100% Working repair for Gateway XHD3000 30" LCD monitor

[flyone]

hello
After months having like a haze in front of my eyes, my Smasung 305 T+ died last week, symptoms :
- vertical + horizontal colored lines
- full frame flikering, like a stroboscope.

I first changed all the caps on boards but this has not been very effective.
so i looked around the web to found any information about the differents boards. finaly i found this thread.

And with the help of a heat gun I managed to fix my screen !!

all this is about the Altera chip...

hope this will help you fix your own screen !

best regards

 

[les_garten]

Well, mine started messing up today.

Bummer! This is stillin my opinion the best monitor out there.

Here's some mov files to show what it is doing.

What do I replace to fix this? Is it the board? If so which board?

These mov files won't stream, so you will have to DL and watch from your desktop. They are big, I think the last one is the smallest. It is like 22mb.

http://www.turbonet.biz/misc/XHD3000/

 

[ekuest]

save your money and cook the board. there should be instructions near the beginning of this thread.

 

[les_garten]

save your money and cook the board. there should be instructions near the beginning of this thread.

That's not gonna work. Read the thread.


I need to know if the Logic board causes my issue. If it does, I will send it off to be resoldered and try to rig up a chip fan for it. Get some heatsinks for the other chips as well maybe.

 

[ekuest]

That's not gonna work. Read the thread.


I need to know if the Logic board causes my issue. If it does, I will send it off to be resoldered and try to rig up a chip fan for it. Get some heatsinks for the other chips as well maybe.

huh? thats what i did to mine and it worked stupendously. got it for free broken and had it for about 2 years now. was all green and had weird vertical lines.

 

[les_garten]

huh? thats what i did to mine and it worked stupendously. got it for free broken and had it for about 2 years now. was all green and had weird vertical lines.

I didn't tally it up, but looks like more failures than success stories with the candling method.

 

[ekuest]

I didn't tally it up, but looks like more failures than success stories with the candling method.

candle is unreliable. i did it with a lighter the first few times and i had to redo it every couple weeks. now i put it in the oven for 10 mins every 4 months or so until it has problems again. whole process takes about an hour each time including preheating the oven and waiting for the board to cool down after. the solder always cracks again after many cycles of heating up and cooling down, but i have found reflowing it in the oven to be quite effective and reliable.

 

[les_garten]

I'm mainly trying to find out if my problems will be solved by fixing that LT board, or is it something else?

 

[Xeth]

I'm mainly trying to find out if my problems will be solved by fixing that LT board, or is it something else?

I'm 90% sure it's the LT board. Just bake it to see if that works before sending it off to get resoldered etc. I had a similar problem and I replaced the LT board and added a small chipset heatsink/fan to the Altera chip - the monitor has worked perfectly for 2 years after that.

 

[les_garten]

I'm 90% sure it's the LT board. Just bake it to see if that works before sending it off to get resoldered etc. I had a similar problem and I replaced the LT board and added a small chipset heatsink/fan to the Altera chip - the monitor has worked perfectly for 2 years after that.

Thanx!

Just as an update, the Reballer I posted a few pages back has done quite a few of these stemming from my post. He charges $75. He has no way of testing, but sounds like he knows what he is doing. I talked to him and he is pretty sharp on this stuff as you would think he would be. He does a lot of board repairs of all kinds of stuff.


Do you remember which chipset cooler you got? I've been looking for something that would cool the chip.

Did you use heatsink thermal "Glue"?

 

[Xeth]

I used an old Vantec Iceberq. Had to cut a gap in the sheet metal directly over the chip to make room.

AS5 was sticky enough to hold the heatsink by itself. As insurance I put a ram sink on the small square chip directly underneath the Altera chip using thermal tape, so it physically supports the big heatsink from underneath. This way I can easily replace the Iceberq if the fan ever goes bad.

 

[les_garten]

I used an old Vantec Iceberq. Had to cut a gap in the sheet metal directly over the chip to make room.

AS5 was sticky enough to hold the heatsink by itself. As insurance I put a ram sink on the small square chip directly underneath the Altera chip using thermal tape, so it physically supports the big heatsink from underneath. This way I can easily replace the Iceberq if the fan ever goes bad.

