A friend of mine recently gave me his malfunctioning Samsung SyncMaster 204B monitor. He reported problems with display flicker and intermittent failure of the backlight. Suspecting a bad inverter, I plugged it in on my workbench only to be greeted by a blinking power light. Thanks to some Google searches and a hint from this page about the slightly different 204T model, I started to suspect bad capacitors.
|
This project deals with high voltages and can be lethal! Proceed at your own risk. |
THE PROBLEM:
On this monitor, the power supply and inverter boards are integrated into one unit. There were bulging capacitors all over the board:
All but 2 capacitors were affected, but I am going to replace all of them. The manufacturer is CapXon (aka CrapXon), which is a Chinese manufacturer with a less-than-stellar track record.
| Capacitor | Value | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| C112, C304, C305 | 25v/330μF | C304 looked okay, but I’m going to replace it anyway |
| C110, C111 | 25v/820μF (replacing with higher capacity is OK but it must be rated at least 25v!) | Both of these are bulging badly. C111 is starting to leak |
| C105 | 450v/100μF | This is a filter cap for the power supply. Looks fine, but still made by CapXon |
| C107 | 50v/47μF | This cap also looks fine, but it’s a very common value and cheap to replace |
THE SOLUTION:
The site hosting the 204T PDF seems to be a little slow, so I have mirrored it here. Keep in mind that the board shown in this PDF is somewhat different than the board in a 204B monitor, but the disassembly instructions are identical and very helpful. Here is the power/inverter board of the 204B monitor, with arrows indicating which capacitors need to be replaced:
Here is a Mouser.com saved cart of all the parts you’ll need. Last time I checked, it would cost about $5, plus shipping (which is ~$7 for me) for all the capacitors on the power supply board (the ones listed above).
The saved Mouser cart has now been abandoned. See the “caveats” section below…
CAVEATS:
Sometimes the parts in the Mouser cart may be backordered.
You can try searching for in-stock parts that meet the proper specs:
- Go to the capacitor search
- From there, use the table above to choose the capacitance. Click “Apply Filters” to get the results.
- Pick a voltage rating that meets or exceeds the voltage in the table above. Click “Apply Filters” again.
- Sort by price (cheapest first), then picking a Nichicon/Xicon/Vishay/United Chemi-Con/Panasonic cap.
| Don’t forget to look at the physical dimensions! Some of the listed capacitors may be too tall to fit in the monitor, so double check by clicking on the product ID and verifying the length (L). |
If you’d like to use another site such as DigiKey, make sure that the capacitors you choose are aluminum electrolytic, through-hole, and radial lead.
DigiKey and Mouser mostly cater to North American customers. If you’re located elsewhere, try Farnell or RS Components.
Beware of Chinese caps!
113 Comments
I have this same monitor and this same problem. I found this page while searching for a solution. I have virtually zero know-how on the mechanics of fixing this, but I would like to learn how. Could you give me some instructions on how to do what you did and what you needed, or could you direct me to a site with that information? Thanks. – John
Repairing the power supply section is dangerous, especially if you’re not familiar with electronics, high voltage safety, and soldering. Basically, you have to desolder the defective capacitors and install new (high quality) ones that have identical parameters. I will update the post with some more information in the near future.
PS check your email
Thanks for the mouser list and links to the pdf. I effected repair on my monitor yesterday afternoon; and it works like brand new. No more flickering and full brightness is reached immediately. I would tend to think that with good capacitors there is a lot less stress and electrical noise applied to the other components. The 820uF caps were visibly bad, but I replaced them all. The Nichicon caps weigh considerably more and I assume that is because of better quality and perhaps more electrolytic fluid?
Pavel:
Great! I am glad to hear your repair went well. The Nichicon caps probably felt heavier because the electrolyte in the old ones literally dried up, but yes, they are also constructed in a much more durable fashion.
Pavel,
Thanks for re-hosting the .pdf [I agree that my upload speed is rather slow]. Thanks also for identifying the parts on Mouser. Fort Collins [where I live] is a techie town so I just went to my local store. It cost me a total of $4.40.
It’s great to see that your reader-followers are able to replicate the fix. It’s a nice monitor when it works.
Doug [orgional author]
PS: Have you ever lived in Russia? We are headed there this summer for a tour of Golden Ring countryside by Bicycle.
