Sony CRT Monitor - numerous thin blue horizontal lines

anewman

My Sony CPD G520 21" CRT PC monitor (which is about 6 years old now) has recently developed thin blue lines across the screen. Please note these are not the characteristic thin black lines which are perfectly horizontal and integral to the trinitron technology.

There are around 14 lines which are blue and particularly visible when the monitor is displaying darker colours. They go across the horizontal but are slightly slanted in this direction /. If you look hard you can also see blue lines which join those lines together but they are less visible. The number and angle of the lines alters when changing the refresh rate, and the pattern leads me to believe the fault is something to do with what projects the image onto the screen as it scans across.

Changing resolution and refresh rate, or any of the monitor settings (including degauss) does not remove the lines. I have checked the connection of the VGA connector, but the lines appear without anything connected (suggesting the video card is fine).

I was wondering if this indicates impending failure of the monitor, and/or there's an easy DIY fix of some kind?

I guess if I get myself a nice new biggish widescreen LCD monitor it will save lots on the electric bill anyway to add to the savings from my supposedly power saving new PC's power supply.

Thanks in advance.

bob_a_builder

and/or there's an easy DIY fix of some kind?

deep down you already know the answer to that.

anewman

bob_a_builder wrote: »

deep down you already know the answer to that.

Yep, I think it involves my wallet unfortunately

trcooke

I wouldn't recommend a DIY fix of any kind on a CRT monitor, especially any fixing that involves the tube itself. There's hundreds of volts lurking in there even when switched off just waiting to give you an unpleasant surprise.

If I were you I'd leave it well alone and get yourself a new one. Sad as it may be, with the popularity of LCD monitors your CRT is probably not worth more than a tenner now even when it was in good health so now that it's on the fritz you'll not be able to sell it. I had a CPD E320 17" which was great but ended up giving it away.

captainhaddock

They are called flyback lines,which points to wear and tear in the tube or its components,reducing the brighness and contrast can sometimes improve it,hope this helps.

anewman

trcooke wrote: »

with the popularity of LCD monitors your CRT is probably not worth more than a tenner now even when it was in good health

Just had a quick look (to see how much CRT's are these days) and it seems I'd have great difficulty buying anything other than an LCD. Shocking how much I paid 6 years ago, and just to think I thought it was cheap at the time :eek:

trcooke

Sony stopped manufacturing CRT's a good few years ago now.