Thanx! When I get this broke down, I'll hunt thru my heatsink box and see if something fits. I'm thinking of Thermal Glue.

 

[les_garten]

I used an old Vantec Iceberq. Had to cut a gap in the sheet metal directly over the chip to make room.

AS5 was sticky enough to hold the heatsink by itself. As insurance I put a ram sink on the small square chip directly underneath the Altera chip using thermal tape, so it physically supports the big heatsink from underneath. This way I can easily replace the Iceberq if the fan ever goes bad.

Did you ever buy some boards from China? I just re-read this whole tread.

 

[Xeth]

Did you ever buy some boards from China? I just re-read this whole tread.

Yeah I bought one when I was visiting there. I wouldn't buy one and have it shipped here, too much risk of getting a bad board.

 

[les_garten]

Yeah I bought one when I was visiting there. I wouldn't buy one and have it shipped here, too much risk of getting a bad board.

Thanx! Planning to get up my nerve to do the dis-assembly. I'm not good with Plastic!

 

[les_garten]

Well, I got the card out and the reballer guys says he does not do these anymore because he can not test them. Does anybody have a reballer that they have used and can recommend?

 

[crashnburn]

For people who've found a good source for the Board / Chip where their repair is working, we'd really appreciate if you could share the CONTACTS of the source/ seller from where you bought it and the details.

I see people coming, finding the solution and then running off without sharing?

I have sources in several cities in China, so I can have these friends/ connections get me a new board, but I need to tell them a specific location/ person to order/ buy from. They cant go exploring.

Xeth -

WHERE DID YOU GET IT FROM? - Really appreciate a Contact/ Address etc. and How much $$$ it cost?

huh? thats what i did to mine and it worked stupendously. got it for free broken and had it for about 2 years now. was all green and had weird vertical lines.

I'm 90% sure it's the LT board. Just bake it to see if that works before sending it off to get resoldered etc. I had a similar problem and I replaced the LT board and added a small chipset heatsink/fan to the Altera chip - the monitor has worked perfectly for 2 years after that.

Thanx!

Just as an update, the Reballer I posted a few pages back has done quite a few of these stemming from my post. He charges $75. He has no way of testing, but sounds like he knows what he is doing. I talked to him and he is pretty sharp on this stuff as you would think he would be. He does a lot of board repairs of all kinds of stuff.


Do you remember which chipset cooler you got? I've been looking for something that would cool the chip.

Did you use heatsink thermal "Glue"?

I used an old Vantec Iceberq. Had to cut a gap in the sheet metal directly over the chip to make room.

AS5 was sticky enough to hold the heatsink by itself. As insurance I put a ram sink on the small square chip directly underneath the Altera chip using thermal tape, so it physically supports the big heatsink from underneath. This way I can easily replace the Iceberq if the fan ever goes bad.

Yeah I bought one when I was visiting there. I wouldn't buy one and have it shipped here, too much risk of getting a bad board.

 

[deathstarchris]

I will chime in on what I did.

About three weeks ago mine started all of the ghosting and flashing.
I saw this link earlier in the thread.
http://www.samsungparts.com/Products/Parts_and_Accessories/PID-BN81-02450A.aspx?model=
I ordered the part figuring if I could not fix the original board, I better buy a new one in case they stop making them in a few years.

I was able to fix the original, because I have a smd hot air rework station, but I decided to use the new board when it arrived. That was yesterday and I installed it. I also cut the metal strip that sat above the board. Epoxied small heatsinks on all of the large chips. Added a 12V regulator and cut a hole for a 120mm fan. The regulator takes the 18V off the board and brings it to 12V and only turns on when the monitor is turned on.

Everything is working fine, and I have the spare ready to go if something happens again. Some of you may question whether to buy a new board from a reputable dealer and say that is too expensive, but for me I paid $1800.00 for mine, with the extra 3 year warrantee from Gateway and I find it is worth saving the investment.

Hope this helps someone.

