weird ghosting of characters in X

[Patrick Allen]

Lennart Sorensen wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 28, 2005 at 05:19:38PM -0400, Matt Price wrote:
> 
>>thanks everyone.  this is SO not what I wanted to hear.  
>>
>>anyway, going out of town for a couple of weeks, when I get back I
>>will try various hardwarrd configurations.  hmm, I like the idea of
>>taking off the monitor cover -- but it sounds kinda, I don't know,
>>dnagerous?

It can be dangerous as the CRT acts as a large capacitor and can store thousands 
of volts for very long periods of time.  But if you're careful what you touch, 
you should be fine.

Without seeing the image, it's hard to guess what adjustments will serve you 
best.  In any case, they will likely only delay the inevitable.  You've probably 
got an electrolytic capacitor somewhere that's failing.

The flyback transformer (Big black thing on main board with thick cable going to 
the back of the CRT) usually has a couple of adjustment screws on it.  One is 
for Focus, the other for screen voltage.  Making an adjustment to the Screen 
Voltage may improve your picture somewhat in this case and it will be a lot 
simpler than doing a full Grey Scale balance.

The adjustment is best done with an image to look at.  So be very careful as the 
flyback transformer is the source of the big juice in a monitor.  Some monitors 
have access ports in the cover than will allow you access with the right 
screwdriver.

> I wouldn't do it.  The only monitor I ever opened was a comodore amiga
> monitor that the power switch broke on.  That I knew how to fix (aka
> bypass with a soldering iron and then use a cheap powerbar as the switch
> externally).  The rest of a monitor I won't go near.  I don't like high
> voltages.

*grin*  I've fixed three Commodore monitors with exactly the same fault.  Great 
monitors though!

Pat Allen
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