Just wanted to say thank you, awesome contribution and nice touch with cart full of parts. Web sites like yours are what makes the internet great. Well done sir.
My 204B has been flickering for some time, and finally gave up the ghost — no picture unless I turn the monitor off (then I get a picture for a fraction of a second). Yep, definitely capacitor problems. So I found this site, and ordered the replacement parts. And today, I opened the 204B and found that C110, C111 and C112 were all bulging. No surprise there.
However, the largest part was the 100 μF 450V cap, and now I find out that my 204B has a 150 μF capacitor, not a 100 μF one. That’s a pretty big difference.
Has the specs on the 204B changed, or is there something I don’t know?
Pavel:
The designs may have changed, yes. What’s the revision of your board (it’s between the two flat HV transformers)? Mine says “204B-VE REV0.1 2006.04.13″.
The cap is connected to the mains via a rectifier and some other components, so it’s there to smooth the DC output. I think you’ll be fine changing it to the 100μF model unless your power board is significantly different.
Hi, Pavel. The revision is the exact same.
Another difference from the PDF is that one of the resistors shown on the PDF is just a wire on my board, and the six individual transformer coils shown on the PDF are just two on mine.
Anyhow, from what I can tell, the 1500 μF capacitor is just a filter for the power input, and as it’s working, I didn’t bother changing it out. Spikes won’t be a problem with the power being provided by a filtered UPS anyhow.
Changing C110, C111 and C112 was all that was needed — it now works well again.
If I were to do it again, though, I’d probably swap out C112 with one 100 μF and one 220 μF capacitor, to reduce the risk of overheating — there’s a spare socket next to C110 that is parallel to C112.
Just wannted to drop a quick thanks.
I have three of the 204Bs set up, less than two years old. As of now all three have had problems with this.
Samsung is useless when it comes to tech
support, getting schems, etc. And I fix monitors, along with other equipment, for a living. Getting this posted has saved me a ton of time going in and T/S it to find the problems.
Big Kudos.
Absolutely wonderful. Just fixed up two 204B’s, both had been flickering when turned on and one had just started with the blinking powerlight and no picture. Now they are both instantly powered on and bright as ever.
C110 and C111 replaced with 25v/1000uF actually instead of the 25v/820uF
Why? I think that with high quality caps you don’t need to worry about it. If you’re really concerned, try populating C113 for extra stability as Arthur Hagen suggested.
!!!!!Yet another satisfied customer!!!!!
My work has had 5 of these monitors (204T models) that have the same issue and since they where throwing them away I decided that I could not do any harm.
I also replaced the 820 caps with the 1000 caps, the ONLY reason that I did this was because the local store did not have any 820 caps and I didn’t want to wait to have some shipped to me (I did do some googleing and found out that going up in uF’s would not hurt the system). Also I didn’t replace C105 because it looked big and scary.
I have limited knowledge in engineering and after replacing the capacitors I just thought…. This is to easy of a fix to work, but it worked!
Thanks for the information!
I think I’m having the same problem. I’d like to try this and took a look at the PDF for the ‘T’ monitor, but my 204B does not have any obvious way to get into the case – no slot exists below the monitor controls. Does anyone have advice on how to properly open the case?
Thank you,
John
John,
The slot isn’t apparent as the clip mechanism is completely internal. You pretty much have to (gently) pry it open. I used a narrow plastic putty knife to avoid marring the plastic case.
Thank you so much for your help. I followed your instructions and fixed my 204b. It took longer than I wanted because some of the caps were back ordered. My soldering looks bad because it is the first time I did it but it works. The 820 caps were a little bigger so I had to brush them against each other. Still works great though.
Thanks for your help.
Pavel,
I am a retired Electronics Technologist (44 years) (Last class trained by the Navy for the Marine Corps in vacuum tubes back in 1965.) I had a Samsung SyncMaster 204B with this problem. Your article allowed me to fix it with zero hassle and 100% confidence. The symptoms were consistent with the proposed fix. I replaced all 7 capacitors provided in your list.
Thank you very much for providing all the necessary information, especially the Mouser saved cart of all required parts. Back in early June when I first read your article on this fix I placed an order using your Mouser List. (A nice touch.) Initially they were backordered on the 330UF caps, with a promise date of 8-21-2009. I decided to wait since I was able to turn on the monitor by turning the power switch on and off a couple of times at starting power up time and full brightness was available in a couple of minutes. (I did not want to disassemble it more than once.)
