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[tonyw]

I was just given a flat panel screen. It's a Dell, no model number, but "Technology by Philips". It has two signal cables, one with an SVGA connector and one with <that funny "digital" type that's on the rear of modern ATI cards>.

It's faulty, gives a white screen but no video or menu, even.

What gives with the two cables? Should it respond to input from either? Or do both have to be connected for it to work?

Looks like I'm going to learn about TFT screens at last.

tony

[Ilwrath]

The funny digital connector is a DVI. ;-)

The monitor should be able to work with either connector, though you may need to set a switch or option on the monitor itself to tell it which input to use. Also, for the VGA-style connector, you'd need to make sure that you have a resolution/scan frequency within it's acceptable range.

Can you get an on-screen diagnostic menu from the monitor, itself? Or is the logic board in it fried, perhaps?

[tonyw]

No, there's no menu or diags display, only the flat white illumination (back light?).

I just wanted to be sure that it should work with SVGA only before I pull it apart and start looking for obvious faults.

With no display at all, it looks like a pretty basic failure, it just MIGHT be something I can fix.

<edit>
Re-reading your reply, do I get the impression that the DVI input is not scan rate sensitive? Or does it still have to have an appropriate scan rate for the DVI input as well?
</edit>

Thanks
tony

[tonyw]

Well, I pulled it apart and found nothing suspicious (as you'd expect). There was a suspicion of sticky stuff around the edge of the screen, so I dismantled the display carefully and cleaned it internally. No evidence of stuff getting inside it though, and I wasn't surprised when I re-assembled it and it still didn't work.

However, a use for the dead machine has now been found. I'll remove the active screen from in front of the backlight panel and my wife can use it as a light box for her craftwork :-D

tony

[Seehund]

Are you trying to use it with an Amiga?

When I connected a TFT screen to my CV64/3D + scandoubler, I discovered that the TFT apparently was more sensitive than CRTs - or that the scandoubler probably just almost doubled the scanrate to 31 kHz. The TFT sometimes worked, sometimes it went blank, all while using the same screenmode (it worked flawlessly with any other computer).

But I can't remember if I couldn't even get to the built in menus.

[tonyw]

Hi Seehund, long time no see ;-)

No, it's only connected to a PC laptop so far. I went through the early stages with a CRO and confirmed that RGB video is getting through to the big chip, so I'm confident that it's a logic board fault.

tony

[Ilwrath]

so I'm confident that it's a logic board fault.

Yeah, that would be my guess, as you're not getting any on-screen diags, or anything.

As for DVI, I'm not sure if it is scan-rate dependent in any way, or not. As I understand it, the true digital portion is NOT, but my understanding of it may be confused, as I haven't really dealt with it. (I do know that many DVI connectors contain an analog fallback, which IS scan-rate dependent, though. That's how the DVI -> VGA adaptors work... They don't convert digital to VGA, they just take the analog signal that is also in the DVI and send it to the VGA pins.)

[asian1]

Hello
First try to indetify the LCD number from Philips
or Dell. On Dell Website, there are several
documentations about Flat Panel displays.
The only reference I can find on Internet with
"Technology By Philips" is model DELL 1501FP.
Is this the model number? (15 Inch LCD).
If the board failed, perhaps DELL have spareparts
for the broken flat panel.
Try using SNAP or other VGA/monitor diagnostic
programs.

[whabang]

Asian: Dell don't have spare part for monitors. They replace the whole units...

[tonyw]

That's right, it was given to me because the local Dell supplier had already said it was too old (2000) to repair.

tony