[BobM]

I own a Gateway FPD2185W 21" Widescreen that I always knew had pretty good color for the price (under$500 US). I started having a "Vertical lines" problem and did a lot of troubleshooting since I couldn't afford the NEC LCD2490WUXi I really wanted ... :-}

I found it is often a problem of bad capacitors which are inexpensively replaced by anyone who can solder, so I disassembled mine to check the caps and found they looked OK.

As an Electronics Tech since Vacuum Tube days (!!) I noticed the solder joints on the power supply board (Inverter??) were poor. I didn't have time to resolder them as I've done on many pieces of "dead" or "broken" equipment (usually fixes it... MANY problems are just bad joints!), so I reassembled the unit.
BEHOLD! It now works! AHAH, I cried! It WAS the solder joints! By my removing the power board and putting it back I had "flexed" or "moved" the joints enough to restore proper contact. I will do a complete resolder of this unit next weekend.

The Panel is a Samsung LTM210M2, which is a nice S-PVA that is the same panel used in the highly regarded NEC LCD2190UXp and some Eizo models. Works quite well for photo editing for those of us that don't have unlimited incomes ... ! Thanks so much in advance, and congrats on such a fine site, you are really doing us all a service.

All my Best, Bob M.

[Torben Rasmussen]

Thank you for the kind words.

The declining quality of todays monitors is a sad trend, pushed ahead by the demand for cheaper monitors. A good panel alone does not do the trick if the rest is poorly assembled as you so nicely demonstrate. The only thing to say is: "you get what you pay for", so if an item seems cheap, it probably is one way or the other