The parts arrived early (24 July) ($9.95 cents in the door with shipping. $4.80 parts, $5.15 shipping.)
Last Night I found the time to implement the fix. Patience and the pictures provided made me push on with a pair of narrow bladed screw drivers. It became easy once you discover the spacing and the rhythm, and just the guts to do it. Also it had been a while since I had soldered anything. A temperature controlled tip I think is a must. There is also a coating designed to resist solder, makes it bead and not adhere except on the actual pads. (This is actually a good thing, but tricky at first.) I used 63/37 Eutectic solder instead of 60/40. This assured me of plastic state free really good joints. Patience and care were rewarded. Put it back together in reverse order, reconnected to my HP HDT16-1140us and my baby is back. It’s the perfected 2nd Monitor for this laptop. I like the Portrait/Landscape Rotation.
Your approach to sharing this fix really illustrates what can be done with well written and documented support information. Big corporations could learn a lot from this example.
Robert M. Kendig, very appreciative, in Michigan
Just want to say THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Just fixed my Samsung 204b. I just replaced the 5 Capacitors:
C112, C304, C305 25v/330μF
C110, C111 25v/820μF (Note: i did replaced with 25v/1000uF)
All good and back to normal, like new. Once again thank you
Curious, the capictors that you have saved in the mouser cart are 50v 820 instead of 25v as listed above. Will that cause an issue or was that intentional? Thanks,
Matt
The voltage rating is the maximum voltage the cap will tolerate during operation.
The 25v ones were backordered when I checked the cart again, so I replaced them with the 50v version.
Technically you have more “headroom” in regard to the voltage spikes the cap will tolerate, but in reality they will get charged to <25v since the board had 25v caps originally.
I’m glad I found this article. I have this very same monitor. I was putting up with the flickering and figured it would go out soon. I wake up today turn it on, try both digital and analog ports and nothing.
I haven’t done any electrical stuff for a of couple years, but this should be simple enough.
I have a question about the mouser save cart you listed. You said you picked all Nichicon parts but the last one on the list is Xicon. Is that correct or did something change with that item over at Mouser?
The Nichicon caps were backordered, so I updated the cart with other suitable caps. Mouser’s parts stock is likely to keep changing, so I suggest building the cart yourself using the specs provided and Mouser’s capacitor search.
My 204B:
204B-VE (I) Rev0.0 2006.09.06
—————————————————————————-
C301, C302 680uF 25v Bad
C105 100uF 450v Looked okay, but replaced
C110, C111 820uF 25v Bad
C112 330uF 25v Bad
C107 47uF 50v Looked okay, but replaced
Thanks Pavel- I fixed 2 of these so far!
Thanks Pavel. One more 204B monitor saved (I changed the 5 infamous capacitors).
This webpage is definitively a environment friendly webpage. Imagine the numbers of monitor you just saved
Haha, thanks! I hadn’t thought of it that way!
Thanks Pavel! I repaired the first of the two 204Bs that I have. The second hasn’t started flickering yet, probably because I don’t use it as much. The 2 820 uF caps were bad in the first 204B.
Thanks for the info. My 204b was flickering and taking 2-4 mins to start up. I replaced two of the capacitors that looked bloated and everything worked like new afterwards.
Really appreciate the help since I can’t afford to buy another monitor right now. My cheapo solder iron I bought for $15 finally paid for itself. Only used it once before
Pavel,
Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I used the mouser cart and ordered all of the caps even though I only needed two. Of course the two that I needed were too large (physically speaking) so now I have to order two more. The ones that were too big for the case to close properly were the 820uF 50v ones. Even though you mentioned to measure the current caps, I didn’t so I figured I’d post here so everyone can learn from my mistake!!
I will say that even though I am possibly the worst solderer in the entire world, the Monitor was working (without the case) after I installed the two new ones. Thank you so much, as I got this monitor for free, and it will have ended up costing me less than 20 dollars to fix!!
Pavel,
Thank you for detailing this fix, it works perfectly.
Max,
Were you able to lay the two (tall) 820 caps on their side. There was a perfect fit for my 204b to lay them side-by-side.
