100% Working repair for Gateway XHD3000 30" LCD monitor

well I finally got around to trying this today... my problems had progressed on to the nasty random screen flicker problem so I had no choice, I opted for the baking in the oven technique and IT WORKED!!!

it solved my 1/4 vertical rainbow stripe and the random flickery lines all over the monitor! I am so glad I have my monitor back, it's been killing me trying to work lately.

THANK YOU REVTECH for the nice detailed writeup with pictures, and to EKUEST for the baking instructions!! and to everyone that has provided useful info in this thread, you guys rock.

these ebay scammer(s) need to go to hell, and stay out of this thread.

I'll post back after a while and let everyone know how it's holding up.
 
so now I'm wondering about something... maybe everyone can chime in here

what do you think is best for these monitors power wise when not in use?
before I got my problems I left my monitor on all day long and let a screensaver play when I was away. I believe it eventually powered off after an hour or so, and then turned the monitor off at night when I went to bed. do you think that could be part of the problem? maybe it would be best to turn it off every time I'm away from the computer for any length of time?

after the problem started I noticed eventually that if I let it run for a long time without screensaver or anything it would generate enough heat that the problem would go away, but eventually that stopped working.

what do you guys think?
 
HEAT IS WHAT KILLS THESE boards by beating up on the solder joints and making them lose contact !!
So I would say, Turn it off when not using it.
Bulbs are supposedly rated for 50,000 hours so even if your board holds up without added cooling, you are using up bulb life and some of the power supply and main board capacitor life
 
unluckyone said:
Hi Dirtdiggler
Would you happen to know fran's email ?
Not sure if you are allowed to post it or not?
If not, It looks like there is a private message option that you can use
My monitor just went haywire when it got hot since the weather got warm out.
Would appreciate it.
Click to expand...

I would be interested in this info as well.
 
ltm300m1c8lv3.2 BUY NEW
BN81-02450A

Found where to buy these NEW direct from SAMSUNG from the real seller on ebay that just had his accounts closed do to fraudulent and illegal actions of the other seller !!

Go to samsungparts.com
This is the authorized parts place
search BN81-02450A
 
Last edited:
unluckyone said:
ltm300m1c8lv3.2 BUY NEW
BN81-02450A

Found where to buy these NEW direct from SAMSUNG from the real seller on ebay that just had his accounts closed do to fraudulent and illegal actions of the other seller !!

PM for info

I recommend that everyone STAY AWAY FROM samsung repair on ebay !!!!
I just read his latest exploits !!! You should too !!
http://lloydandlauren.com/2011/01/27...n-part-5-of-5/
PASS IT ON !!
Click to expand...

Thanx! PM Sent
 
I went through this thread and didn't find instructions about the bake method. I am still using Revtech's candle method. I want to test if the bake method would work better, can some one point me to the link or just reply with the instructions.

Thanks in advance
 
avyaktha,
page 5 of this thread, via ekuest:

"instead of heating the chip with a lighter, just put the whole pcb on a couple balls of tin foil in the oven for 8 minutes at 385 degrees F"
 
Just thought I'd share my experience with repairing my XHD3000. It started doing the dreaded green/blue haze and vertical stripes about a month ago. Luckily for me, when I bought it from Newegg 2.5 years ago, I bought a 2 year extended warranty for $90.

I immediately called the warranty company and they sent someone out to check out the monitor. He checked it out for about 30 seconds and just took a wild stab in the dark and suggested that the panel was damaged. About a week later the warranty company called me and said that they could not repair it because the parts were not available. They ended up paying me the full price that I paid for the monitor 2.5 years ago. Best $90 I've spent in a while.

At this point I was determined to repair it, since I already got back my money, I had nothing to lose. I had found this thread a while ago when looking for answers to the 1 second screen blanking so I came right back here. I followed RevTechs directions in disassembling the monitor and pulling out the offending board. I decided that the candle method sounded a little too risky, using an open flame near electronics sounded wrong. I opted to use a heat gun from Harbor Freight.