 

[rtangwai]

I have used the oven baked method myself on my Gateway XHD3000 and got the circuit board working fine. I was surprised how hot the entire back got and astonished at the thickness of the TIM on top of the scaler chip. I cut and folded back the metal panels to expose the scaler, attached an old Northbridge cooler with thermal tape, and wired up an old 60mm fan to USB and used cable ties to mount it beside the heatsink so it blows sideways instead of mounting it on top of the heatsink (in case the fan failed and acted as a heat trap). Since USB is only 5V the fan doesn't move very fast and is very quiet. The heatsink remains well below body temperature upon touch no matter how long I keep the monitor on (although I admit I rarely work in non-native resolution). The biggest drawback with this setup is that the fan is running even when the monitor is off.

This fix has been in place for over a year now and I have had zero problems.

 

[crashnburn]

I will chime in on what I did.

About three weeks ago mine started all of the ghosting and flashing.
I saw this link earlier in the thread.
http://www.samsungparts.com/Products/Parts_and_Accessories/PID-BN81-02450A.aspx?model=
I ordered the part figuring if I could not fix the original board, I better buy a new one in case they stop making them in a few years.

I was able to fix the original, because I have a smd hot air rework station, but I decided to use the new board when it arrived. That was yesterday and I installed it. I also cut the metal strip that sat above the board. Epoxied small heatsinks on all of the large chips. Added a 12V regulator and cut a hole for a 120mm fan. The regulator takes the 18V off the board and brings it to 12V and only turns on when the monitor is turned on.

Everything is working fine, and I have the spare ready to go if something happens again. Some of you may question whether to buy a new board from a reputable dealer and say that is too expensive, but for me I paid $1800.00 for mine, with the extra 3 year warrantee from Gateway and I find it is worth saving the investment.

Hope this helps someone.

I have used the oven baked method myself on my Gateway XHD3000 and got the circuit board working fine. I was surprised how hot the entire back got and astonished at the thickness of the TIM on top of the scaler chip. I cut and folded back the metal panels to expose the scaler, attached an old Northbridge cooler with thermal tape, and wired up an old 60mm fan to USB and used cable ties to mount it beside the heatsink so it blows sideways instead of mounting it on top of the heatsink (in case the fan failed and acted as a heat trap). Since USB is only 5V the fan doesn't move very fast and is very quiet. The heatsink remains well below body temperature upon touch no matter how long I keep the monitor on (although I admit I rarely work in non-native resolution). The biggest drawback with this setup is that the fan is running even when the monitor is off.

This fix has been in place for over a year now and I have had zero problems.

Can you guys post some pictures & steps. That would be great. I need to get a spare board.

Rtangwai:
I am wondering how to do the OVEN thing without messing it up. Any words of wisdom please? How you did it?

Chris:
I think my fathers factory has this hot air blowing thing that has focussed hot air blowing for some polymer bonding work. I am wondering if such a thing would work like your "smd hot air rework station".

BTW - How do/ did you use the rework station? Heat/ focus on certain parts?

 

[deathstarchris]

For all of the help I have received from these forums, I guess this is my chance to give back.

I didn't tear apart my monitor to show what I did, so I used my spare and explained what I did as I always keep extra parts in case $h!t happens!

Ok, Here is a shot of my SMD rework station.

Here is the tip I choose.

Here is the victim!

A little protection. TAPE IT DOWN!

This gives you plenty of clearance.

Move back and forth over the face of the chip at 350 degrees for 3 to 4 minutes.

I did this until I felt comfortable that the chip was hot enough to remelt the solder.

Parts from Radio Shack. Why Radio Shack? Cheap and quick! $6.00

Place a little electrical tape here. DON'T COVER HOLE. You are using the ground.

Place 12V regulator to where the holes line up.

Here are the parts lined up.

Here is the diagram on how the parts connect.

If you get lost, look at the back of the plastic baggie the regulator comes in.

Attach your 120mm fan, and cut the steel away and cut a hole through the plastic.

You can see the heatsinks on the chips.

I used two part metal epoxy from Home Depot to glue the sinks on.

Nice blue backlight. At least one positive out of all this negative!

Back in business!

RRRRRRRRRaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

 

[rtangwai]

Can you guys post some pictures & steps. That would be great. I need to get a spare board.

Rtangwai:
I am wondering how to do the OVEN thing without messing it up. Any words of wisdom please? How you did it?

The oven trick is from the video card repair technique:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1421792

As long as you don't leave it in the oven too long or at too high a temperature or upside down you'll be fine. Patience is a virtue, let it cool properly before remounting it.

Unfortunately it is difficult for me to get behind my monitor because it is surrounded by 5 other monitors and a wall:

I did *NOT* put the plastic cover back on the rear of the monitor, to help cooling - that allowed me to worry only about the scaler chip and not all the others.

 

[deathstarchris]

If you don't know what you are doing with electronics, (this is to everyone who is not a modder or is comfortable doing this themselves.) replacing the board should be enough as the newer boards look like they were produced properly as opposed to rushed. Leaving the back off will help in the case of passive cooling, that is, not using fans. In the case of having multiple monitors though I would at least have some air moving around all of them to reduce heat and therefore prolong their life. Same as true with motherboards or any other electronic pcb that gets hot, not warm, and these boards get HOT!

 

[Xeth]

Here's a pic of mine... Fan is just hooked to the USB power traces for 5V. I replaced the Iceberq last month because the fan started getting noisy. This particular HSF can be had at DealExtreme for ~$3. It is effectively silent at 5V.



@crashnburn I ordered from a guy on taobao.com (China's equivalent to eBay) while I was visiting in Shanghai. Looks like he longer sells these although there are other sellers still carrying them... Note that taobao does not accept international orders directly although there are agents that will order for you for a fee (for example taobaofocus). I paid 250 RMB ($40) for my board. You will probably pay an additional ~$50 in agent/international shipping fees.

@rtangwai like Nicole Kidman much?

 

[rtangwai]

@rtangwai like Nicole Kidman much?

I like beautiful women

 

[crashnburn]

Awesome. Thanks you guys for the detailed insights & picture updates. At this very moment I am requesting 3/4 logic boards through someone I know who lives in China for myself. For around 30/40$ a piece, I am gonna keep the backups for this lovely monitor.

What do you think. It should survive pretty long eh! ?

I dont think I have it in me to Cut open the monitors plastic. But..I could try to do a Fan Addition Mod.

Xeth - Could you share some more details on how you attached the Fan (physically) & where on the boards you connected it for the USB power?
I can definitely get the fan from DX. I dont mind spending more if you think there is a BETTER fan for the job that costs more. If the fan is SLIMMER (To fit inside), FASTER, QUIETER etc.. Anything to minimize my PERSONAL EFFORT and keep this MAINTENANCE FREE..


One quick question:
What is the PHYSICAL SIZE of THE BOARD? Length x Width?
I am guessing thickness is pretty low.
What about WEIGHT?

Please do let me know so I can determine how to get it shipped or handed to me through someone.

 

[AngryArtichoke]

Reflowing the board worked for my 305t after seeing red vertical lines. Thanks to everyone that contributed to this thread. Added heatsink to the altera chip while i was in there... just in case

 

[crashnburn]

Reflowing the board worked for my 305t after seeing red vertical lines. Thanks to everyone that contributed to this thread. Added heatsink to the altera chip while i was in there... just in case

Did you reflow it in an Oven or proper Reflow machine?
What kind of heatsink did you add?

 

[morality]

Hello, Thank you for your post . I've been doing this work, and had been repaired to its faults [ sumsung305t ] . There is a problem , when the monitor has entered a power saving mode , the fan is still at work . I am trying to solve , but inside the machine did not find a suitable 18V voltage for the LM7812 . Of course, this may not be a big problem , in addition to consume some power and add some dust .
I come from China , English is not good , sorry .

 

[snsgn]

POSITIVE NEWS FROM A 305T+ OWNER FROM THE NETHERLANDS

I am just here to say, that heating the Altera chip with a lighter worked for me, so far.
It has been 3 hours only since I fixed my Samsung Syncmaster 305T+ (which has the same logic board), so I wonder how long it will keep working.