A head’s up that the shopping cart on 2-Sept-09 results in 820uF/50V caps for C110 and C111 (Mouser p/n 647-UPW1H821MHD) that are too tall to fit standing up. However, the leads are long enough that you can bend them 90deg and lay the caps on their sides. Just make sure to use a pair of needle-nose pliers to prevent damage, and bend the positive right next to the exit point, as there isn’t much extra to work with on the negative lead (which is shorter to start with, and must travel further).
Mouser cart has been updated with shorter (by 1.5cm) caps, so they should fit vertically now.
Thanks a ton!
My Samsung Syncmaster226BW recently went down. Power light was flickering but nothing on the screen.
I was searching on the net and came across this article.
So, never having done anything of this nature before I nervously took apart my monitor and sure enough three of the 5 capacitors had bulging tops and one appeared to have a crack. I checked around and since I was able to get three new caps for $2 total, I thought what the heck I would give soldering a try. Well, I replaced the three old bad ones and voila! My monitor works like new and that pesky power light is on and nolonger blinks.
Thanks again.
Thanks SO much! My monitor is now working again
No problem with the bigger caps…I just bent them to fit.
My god, I’m so glad you put this page up. I have two 204B’s One already up’ed and died (in 2008), and the one I’m using now is on it’s way to the grave. I’ve kept the old one around in case I learned how to fix it. You saved me the hassle of finding a replacement monitor and a couple hundred dollars to boot. It breaks my heart to know that you can’t buy 4:3 monitors anymore T_T (at a reasonable price)
-Many Thanks!
It’s always nice to bring hardware back from the dead. Saves you money, and prevents easily fixable equipment from ending up in the trash. Too bad the disposable culture is more prevalent than the DIY culture.
I have a problem with 204Ts monitor. It works for about 15 minutes then the picture disappears – turns black (blank). When I turn it off and on it works again for about 15 minuts. What do you think is the problem? Would replacing the capacitors help?
Thanks
What a great resource you’ve been. The 820μF caps were too tall, then I arranged them on their side with leads at 90 deg. angle, soldered in and placed a dab of hot glue to secure them. Thank you for sharing.
two more brought back from the dead! thanks a ton for taking the initiative, was planning on it but hesitant to pop the top without knowing what was under there and I couldnt get a schematic out of the repair people. this is an excellent writeup!
disassembly was much easier than expected for all those on the fence, once you get a tool in ( i used a plastic 2″ putty knife, my usual go-to for prying apart modern electronics ) you can just slide it along while angling the front bezel out and away from the rear cover and it pops right off. thats the hardest part of the whole deal! only took 45 minutes for the pair.
Just completed your fix. Thanks for sharing it with everyone.
Monitor now working like new. As stated by a previous poster,
the hardest part was opening the case(i used a butter knife).
Great $9.00 fix!! Thanks Again!!
Another Samsung 204B has been saved! Thanks Pavel!
This is how it went. My monitor slowly started taking a long time to start up (it would take forever for the backlight to turn on, and then it would slowly flicker up to full brightness). I was thinking I would need a new monitor, but I decided to google it first. After coming across this post, I knew what my problem was, so I ordered all the capacitors from mouser. The 3 25v/330μF ones I ordered arrived with the plastic bag, but NO capacitors. I got in touch with them and they overnighted them to me. I got them today, and after taking apart the monitor I decided to only replace the 2 25v/820μF ones, because they are the only ones you described as bad, the only ones that looked bad on mine, AND the ONLY ones on my monitor which were actually made by C(r)apXon. I don’t have all the proper tools (such as a solder sucker or a way to safely discharge the capacitors) but I got it done anyway, and now my monitor works as good as new. Thanks!!!
Thanks for the fix.
Got two ‘CAP 820UF’ from Digi-Key for $4.10 including shipping.
Thanks again for your help.
REPLACED ALL 5 CAPS STILL DOES NOT WORK WHEN I POWER IT UP THE POWER LIGHT FLASHES THEN TURNS OFF AND THATS IT ANY OTHER IDEAS NO OTHER PARTS SEEM TO BE BURNT I HEARD SOME ONE MENTION THE 606 DIODE ON THE HEAT SINK COULD OF FAILED DID ANY ONE HAVE LUCK WITH THAT
THANKS
CHRIS
Chris,
Check that all your connections are correct and that all parts are in the correct locations. Test that diode, and also test the HV transformers for continuity.
Good luck and post your results!
fantastic! you’ve saved me $100 and let me raise my bar for DIY success; thanks!
what is the original size (dia X length) of the 820 caps?