I built a nice little heat shield out of a couple of pieces of tin foil with a hole for the Altera chip. I bought a cheap infrared thermometer so I could keep track of the chips temperature. I thoroughly read through the PDF from Altera on chip temp and ramp up/ ramp down rates. Once I was satisfied that I fully understood the process, I fired up the heat gun and started pre heating the entire board. Then I threw on the heat shield and started heating just the Altera chip and checking the temperature every 20 seconds or so. I made sure that I didn't go over the max temperature stated in the literature from Altera.

Finally satisfied that I reached the solder melting point but not the max chip temp, I stopped and let the board cool for about 30 minutes. I went ahead and reassembled the monitor just enough to test it out. Turned it on, and NOTHING came on the screen, just the backlight came on and nothing else. Now I was in a worse position then when I started. So I tried it all again and still got nothing. I'm assuming that either my thermometer was wrong, or I cooked some other components on the board.

Now I was onto plan B, buy a replacement board. After all the talk on here of scammers on ebay, I decided to stay away from ebay and try my luck with taobao. So I set out to find a way to buy from taobao. I picked 2 taobao agents and started the process of making a purchase through each of them. I used one called taobaotrends and one called obook. Basically you send them the link for the product you want and they speak with the seller and purchase the item on your behalf. I ended up buying 3 cards just to hedge my bets against one or more of them being dead on arrival. It took 2 weeks from the first email till the parts were at my door. I ended up paying an average of $57 per board with shipping.

Once the parts arrived I installed the first one. NOTHING, just a black screen with the back light on. I checked out this board and saw obvious signs of an attempted repair on one of the 4 ribbon connectors. Someone must have attempted to re-solder it on at some point. I contacted the agent, taobaotrends, and let them know that it was dead and that I'd like a refund if possible. They agreed and refunded me the purchase price minus shipping costs.

Onto the other 2 boards from obook. The first one I installed and tested came up with the vertical line problem. Big red and green lines covering the majority of the screen. Now onto the last and final board. I threw it in, pretty much convinced that I just wasted over $100 on parts from China. To my surprise, the monitor came back to life with NO issues. I am going to see if obook will refund me for the other board that is not working, if not, no big deal. It still cost less than buying just one board from the scammers on ebay, and even less than the part direct from samsungparts.com.

I am trying to decide if its worth trying the reflow method on the one partially working board from obook. I am also trying to find a place that can reball the parts to see if I can restore life to the 2 fully dead boards. I may even try to reball it myself, still reading up on the process to see if its feasible without spending tons of money on equipment.
 
The one that went blank after you heated it is probably a problem where two solder balls ended up melting to each other and shorting out.
you might be able to actually see the ones that jumped by looking under the edges, if looking really close at the balls
Checking the caps at CB2 and CB3 near the Altera chip for resistance will usually show if it is shorted. one side of the cap is ground, other side should show resistance to ground.
This should always be checked after a rework or reball AND before plugging it in.
It may still be revived with a full reball ?? If it is shorted, the chip has to be removed and checked for shorts at about 8 contacts to see if it stands a chance of being reballed.
Overheating it could have shorted the chip out internally !! Then it is trash time.
 
On my original board CB1 shows ground on both sides and CB2 shows ground on one side and 830 ohms on the other. On the board from China that shows distortion CB1 shows ground on one side and 100 ohms on the other and CB2 shows ground on one side and 830 ohms on the other. On the totally non working board from China CB1 shows ground and 85 ohms and CB2 shows ground and 840 ohms.

Looks like you're right, something is shorted on my original board. What could be the issue with the board that shows low resistance on CB1?
 
On your original.
Like I said, Either you caused a solder ball jump or you shorted the chip internally.
The chip has to be removed and checked for resistance while off of the board to try to tell.

On the Chinese board that partially works, the 100ohms is high--- not sure exactly why just based on that reading ?

on the non working Chinese-- resistance of 85 good -- so either a power pin ball is loose or you may have a different problem elsewhere on the board.

PM me for more info -
I need to make sure you are not that one crook from ebay before I offer any more help.
 
My dear XHD 3000 just started doing the flicker with multi colored lines etc and whitish..lines.. lots of variations.

For existing board:
- How many people here had success with the Candle / Heat gun / Bake processes? Which ones make most sense?
- What if I could find someone local who is good with Electronics & a Soldering Iron / Heat Gun? (TV / Computer Repair person? )

For new logic board:

Which Chinese board and user was 3rd board that worked xhd 3000?

