Samsung SA350 monitor is flickering - Caps look fine. What else could it be?

[Anagoge]

I have a Samsung SyncMaster SA350 monitor. Had it for minimum six years. It's begun to flicker. It will flicker for around four hours if left on and then it'll be fine after that. It's almost like something is taking a long time to warm up.

At first I thought one of the capacitors had blown. I opened it up but the caps look fine. No signs of bulging or leaking. I'm at a loss as to what it could be.

Having replaced caps on a SyncMaster 226BW before with a similar issue, that's the only thing I can think of, but the caps really do look fine. If you have any advice, I'd appreciate it.

 

[dark_lord69]

"capacitors had blown"
You wouldn't have seen anything if that was the case.

"It's almost like something is taking a long time to warm up."
Yes, you are not wrong.

"I'm at a loss as to what it could be."
The LCD part of the screen that makes the actual image does not give off light. Instead light passes through the LCD from behind it. The light comes from... yep, light blubs. Not really the typical circular kind that you and I are used to see in a lamp. But the rear lights can burn out completely or sometimes on one half of the screen for example. Being a computer technician I've seen it multiple times. You COULD attempt to replace the blub/light source but I don't recommend that. I think you should call Samsung. It's not likely under warranty but they could fix it (paid fix).

Pretty much everyone else would tell you it's time to get a new monitor.

 

[Anagoge]

How easy would it be to replace? The monitor is essentially unusable now anyway so I'm not worried about breaking it further. Do I need to take the metal panel off the LCD once I've taken it out of the plastic housing? Any idea what model/kind of bulbs I'd need for this particular monitor?

 

[dark_lord69]

"How easy would it be to replace?"
As a computer tech and former DELL and HP warranty service provider we didn't fix monitors. They just get replaced.
Easy? umm... I would say it might be fairly hard to replace.

I did a search for parts and I'm only seeing the input board and the power adapter available.
Which makes fixing it nearly impossible.

If you wanted to have some fun you could get a completely different light source. Just make sure the light color temp is quite high or your whites will look redish. Some people use monitors that lack a light source to create a home made projector.

You can place the LCD panel slightly above (or maybe) on the overhead projector then the light passes through and it gets projected onto the wall!!
https://www.amazon.com/Apollo-Overhead-Projector-Inches-V16002M/dp/B000QU40JQ/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_229_tr_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=6E5ME251BR6F9Z775C0B

 

[matskatsaba]

"capacitors had blown"
You wouldn't have seen anything if that was the case.

"It's almost like something is taking a long time to warm up."
Yes, you are not wrong.

"I'm at a loss as to what it could be."
The LCD part of the screen that makes the actual image does not give off light. Instead light passes through the LCD from behind it. The light comes from... yep, light blubs. Not really the typical circular kind that you and I are used to see in a lamp. But the rear lights can burn out completely or sometimes on one half of the screen for example. Being a computer technician I've seen it multiple times. You COULD attempt to replace the blub/light source but I don't recommend that. I think you should call Samsung. It's not likely under warranty but they could fix it (paid fix).

Pretty much everyone else would tell you it's time to get a new monitor.

For once, sorry for necroposting, but this reply is sooo way off, I had to correct it in case someone has the same issue.

Secondly, it is completely possible (and actually pretty easy) to replace the tube that provides light. ON OLDER MONITORS, which use the neon tube (that could flicker technically but in reality, those just stop working too in 90% of the cases).

Sorry to say this, but what you mentioned is totally wrong.
What kind of lamps are you talking about mon?
This is a LED monitor (so yeah, those "lamps" are LEDs). Now, leds don't usually flicker when going bad, they just burn out and stop working.
I have the same monitor with the same issue, and since it seemed to me you just made this reply up based on generic knowledge on lcd monitors, I've decided to take mine apart and have a deeper look.

Here's what I've found:
The "lamps" are four leds on the side of the monitor. They work perfectly when powering them with a power supply (between 30 and 35 volts, depending on the brightness you want), so it's pretty much the board that's faulty. I didn't want to bother with troubleshooting the board and work out what the ASIC does to control the LEDs, so I've just added a buck converter, taking power from the 14V power connector on the board, adjusted it to 35V and wired in a pot to the 35v rail so you can adjust the brightness.
Not very elegant I confess, but it works and you can actually order a replacement board.

Please don't try to be smart in cases when you only have a basic idea about what's happening, regardless where you've worked before, so you can avoid making yourself look like a total amateur. At least, if you would have taken five minutes of your time to do a basic search on this device, you would have figured out that your answer can't possibly be true or useful in any way. "Bring it back to Samsung" for an actual advice on how to repair a faulty hardware that you can do yourself? Come on dude, I'm not even sure this was your actual take on the problem or you were just trolling.

Been browsing tom's hw a lot, but your post was the one that made me actually register on the forums since I couldn't bear to see your inaccurate answer as the only solution, so the community can thank you for that.