Mine were 10 mm in diameter and 20 mm long. The capacitors in the saved cart are 16 mm in diameter and 20 mm long and they are 50 volts. The 16 mm diameter was a slight problem. I had to put insulation on the lead wires since I had to bend them over after soldering them in. The 50 volts was OK according to my brother and he was right. The capacitors were tight but worked and the monitor works too!
THANKS PAVEL!
Steve
Thank you, Pavel! You have rescued my monitor. Thanks for posting the information and especially the Mouser saved cart. I’m just wondering what sort of public service award we can nominate you for.
Many thanks!!!
Bob
Hi Pavel, thanks for your help!
Initially the monitor didn’t even turn on (only a blinking blue power led). I swapped the capacitors and now the monitor turns on (and the “analog”, “digital”, “disconnected cable” messages appears). However, when I connect it to a computer (I only have an analog VGA on my two computers), it only flickers as if it’s failing to synchronize with the computer, without giving any error message. Could it be caused by the fact I used different (bigger) values for the capacitors (I didn’t find the exact values), or is it because something else is broken in addition to the capacitors? (Note that I hadn’t used this monitor on these computers before: I have salvaged it) Bye and thank you for your VERY useful page!!
Lorenzo
If you get a “no signal” message, that means the backlight and panel are functioning properly. The capacitors mentioned here affect the backlight/power supply only, so if the monitor is turning on reliably and is able to show something on the screen then the power board is not the problem.
Did you replace any parts on the I/O board? You may have loosened or broken off a component, but I think it’s a bit improbable that you would have broken it just enough so that it appears to function but doesn’t accept a VGA signal.
Before disassembling the monitor again, the first thing to try various resolutions on your computer. Also, try using a known good VGA cable. If that fails, try a different computer.
You can also reset the adjustments to defaults. From experience with other monitors, the menus and error messages ignore any brightness/contrast settings. Maybe the brightness has been turned all the way down by accident?
Woohoo! Thanks for your guidance, this fixed my flickering issue. The solder was a bit hard to remove, the trick was to add a bit of my own solder first before wicking the old solder.
The 50v/820μF were much larger than the 25v/820μF caps but I made them fit. Thanks for another revived 204B!
Great page,
It saved me buying a new monitor.
Repair done fairly easily, I bought all capacitors but in the end I just changed the bulged ones (820uf).
Surprisingly the hardest part is to remove the plastic cover
My wife’s monitor is now shinning again.
Thanks a lot. Laurent.
I assumed that the backlights must be failing and started hunting for replacement panels/lamps, but ran across this site. Since the symptoms were identical to mine, I figure I should give it a go. Now, I’m writing this note on a good-as-new 204b. Thanks for the guide!
Any idea if this is the same problem on the Samsung 203B? At work we’ve got a bunch of them that have gone bad (blinking power button when connected to good input). I’m guessing that it is a similar problem, and am going to crack one open to check. I’m hoping the instructions on opening the 204B is similar…
Fantastic! This is the first time I have ever removed a component from a PCB.
Some tips from my own experience:
Remove the stand and mount first from the monitor by unscrewing the four screws.
Removing the case is the trickiest part. I happened to pull out the control cord by accident but was able to put it back.
The solder on the PCB did not melt until I turned my soldering iron up to 400 C and added some lower temp solder to the spot.
Probably. Open it up and post your results!
If you want to desolder components like a pro but don’t want a hot air rework station, get a Hakko 808:
Check another one that’s not in the landfill.
A friend gave me a 204b and with your help I was able to repair it.
I did have a problem with c110 and c111, The 50v/ 820 uF caps from the mouser cart were physically too large to fit. I was able to find some 25v/820 uF caps at a local TV repair shop and used those instead.
This is why I love the internet. Sharing of information. Now if you ever have any questions about baking…
Glad to hear you got your monitor working! I am going to retire the mouser cart since it’s becoming too much to take care of due to changing stock, outdated parts, etc.
Regarding baking, check out my posts about baking sourdough bread!
i need help opening the black case sync master 204b ther no screws . thank you
Hi Johnny,
Take a look at the PDF linked in my post. It had instructions for disassembling the monitor. You should only need a plastic putty knife and a screwdriver.
And still another saved 204B!
Mine was taking forever to warm up. After replacing 5 caps, it starts up immediately! Took probably 30 minutes total.