I need to buy one as well. Please advise.

In fact, my dad is going to China in September so I could even get it from there, if not the Tabao dealer / agent.

Do guide me on which Agent and Which Merchant you got it from?

meatwad325 said:
Just thought I'd share my experience with repairing my XHD3000. It started doing the dreaded green/blue haze and vertical stripes about a month ago. Luckily for me, when I bought it from Newegg 2.5 years ago, I bought a 2 year extended warranty for $90.

I immediately called the warranty company and they sent someone out to check out the monitor. He checked it out for about 30 seconds and just took a wild stab in the dark and suggested that the panel was damaged. About a week later the warranty company called me and said that they could not repair it because the parts were not available. They ended up paying me the full price that I paid for the monitor 2.5 years ago. Best $90 I've spent in a while.

At this point I was determined to repair it, since I already got back my money, I had nothing to lose. I had found this thread a while ago when looking for answers to the 1 second screen blanking so I came right back here. I followed RevTechs directions in disassembling the monitor and pulling out the offending board. I decided that the candle method sounded a little too risky, using an open flame near electronics sounded wrong. I opted to use a heat gun from Harbor Freight.

I built a nice little heat shield out of a couple of pieces of tin foil with a hole for the Altera chip. I bought a cheap infrared thermometer so I could keep track of the chips temperature. I thoroughly read through the PDF from Altera on chip temp and ramp up/ ramp down rates. Once I was satisfied that I fully understood the process, I fired up the heat gun and started pre heating the entire board. Then I threw on the heat shield and started heating just the Altera chip and checking the temperature every 20 seconds or so. I made sure that I didn't go over the max temperature stated in the literature from Altera.

Finally satisfied that I reached the solder melting point but not the max chip temp, I stopped and let the board cool for about 30 minutes. I went ahead and reassembled the monitor just enough to test it out. Turned it on, and NOTHING came on the screen, just the backlight came on and nothing else. Now I was in a worse position then when I started. So I tried it all again and still got nothing. I'm assuming that either my thermometer was wrong, or I cooked some other components on the board.

Now I was onto plan B, buy a replacement board. After all the talk on here of scammers on ebay, I decided to stay away from ebay and try my luck with taobao. So I set out to find a way to buy from taobao. I picked 2 taobao agents and started the process of making a purchase through each of them. I used one called taobaotrends and one called obook. Basically you send them the link for the product you want and they speak with the seller and purchase the item on your behalf. I ended up buying 3 cards just to hedge my bets against one or more of them being dead on arrival. It took 2 weeks from the first email till the parts were at my door. I ended up paying an average of $57 per board with shipping.

Once the parts arrived I installed the first one. NOTHING, just a black screen with the back light on. I checked out this board and saw obvious signs of an attempted repair on one of the 4 ribbon connectors. Someone must have attempted to re-solder it on at some point. I contacted the agent, taobaotrends, and let them know that it was dead and that I'd like a refund if possible. They agreed and refunded me the purchase price minus shipping costs.

Onto the other 2 boards from obook. The first one I installed and tested came up with the vertical line problem. Big red and green lines covering the majority of the screen. Now onto the last and final board. I threw it in, pretty much convinced that I just wasted over $100 on parts from China. To my surprise, the monitor came back to life with NO issues. I am going to see if obook will refund me for the other board that is not working, if not, no big deal. It still cost less than buying just one board from the scammers on ebay, and even less than the part direct from samsungparts.com.

I am trying to decide if its worth trying the reflow method on the one partially working board from obook. I am also trying to find a place that can reball the parts to see if I can restore life to the 2 fully dead boards. I may even try to reball it myself, still reading up on the process to see if its feasible without spending tons of money on equipment.
Click to expand...
 
My monitor is working perfectly. I would like to mod it for some cooling like a fan maybe. Does anyone have instructions and a parts list to do this? I want to keep from being in the state so many people are in here. Love the monitor and don't want to lose it!
 
crashnburn said:
Do you think its better to try the RE-HEATING/ RE-FLOW method first?
As its less 'intrusive' and EASIER than a proper board replacement.