The symptoms of my monitor were:
- slight flicker on whole screen (especially on white backgrounds)
- green wide band a bit right from the center of the screen from top to bottom

All gone now!

I'll keep you guys updated about my monitor if anything changes.

Btw, I did the same as 'deathstarchris' with the alu foil. The only difference was that I used a lighter. I also kept the back of the monitor open for better cooling of the chip.

 

[crashnburn]

PS: Any idea of the Size/ Dimensions of the board?

One quick question:
What is the PHYSICAL SIZE of THE BOARD? Length x Width?
I am guessing thickness is pretty low.
What about WEIGHT?

Please do let me know so I can determine how to get it shipped or handed to me through someone.

 

[DerekG]

I just wanted to say thank you for the valuable advice given on this thread. I recently acquired a broken Samsung 305T at a great price, however, the display was exhibiting the following symptoms:

-Full screen strobe at approximately 6hz or so - not fun to look at
-Vertical and horizontal lines distorting the picture in middle half of display (1/4 left and right were not affected though they strobe too)

After reading this thread I determined the Altera chip was most likely the problem. I didn't have any of my solder station equipment with me so I opted for the oven method, assuming if I killed it I'd just buy a new board, as the monitor was already broken beyond being usable as it was.

8 minutes at 380 degrees F followed by 10 minutes of cooling with the door open and then another 10 cooling on a table did just the trick

I put the monitor back together and it works I have yet to receive my DisplayPort to Dual Link DVI-D adapter, however, at least at single link res it looks great. The adapter should show up tomorrow so then I can test 2560X1600

After running the monitor for 25 minutes or so, I immediately opened it back up to check for heat and sure enough that chip got toasty enough to heat up the metal heatsink over the board to approximately 40C. I did replace the thermal pad over the Altera chip with a slightly thicker one so that there would be more pressure to hopefully hold the chip where it is, and tomorrow before I use the monitor again I'll wire up some USB active cooling. I'm considering adding a small copper heatsink and removing the thermal pad currectly holding it down, however, I worry about putting any horizontal pressure on the chip, as it may serve to further strain the soldered connections when the chip heats up and the monitor is in an upright orientation.

That being said, it has been mentioned in this thread a few times before that some members have considered a group buy. If that is still going to occur, I'd be interested in one or two spare boards as I love the quality of this monitor, and want to ensure it works well for the next few years until I eventually need to upgrade it. (If / when the next leap in display tech occurs and becomes somewhat affordable)

 

[crashnburn]

Thanks for the detailed insights Derek.

PS: Any idea on how much "SPACE / DISTANCE" is there in the Gap between the BOARD/ CHIP and the "Back Cover" of the Monitor? - That way I could figure out how much COOLING EQUIPMENT (Fan / Sink) etc I could add between the board and the Back Cover.

PS: Any idea of the Size/ Dimensions of the board?

One quick question:
What is the PHYSICAL SIZE of THE BOARD? Length x Width?
I am guessing thickness is pretty low.
What about WEIGHT?

Please do let me know so I can determine how to get it shipped or handed to me through someone.

I just wanted to say thank you for the valuable advice given on this thread. I recently acquired a broken Samsung 305T at a great price, however, the display was exhibiting the following symptoms:

-Full screen strobe at approximately 6hz or so - not fun to look at
-Vertical and horizontal lines distorting the picture in middle half of display (1/4 left and right were not affected though they strobe too)

After reading this thread I determined the Altera chip was most likely the problem. I didn't have any of my solder station equipment with me so I opted for the oven method, assuming if I killed it I'd just buy a new board, as the monitor was already broken beyond being usable as it was.

8 minutes at 380 degrees F followed by 10 minutes of cooling with the door open and then another 10 cooling on a table did just the trick

I put the monitor back together and it works I have yet to receive my DisplayPort to Dual Link DVI-D adapter, however, at least at single link res it looks great. The adapter should show up tomorrow so then I can test 2560X1600

After running the monitor for 25 minutes or so, I immediately opened it back up to check for heat and sure enough that chip got toasty enough to heat up the metal heatsink over the board to approximately 40C. I did replace the thermal pad over the Altera chip with a slightly thicker one so that there would be more pressure to hopefully hold the chip where it is, and tomorrow before I use the monitor again I'll wire up some USB active cooling. I'm considering adding a small copper heatsink and removing the thermal pad currectly holding it down, however, I worry about putting any horizontal pressure on the chip, as it may serve to further strain the soldered connections when the chip heats up and the monitor is in an upright orientation.