Now to the 2nd monitor!
Thanks
I did, and it does look pretty much identical inside. Now I just need to order some new capacitors…
My Samsung 204B is good as new except for a few scratches trying to open the case. Total cost of parts was 12ILS ($3.5USD) plus another ~$15USD for the soldering iron, solder, wick, etc. I just handed the board to the guy at the store and he had a bag of replacements in 1 minute. I also could not find a non-CapXon 820uF and went for 1000uF, no problems yet. I swapped all but the 450v cap because I didn’t want to mess with the glued part and it looked fine. I should have read Kevin P’s the tip about adding some solder to remove the old solder. Took forever to get the first cap off!
Pavel, you should mention temperature rating of capacitors. The capacitors are all next to large heat sinks (diode bridge, oscillator/transistor and low voltage diode). Use brown (85 degrees C) or black (105 degrees C) or better.
Thanks for your comment — I will update the capacitor list to include temperatures. In my experience, however, the heatsinks get barely warm. Maybe other monitors are different?
Glad to hear you fixed your monitor!
Thanks for the tips. I recently repaired my malfunctioning monitor by replacing the three 330 uF and two 820 uF caps. When the old capacitors were still attached to the board, they were reading capacitance values in the mF range (I know that this is the capacitance of a circuit, not just the component). When I removed the old components, the 330 uF’s were measuring about 100 mF and were slightly bulged at the top. The two 820 uF’s were reading about 200 uF on my Fluke meter. I couldn’t locate any new 820 uF caps in town, so I went with two 1000 uF caps that I got at a TV repair shop. Things seem to be working fine.
Thanks again, very useful information for me.
Hey, just wanted to say thanks for putting this site up. My 204B recently had been doing the “rapid-blinking, slow to warm up” thing and finally died (power light blinking). I’d had another one do the same thing before, this one was the warranty replacement for my first. Thanks to this site explaining what to look for and replace, I was able to repair my dead 204B for less than $15!
Opening up my monitor, I found C110 and C111 to be the only CrapXon caps on the ciruit board, and coincidentally, they were the only caps with any bulge to them. I too found the solder to be a little hard to melt, but after getting the iron nice and hot and using a desoldering wick I was able to get the old caps off. I ordered some 820uF 25v Nichicon caps from Mouser and they worked great. Mine were the 647-UPM1E821MHD – exactly the right height and values, but a little fatter (they touch each other and one leans a little to one side).
Put it all back together and it works perfectly. I’m an IT consultant by trade, not an electronics technician. The extent of my soldering experience is replacing a couple of broken laptop power jacks and a USB port on a printer. Thanks to all the info on this site, I was able to do something I thought was nearly impossible. Keep up the great work, and thanks again!
were can i find 820uf 25v cap and 330uf cap
Please see the “Caveats” section on how to pick the right capacitors on Mouser. You can also use DigiKey, Farnell, etc.
Thank you so much! I have patched up 2 SyncMaster 204B Monitors with your guide and user comments! Ordered from Digi-Key. My 450v capacitors in the monitors were both the 150UF not the 100 as in the guide, but I caught that before ordering.
Digi-Key Item #s that I got (worked great)
P13123-ND = CAP 330UF 25V Elect EB Radial (need 3 per monitor @ $0.36/each)
P11222-ND = CAP 820UF 25V Elect FC Radial (need 2 per monitor @ $1.30/each)
P14104-ND = CAP 150UF 450V Elect TS-HC (need 1 per monitor @ $4.50 /each)
The 450v cap I ordered had short pins, but I cut the pins off as close as I could to the the old capacitor , then just soldered it together.
Did both monitors in 80mins… (50mins for the first monitor/30mins for the second).
Remember – Check the Polarity!
This is another thank you for sharing this information.
and 1920×1200 monitors are quite expensive, and I refuse to lose ~120 pixels in the vertical to the popular “1080p” monitors! Like many who commented here, my 204b just got out of Samsung’s warranty period.
You have saved me the US$300+ it would’ve cost me to replace my 204b. 1600×1200 monitors aren’t being made anymore
Thanks to your clear specs on the capacitors required, I ordered $2.50 worth (all caps you have listed except the big mother 450v one) + $2 shipping.
