve it.

I attached the service manual just in case.
 

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Yeah I do own the manual, but not the osciloscope. Given that I already have the full range of possible parameters, theoretically the osciloscope should not needed, I do all my test with this pattern
kMM1KKm.png

I'm going to try different timmings, I have already tested 120hz@720p and it looks much much crispier (as it should), but it's quite low for desktop use.
 
Better contact them before considering using that. They state a 350Mhz ramdac for VGA but a 165Mhz pixel clock for DVI. If DVI is single-link you're screwed (it's not written anywhere it's dual-link).

The price is also interesting, between 250 and 400$ US apparently. :eek:
 
Better contact them before considering using that. They state a 350Mhz ramdac for VGA but a 165Mhz pixel clock for DVI. If DVI is single-link you're screwed (it's not written anywhere it's dual-link).

The price is also interesting, between 250 and 400$ US apparently. :eek:

hmm yeah from the looks it is dual but you are right it is not written. i can get one used for around 50 dollars. i love my sony gdm fw900 but not that much to invest 250+ :D. mailing the support.
 
hmm yeah from the looks it is dual but you are right it is not written. i can get one used for around 50 dollars. i love my sony gdm fw900 but not that much to invest 250+ :D. mailing the support.

The HD Fury Nano GX can go a little higher than a 275mhz pixel clock. So you could run 1920x1200 at 70 or 75hz. I used it on a 4:3 monitor and played a few games at 2048x1536@60hz, and a few at 1600x1200 @85hz. Also, the VCOM displayport adapter has a similar range, might be a little higher. And I think its cheaper too. I've only used the Nano GX though.
 
In case anyone needs to go through the same adjustment I need to do, I'll try to post as much images and steps as possible. Today I finally decided to open the monitor and see If I can try to fix the focus thing manually. I haven't done any adjustments yet, but atleast I got pictures!
http://imgur.com/a/z50zY
I firmly believe that the quality control this unit passed whas rather mediocre (january 2005, end of the line)
 
Thanks for the photos, always cool to see the innards :)

I'm trying to figure out where the adjustment knobs are. Can you maybe highlight them with microsoft paint or something? (I'm kinda daft when it comes to this stuff). Which photo(s) are they visible in? I see the caption you included, but not sure if it refers to the image below or above the caption.

Also, I take it this is different from the dynamic beam focus you were doing earlier, right?
 
If you zoom enough you'll see the black pots of the (flyback?)
b7m7Fub.jpg

This is not exactly the dbf adjustment but related as the idea is to improve the overall focus, to be honest I don't know yet exactly what I'm dealing with (google is going to be my friend in the next hours :nailbiting:)
 
cool, thanks for the clarifications. Good to have another intrepid CRT explorer with us here. Let us know how it goes :)

Might be interesting to see if focus affects all three guns equally, by testing with red, green, and blue patters. Also, there's the MEME pattern that's often used for focus. Lemme know if you want one.
 
I received an answer for my quote request at SierraIC. Funny people. They have a website stating they have 10764 parts available but they answered they have no stock or available stock for this part ... :rolleyes:
 
Now I know a bit more, the overall focus has improved considerably, but still not as sharp as my older (and in specs weaker) diamondpro 2020u.
aJ4KAT8.jpg

The neck

om0cisZ.jpg


Any ideas of the what the top ring does?
 
The screws don't do anything, except holding the wire which connects theses places to the ground.

Apparently the top ring is B-Bow 4P, it affects vertical convergence on the sides of the display.

My advice is to not touch the rings, this shouldn't have to be done once it has been set.

BTW Diamondtrons are known to become blurry with old age, especially in the corners. I've seen a few of them behaving this way especially with increasing resolution/frequency. My guess is that the issue comes from the electronics and the aging of some components. I'm not sure if it can be entirely fixed with settings.
 
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