Normsweb News:

The Internet is killing hobby websites:

The internet was built by people wanting to share their interests & hobbies with other people.

It could be done fairly cheaply, you could get a domain name cheap, free hosting packages & a free certificate, but now they want to charge you ridiculous prices for every single damn thing... I was ok with having to pay to renew the domain name each year, and hosting obviously costs money, but to charge me £60 per year, per site, just for a damn certificate is a complete and utter RIP-OFF! It's nothing more than a legalised SCAM and it will surely kill off many hobby websites.

R.I.P.

Hewlett Packard HP F1703 TFT Monitor Blackout

If your monitor starts OK then after about a second or two goes dark, this document may help you.

I got this info from a CNET forum, where another technician had tried it and written the "how to" text. I tried it and it has fixed the problem with my monitor. The inside of my monitor was slightly different from that listed in the text, but the general principle is the same. I have added to the text with my findings. My additional comments are in blue. Do this fix at your own risk, I am not liable for damage to you or your monitor. If you are not sure, pay someone to do the job for you.

My info will always be FREE. But if this helps you, please consider a donation to help keep the site going.

How To

I have tried it and it was successful, as a Repair Technician I believe it may well fix most of the Blackouts that occur on this product First, confirm that the power supply is working properly. It should be 12vdc 4amp. If you are unsure about the power supply being faulty, I would suggest trying it on another supply before taking it apart.

It is extremely handy if you have got a high amp variable voltage supply, as then you can increase the voltage slightly and confirm weather or not this text will help you. Increase the voltage from 12 volts by 0.5 volt at a time, pressing the power button off then on again each time, up to a max of about 15 volts. If at some point the monitor comes on and stays bright then you can be pretty sure that this info will sort the problem.

It was suggested that re-soldering the inductors on the power board, of which there are 8 would help, it did, very successfully, the whole procedure should take less than 1 hour.

Remove the stand from the screen 2 screw.

Unclip the silver front surround, the buttons will come with it, you need to be quite physical but careful not to crack the plastic. Look closely into the air-vents at the bottom of the screen, you may notice some silvered clips that you can gently push with a small screwdriver. Once the bottom is released, push gently but firmly outwards on the sides of the plastic surround whilst gently pulling it upwards. Start at the bottom and work up one side then the other. Then using the same motion, ease the top off.

Remove the self tappers that hold the lcd panel and the screws that hold the small power switch board, unplug the power switch board from the other small board, the lcd panel can now be lifted from the plastic case.

Remove the 2 screw locks on the vga connector and the 3 self tappers and metal tape that hold the chrome board cover, remove this cover.

The power board can be removed by pulling off the 4 white connectors, note the positions, undo the 4 self tappers and unplug the power board from the logic board. My monitor was different at this point. I only had two white connectors on the power board. Unplug the two connectors and remove the four screws that hold the power board in place. Loosen or remove the four screws holding the logic board in place. Gently lift and pull the power board away from the logic board.

The inductors are the small coils of wire with a a yellow casing, have 2 legs, resolder all 8 inductive devices, you can solder suck or braid off the old solder if you are keen or just resolder all the legs of these device. Probably in the manufacturing process the enamel on the legs was not properly remove/burnt off, causing eventual failure. I only found 3 main inductors, they weren't yellow and the joints looked fine, but I re-soldered them anyway. Further Inspection with a bright light and a magnifying glass revealed some resistors and capacitors also had suspect joints. Look for hairline cracks or any other defects in the solder around all of the joints on the power board and re-solder any that you think might be suspect - It is time consuming, but it is better to do it now than have to take the whole thing apart again at a later date.

Once this is done you can reassemble up to replacing the chrome cover and then test to see if you have cured the problem.

If you can't handle this keep this info for someone with some repair experience, it would be generous if HP would offer to do the repair if you covered the postage as it is there dropoff. This is a reasonably easy repair if you are competent with a soldering iron, However, some of the joints are very small and there are some very small surface mount components on the board, so be careful with your soldering iron and sucker as not to "shot gun" the board. -Good Luck! Norm.

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