Did you replace & solder board yourself or had a professional do it?
Click to expand...

I think it's worth a shot since it's free to do the heating method. I will say that it seems that it's hit or miss. I've had to redo this method a few times. After the first attempt, the fix worked for about 2 months. The last few times, the fix has only worked for a couple weeks. I left the back cover off and put the board on the outside so that all I have to do is turn the monitor and heat up the chip, but it's looking more and more like I'll have to shop around for a new monitor soon.
 
crashnburn said:
Do you think its better to try the RE-HEATING/ RE-FLOW method first?
As its less 'intrusive' and EASIER than a proper board replacement.

Did you replace & solder board yourself or had a professional do it?
Click to expand...

If you're going to try any of the DIY reflow methods make sure that you understand that there is a chance that you could further damage the board. As many people have said its not a 100% fix, sometimes it works for months, other times for a few days. In my case, something went wrong and my board wouldnt work at all after heating it. I'm sure it was too much heat and it was my fault.

No professional involved. The monitor is actually pretty easy to take apart if you are at all capable of handling a screw driver and fragile items. There was no soldering involved.
 
I read on another forum that the smart thing is to find a reballer service on the net and have a pro do it with 63/37 Solder and be done with it. One of the reasons they site for failure is the Lead free solder. Cost was estimated at $75. Make sure they use a Eutectic Lead solder
 
les_garten said:
I read on another forum that the smart thing is to find a reballer service on the net and have a pro do it with 63/37 Solder and be done with it. One of the reasons they site for failure is the Lead free solder. Cost was estimated at $75. Make sure they use a Eutectic Lead solder
Click to expand...

Any idea where one can get the reballing done? I've been looking for a place to do it but cant seem to find anything that looks legitimate.
 
Well,
Here's one.

http://www.srrmfg.com/

I did a search for "surface mount reballing service"

That should get you started.

Make sure they volunteer what solder they are using. You want leaded solder.
 
meatwad325 said:
If you're going to try any of the DIY reflow methods make sure that you understand that there is a chance that you could further damage the board. As many people have said its not a 100% fix, sometimes it works for months, other times for a few days. In my case, something went wrong and my board wouldnt work at all after heating it. I'm sure it was too much heat and it was my fault.

No professional involved. The monitor is actually pretty easy to take apart if you are at all capable of handling a screw driver and fragile items. There was no soldering involved.
Click to expand...

I am not so concerned about taking it apart (even thought I'll have to do it more carefully than the thinkpads I've opened several times) but the heating / reflow/ reball.

les_garten said:
I read on another forum that the smart thing is to find a reballer service on the net and have a pro do it with 63/37 Solder and be done with it. One of the reasons they site for failure is the Lead free solder. Cost was estimated at $75. Make sure they use a Eutectic Lead solder
Click to expand...

I will look for a reballer service. Do they have to have a specialized furnace (Which is what one Reball/Reflow Service provider had on the Thinkpad forums) or will a company which is good at soldering be good enough? I am thinking a Good TV Repair or Monitor repair or Computer Repair shop in the City I am in?

meatwad325 said:
Any idea where one can get the reballing done? I've been looking for a place to do it but cant seem to find anything that looks legitimate.
Click to expand...

I have to start looking for this as well.

NOTE: I am thinking of sending the BOARD to a good reballer in the US or UK ( I am currently out of the US). I believe I would have to identify & explain to THEM what exactly they have to REBALL/REFLOW .. right?

Can someone help / explain to me what exactly needs to be reballed that way I will do that.


Any good reballer options in Hongkong/ Singapore/ India? I am living & travelling in AsiaPacific these days?

http://chiptroniks.com/bga-machine/bga-reballing-kit/
http://www.indiamart.com/laptop-support/bga-rework-services.html

Will one of these guys work? Do they look like they have the stuff to do it?
 
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You could get a pic of the board off Ebay and draw a circle around the chip and send it out for quotes. I would not try to reball that chip as your first try with no pro equipment and no real feeling for heat. I solder a lot and I wouldn't do it.

I'm sure there are tons of places in Asia, since that's where all this stuff is "born".
 
