Need help troubleshooting a 30" Samsung monitor

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peppergomez

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Had this Samsung Syncmaster 305T for more than 3 years now, and I think it might have died.

The screen is flickering this sickly green/blueish color, and the icons look a bit blurry, like they are 16bit color. I made sure everything was plugged in properly, and removed and reseated my graphics card. Also turned off amd overdrive. None of this resulted in any improvement.

I took a screenshot of desktop when it artifacts and emailed them to myself, then viewed them on another computer. They look fine.

Tried on another computer and with a different cable. Same problem although the distortion is in a different pattern (thinner and only in center of screen) than on my home computer.

When I unplug the DVI cable from the monitor and the monitor cycles through the red, blue, green, white, grey and black test screens, there is no distortion.

Anyone got any ideas? Because it's a nice monitor, I'm hoping that it is fixable, like maybe there's a loose connection instead of the screen being shot.

Thanks.
 
Is there an on screen menu you can check for distortion? On screen language, brightness menu sort of thing?

If there is and it's fine it when viewing a distorted computer image, then it would rule out a fault with the panel, and might be card/connection that could be replaced fixed cheaply.

Note... if the menu is distorted too, that doesn't mean the panel is duff... it just doesn't prove it's ok...
 
tried wiggling the dvi connection a little?

maybe try dropping the rez to 1280x800 (if it's anything like my dell 30", it treats that as a native rez too) Dunno what it would prove if it fixed it... maybe give you ideas if the distortion band doubled in size...
 
I have tried the monitor on two different computers and with two different dvi cabled- home and laptop, so that's two different video cards. Did also try wiggling the cables- both the power cable and DVI. No improvement.

Ludovic, re: the onscreen menu, are you referring to one on the monitor, on one from within my video card catalyst controller? Not sure if there is an onscreen menu for the monitor. Will check.
 
when you wiggle the dvi connection at the back of the monitor, your not looking for improvement, only changes to the picture that would indicate a bad connection/dry joint
 
ok, wiggled the dvi cable a few more times but didn't see any variance in picture quality
 
when in the boot process does the screen look corrupted? Is the bios screen ok?
 
picture quality on the the bios screen is okay. the picture quality in windows is okay for a min or two and then it goes on the fritz as described in my first post. gonna boot into safe mode and see what happens.
 
could be a dry joint or duff component that's heat related... component heats up, the connections expand and fault happens.

try a fast reboot as soon as the fault appears... see if bios screen is corrupted, or switch off monitor for 30 mins with computer still running... does the fault go away when the monitor cools down?
 
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ugh...let me revise my description. Yesterday, it would behave as I just described, working fine for a few min. and then distorting. Tonight however it looks bad immediately upon boot up...pre-windows at the bootup screen all the text is wavy and smeared, and now in windows the entire screen is discolored.
Not looking good.
 
working fine for a few mins... then distorted is good...

sounds like a component/connection failing/failure... it should be very fixable. The panel is the expensive bit... even if you have to buy a duff 305T with a broken panel and swap over the controller boards.

I don't know how comfortable you are with repairs to high voltage equipment, so I'll suggest taking it to a TV repair shop and ask them to take a look... explain you think it might be heat related and they'll probably use a freezer spray etc to locate the duff component/connection.
 
Ludovic, see my post above. It now seems to be FUBAR upon bootup. Letting it cool off to see if rebooting after awhile results in same behavior of good for a few min and then distorted.
 
you've had it 3 years... vacuum the vents/grills to help cooling

even if never comes good again, it sounds like a compont/board failure... worth getting it looked at...

goodluck...2.20am here!
 
Reviving this thread.

I took the monitor to a repair store and the tech thinks that he will need the the main module component to properly repair it:

Part number bn94-01009s
Main module - formulates all the video information

He said that Samsung doesn't carry it and he cannot find anyone selling it (it's about $100).

Does anyone happen to know any places that might have it or know where to find it that I might contact ?

Thanks.
 
Bake your scaler board - see this thread for details:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1527751

The 305T is identical to the Gateway XHD3000.