That being said, it has been mentioned in this thread a few times before that some members have considered a group buy. If that is still going to occur, I'd be interested in one or two spare boards as I love the quality of this monitor, and want to ensure it works well for the next few years until I eventually need to upgrade it. (If / when the next leap in display tech occurs and becomes somewhat affordable)

 

[semorridosema]

Hi guys.

I changed the main capacitors, reflow the ALTERA (worked for a month) and replace the board for a brand new bought in Samsung parts. I have an orangish screen and vertical lines.

Any suggestion will be truly appreciated. Thanks

 

[ekuest]

Hi guys.

I changed the main capacitors, reflow the ALTERA (worked for a month) and replace the board for a brand new bought in Samsung parts. I have an orangish screen and vertical lines.

Any suggestion will be truly appreciated. Thanks

got an itch?

also take everything apart, make sure all the connectors are tight (especially the 4 ribbons to the board you replaced) and put it all back together carefully. with the ribbons, you should see only one of the two white lines, and it should be parallel to the connector, not crooked. try reseating all of the connectors and then see if you still have the same problem.

 

[semorridosema]

I have reseated all the connectors without luck. I wonder if I have a bad power supply.

Thanks for your help.

 

[semorridosema]

After reflow and replace the main capacitors I gave up. So I am selling the monitor.

This is the link

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1039286260#post1039286260

Thanks guys

 

[rtangwai]

Did you ever test with another power supply? I just bought a Samsung 305T with a bad power supply - unlike the XHD3000 it uses an internal power supply which in my case had 2 blown caps (one being the 450V power cap). I have never taken a XHD3000 power supply apart, but you might want to look for blown caps. Also, did you ever change your dual-DVI cable? A bad cable could be causing problems too, there are a lot of poor quality cables out there.

 

[lachdanan]

Hi,

I am new on this forum but it seems like there is a lot of good knowledge here.

I found lots of threads here about Samsung 305t problems. Not sure which method/trick is the most recommended/up-to-date one but both of my 305ts have green lines artifacts. The first 305t had this problem in January or so I bought a used one online in February. Now this one also started showing green lines last month. I also stopped using it after a week.

So the first monitor always have these lines, as soon as you turn it on. The second one only shows them after 30 mins of using it. So based on what I read so far here, it's because of heating, right? I imagine the first monitor has a more severe issue?

What methods would you guys recommend doing? I bought a basic heat gun (450C on high it says) and I work in games, so I am good at software but not so much on hardware, electronics. I can still do it if there were clear instructions.


Thanks alot guys!

 

[rtangwai]

Oven baking is my personal preference over a heat gun simply because I know it has been heated evenly. Since you have to mod the back of the monitor if you want the repair to last a reasonable amount of time (in my case 2 years and counting) you have to take the scaler board out anyway, so why bother with the heat gun if you have gotten that deep into the monitor?

Adding a heatsink and fan to the scaler chip in my opinion is always a good idea. I have a Samsung 305T with a bad power supply (blown caps, one of them the power cap) but a good scaler board. I swapped the power supply with another 305T that had a bad scaler board to ensure it was working fine otherwise. I decided to test the monitor by attaching a 80mm fan hooked to USB for power (being a 12V fan it is very quiet at 5V) and blowing it on the RF shield of the scaler board but not attaching a heatsink. The RF shield is fairly cool to the touch but interestingly enough the LCD screen is quite warm, much warmer than my XHD3000 that *DOES* have a heatsink on the scaler chip. The extra heat leeching through the LCD has convinced me to put a heatsink on the scaler chip - it is clear to me that even active cooling by itself insufficient despite using the RF shield as a heatsink as it gets heated up by several components and does not have enough surface area to radiate that amount of heat fan or no fan.