Nice suggestion Les Garten.

I was able to connect with some people, who told me about some shops that do it and I might be able to get some estimates for Reball - Reflow.

My worry is that these people might need to be told exactly what kind of / type of Reball specs are needed : temperature, variations, solder/ball types etc.

Are there any specs that are recommended for this particular Logic Board & Chip.

Can anyone please guide me?

PS: Also how does on join this Class Action Suit?

http://classlitigation.com/index.php/about-us/66-class-action-brought-against-gateway
 
If you tell them 63/37 Lead Tin, that will do it.

That is a Eutectic mixture. You might have a better chance making sure of that if done in Asia. If you go and drop it off. Assk them to show you the solder they will use. Mainly make sure it has Lead in it.

Good luck, if you get it done in the US, let us know where and how much and if everything works out.

Don't know about how to get in on the Lawsuit. They need some punitive damages for the crap they pulled on customers. I would never have bought a Gateway product ever, but this monitor was too tempting. Nobody else made anything like it.

This monitor alone would have made GW a Legend, had they executed properly and made good on all the problems. Not just them though, Sammy had it's problems with this board as well.
 
after 1 year my Gateway XHD the DVI up and went dead on me.....

No idea what to do at this stage. I use 2560 x 1600 res and I can no longer get that.

Any ideas................

p.s where is the place to sign up for the lawsuit :)
 
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theterminator said:
RE: Cease and Desist posted by johnboy and signed by lcdrepairwarehouse or lcdrepairworld
(For legal purposes, Yes, I have a hardcopy of the original post AND all the other mentioned stuff -- PLUS SOME !!! )

it's back
http://lloydandlauren.com/2011/01/27/shame-on-you-john-harlan-part-5-of-5/
Click to expand...

HE SCREWED YOU TOO. HE DID THE SAME TO ME. He tried a bunch of crap and after chasing him down he finally sent me a monitor (nothing else) and it was all busted up with marks on the screen. It worked but not the brand new condition monitor he promised. I even contacted a lawyer in the area to go after him but realized it would be several hundred dollars on top of what I had already lost. PLEASE tell me you nailed this SCUMBAG
 
That doesn't look like any of the examples I've seen or experienced with my monitor. Does it change as the monitor heats up?
 
Would anyone be interested in buying some LTM300M1C8LV3.2 boards on the cheap? I have a friend who's visiting China and he can buy new ones there for ~ $60 USD. I'm getting one for myself and I can probably hook you up.
 
Don't know if anybody is looking for a speaker bar, but I am selling mine. It is Flawless and has never been used.

Speaker Bar
 
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
I'm interested in purchasing LTM300M1C8LV3.2 boards, I've sent you a PM.
 
Xeth said:
Would anyone be interested in buying some LTM300M1C8LV3.2 boards on the cheap? I have a friend who's visiting China and he can buy new ones there for ~ $60 USD. I'm getting one for myself and I can probably hook you up.
Click to expand...

Also interested.

Will send pm in a sec.
 
Xeth said:
Would anyone be interested in buying some LTM300M1C8LV3.2 boards on the cheap? I have a friend who's visiting China and he can buy new ones there for ~ $60 USD. I'm getting one for myself and I can probably hook you up.
Click to expand...

Xeth - I'd like one as well but right now I am traveling for work.

Whats funny is my cousin is in Asia (China tour) right now and should be able to get me one. But he's not very tech savvy nor can he do the searching.
I'd appreciate if you could get me the contact - Name - Address - Number - Email from where your friend is getting it. That way, I can do the same.
 
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hey guys, sorry to butt back into this thread with another off topic question, but im at a loss. i just plugged in my n64 to my xhd3000. i have my computer plugged into the dvi and the sound into the dvi sound jack. for the n64 im obviously using the composite video jack and the composite audio jacks. i have the rca output jacks sending sound to my speakers. now for some reason when i switch the input to composite, i get the n64 picture, but no sound. it looks like the monitor doesnt automatically switch sound inputs when you switch video inputs. is there some way i can get it so the speakers will play the n64 sound when i switch to composite video? kinda seems like a huge oversight that it wouldnt switch sound along with the video right?
 
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