Don't forget to rig up a better cooling system for the scaler chip once you have it working again:

http://www.theneighborhoodnerd.net/samsung-305t-xhd3000-video-repair/

I have the XHD3000 and I fixed it over a year ago using the oven bake method and sticking an old Northbridge heatsink to the scaler chip with a fan wired to USB for active cooling. I kept the back off mine to help keep it cool. Have a pair of tin snips handy to cut and bend away the RF shielding otherwise you'll never get close enough to the scaler chip to make a difference. The TIM pad used on the scaler chip is the thickest I have ever seen, you want that out of the way - I used thermal tape to stick on the heatsink. The scaler chip runs very hot but doesn't have anywhere near the thermal output of a CPU or GPU so you don't need anything fancy on the thermal compound side. On my monitor the heatsink used to get too hot to touch, after installing the fan (80mm) it is now well below body temperature no matter how long I keep the monitor on. The fan is 12V but since it is wired to the 5V of the USB it is very quiet. The only downside of wiring it to USB is that the fan stays on even when you turn off the monitor.
 
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Reviving this thread with good news, and to enthuiastically recommend the repair work of Alan at http://www.theneighborhoodnerd.net/

I shipped my monitor circuit board and backcase from NC to CA on faith alone (well, that and the advice of the fine folks here).This after the knucklehead at the local electronics repair place told me that the fix suggested here wouldn't solve the problem. (Why are the really good repair places never near where I live? Teh owner of a speaker repair store in town told me to chuck a limited edition (5,000 made) of Mission 25th Anniversary bookshelf speakers due to a cracked woofer and tweeter. Ignored him and got advice at AudioKarma.org to ship them to Chicago for a repair.)

Fast foward and I finally set the monitor back up to find that Alan's fix appears to have solved the problem, and now I have a working 30" monitor again. There's a cool fan in the back with adjustable speed control.

Anyway, an unusual happy ending (fingers crossed) where broken expensive electronics are concerned. Alan is the man! And thanks to the folks here who made me aware of his services.
 
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Glad to see you got it working again, although I actually disagree with Alan's approach to the repair. I understand *WHY* he does it his way (maximum repair with minimum obtrusiveness) but my own experience with 305T/XHD3000 (I own a 305T, 305T+, and XHD3000) showed that the thermal output of that damn scaler board is too high to take chances with, especially with the 305T as it has a very hot internal power supply. The important thing is you have your 30" back and it works!
 
Read this thread (I have posted in it several times myself):

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1527751

My personal approach is typical engineer overkill. I keep the back off the monitor, cut a hole over the RF shield to mount a heatsink directly on top of the scaler chip (the big shiny one is the primary source of both the heat and the failures), and place a fan blowing sideways on the heatsink (to prevent it becoming a heat trap if the fan should ever fail, plus it prevents the hot air bouncing back to the monitor should it be placed close to a wall). My repair looks like this:


Untitled by rtangwai, on Flickr

It looks like absolute crap compared to Alan's fix and I don't recommend it if you have cats or small children but it does work well as every monitor I've put the fix to (I have 3) I have not had to bake the scaler board again since. For my XHD3000 it's been over 2 years since I repaired it using this method. The 305T/305T+ particularly worry me as the internal power supply heats up the RF shield as much as the scaler board does, so thermally isolating the scaler chip from the rest of the monitor is a priority to me.

Alan always replaces the scaler board because supposedly the newer ones use a different solder that is less brittle and won't microfracture like the original boards did so his alterations should be sufficient. I *DON'T* replace the scaler board (because I'm cheap and unemployed right now) so I know I still have problematic solder which is why I go gonzo on my alterations to fight overheating.

If I could I'd engineer a solution that would incorporate the best of my fixes with the elegance and neatness of Alan's. The problem is on a 305T that would probably include changing the power supply from internal to external a-la XHD3000, which is way more effort that I want to put into it quite apart from FCC/CRTC/CSA approval issues. Alan's solution does not violate any of those (that's why he doesn't cut the RF shield like I do) which makes his fix marketable and mine just messy :D
 
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