Any experts on computer monitors?

My monitor got messed up after I cleaned it because my little cousin drew all over the screen with a permanent marker. Now there are two colored lines on the left side of the screen. I know it's a hardware problem because I hook up the monitor to a different computer and the same problem arised. I called up tech support they told me I voided the warranty. I don't want to bring it to some computer repair shop because this is one expensive monitor and I don't want to risk ruining it. It's a 20 inch Viewsonic LCD. Any help would be appreciated.

 

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Cleaned it how, and with what?

:m: Peace.

 

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Have you by chance tried to deguass it? Some monitors have this capability built in.

 

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My guess without seeing your monitor would be that your cleaning solution has ingressed into the control Potentiometers, Screen Size, Width,Contrast...ect. This will Cause the resitance values for them to be changed. "I have seen this problem many times" I would suggest getting a can of tuner cleaner from Radio shack and douching them out. However if the internal circuits were wet or damp when this monitor was reenergized it may be FUBAR. Do not use anything other than Tuner cleaner
or electronic contact cleaner it must be fast drying with no residue.

 

To give you an idea of how it looks like, I've decided to draw my impression of it. However the lines are smaller than the one I drew. I used hairspray to get rid of the stains, but then my screen got sticky, so I used windex to clean it up.

To hyperband, what is this tuner cleaner and how does it work?

 

Wow that's an interesting picture!!! Tuner or Electronic contact cleaner is a fast drying electronic component cleaner it leaves no residue and dries very fast. You can find it at your local Radio Shack. It will remove debris and or residue left behind from the Windex Hair Spray combination you used to clean the screen. PLEASE NOTE!!!!
"It is not for cleaning the Screen it is for cleaning Electronic Components such as Potentiometers, Switches, contacts circuit boards......Ect"
Normally what happens is that when you spray the screen on your monitor the liquid tends to seep down into the seams between the Screen and case and from there it can go anywhere. I have seen many a Spent monitor from improper cleaning. What normally happens is that the cleaning fluid gets on and into the internal components of the device causing shorts or over voltage and a plethora of other nasty things. From your picture "And this is just a guess based on 20 years of electronics experience" that you have a component on the verge of failure and it should be serviced by a factory approved technician. "I know you did not want to hear that!!" On LCD screens normally there is a Ribbon cable that connects the Display to the main circuit board if this cable becomes loose and or corroded it could also produce the symptoms in your picture. In any case I believe it will need to be disassembled and checked out. I would not attempt servicing this monitor yourself unless your knowledgeable in electronics you could do way more damage to it. Good Luck!!

 

A damaged CRT shadow mask?

Assuming your monitor is a CRT, and not a LCD type, I wonder if it is a problem with the shadow mask that separates the electron images to light up the correct color dots.

The yellow line would be a mixture of green and red light. Or an absense of blue. The magenta or purple line would be a mixture of blue and red light, or an absense of green. The grey background color, would be a diminished amount of all 3 primary CRT colors -- red, green, and blue. The perfect vertical direction of the lines, might relate to the type of shadow mask? Isn't there a type that does vertical striping patterns? Alternating vertical lines of red, green, and blue, stripes, not necessarily in that order?

And what is going on in the bottom right corner of the screen? Is that some backgroud picture, that I should ignore? It looks sort of 3 dimentional?

But then how could anything that was done, have affected the shadow mask, since it is inside a sealed vaccuum CRT?

I don't know how a degausing or potentiometer issue could produce colored lines, without messing up the rest of the screen?

Cleaning permanent marker?

Never spray any water or solvent on a screen or electronics device. Rather, use a cloth dampened with it, to avoid it running into places where it shouldn't go.

409 cleaner seems to get permanent marker marks off of dry erase boards pretty well.

I am no expert at fixing such stuff. Just my opinion or guess.

 

Re: A damaged CRT shadow mask?