I only replaced the 3 caps that were clearly bulging and leaking some brown substance. The caps in the middle of the board (C304, C305) looked stellar as did the huge 450v cap – these were all capXon brand as well.
Here are some pics of the culprit capacitors!
http://img301.imageshack.us/i/c110brownscumcrop.jpg/
http://img301.imageshack.us/i/c110111112sideview.jpg/
http://img229.imageshack.us/i/c110111112sideviewclear.jpg/
http://img704.imageshack.us/i/c110111112topview.jpg/
For C110 and C111, I used these capacitors. They are slightly taller than the capXon ones Samsung uses, but they are not too tall – they fit just fine. They are 1-2mm taller than the heatsink they are located beside.
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?WT.z_header=search_go&lang=en&site=us&keywords=493-1556-ND&x=9&y=17
For C112 I used
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?WT.z_header=search_go&lang=en&site=us&keywords=493-1063-ND&x=14&y=19
Since I had never soldered before, for learning how to desolder, I found this to be a clear and picture-full guide.
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/printpage/164
My monitor’s history in case anyone is interested:
It is a refurb from Samsung after my original 204b developed a yellow line of pixels across the screen (so my first 204b problem was unrelated to the inverter & capacitor problem). This refurb, about a year after owning it, started to take about 10 minutes to “warm up” before displaying a picture. Only until 2 weeks ago did the backlight flickering during normal operation start to occur.
I diagnosed the problem to be not with the backlight itself, but with the power going into the back light for one reason: The more dark pixels on screen, the darker the backlight got. I suspect this is because white RGB(0,0,0) requires no voltage (or little voltage) to be applied to the molecules sitting in each pixel/subpixel. White is the default color of a pixel when no voltage is applied?
Yesterday the backlight refused to turn on no matter if the screen was entirely white. So today I removed the leaking capacitors and replaced them with new ones – the monitor is working as-new! Thank you again. If this were real life I would hug you.
Thanks for the great advice. I have a syncmaster 206 with the same problems. Three of the Capxon capacitor (2) 1000uf25v and (1) 470uf25v where bulging.
I will replace these parts later when I can find them locally. The shipping is too high for $1 in parts. ($6.90).
Thanks again for your help.
I replaced all the caps except for the 450V one. After reassembling I get a constant blue power button light when power is applied. When plugged into a computer I get no result either way, and the power button does not appear to do anything. I went ahead and ordered the 450v cap, but have a feeling that will not solve this problem. Any suggestions?
My 204B has the symptoms, however it doesn’t have the small slot mentioned in the disassambly instructions. Any info about disassembly would be appreciated.
Keep gently prying at the case with a plastic putty knife or similar tool — you’ll find one of the plastic snaps eventually. Getting past the first one is the most difficult part of disassembly.
I too have had problems with my 204B loosing the picture and then turning back on.. I found another post that said the culprits were likely to be at C110 and C111. I replaced those two caps with 820uf 25v caps but my monitor still goes blank. Do you think replacing the other caps you mentioned above would fix my problem or might by problem be on the other board?
Thanks, Stu
My only advice would be to replace the remaining caps. If that doesn’t solve the problem, then investigate the backlighting tubes or the HV transformers.
Good luck!
Just repaired the fourth 204B this way.
I ordered the other caps and will replace them soon. I will look at all the other caps on while I’m in there. Is there anything else that I should be inspecting while I have the “hood open”?
Again, my screen goes blank sometimes.
I just repaired the 204B that was given to me this way too. Thanks for saving me some time! For those that don’t do switching power supplies for a living.. C110 and C111 are the filter caps for the 13V rail that then go through the inductor and power the green (solder masked) video board. The 3 330uF capacitors are the filter capacitors for the backlighting inverters. the 2 in two in the center of the board have a small ceramic capacitor across the leads under the board, which absorbs much of high frequency noise from the PFC Flyback transformer. There are no capacitors near the main bulk capacitors (the 3 right by the transformer) to take off the switching edges, leaving all the ripple to be absorbed by the electrolytics. Pretty harsh on them, not surprising that they get hot and vent. The unpopulated capacitor location just “above” the 3 in a row is also in parallel with the other 330uF capacitors. And can be populated as well if you want a little more supply filtering. I added some 10nF (0.01uF) 50V ceramic capacitors right across the bottoms of the replaced capacitors near the transformer to keep them happier. Of course, just replacing them with Panasonic and Nichicon capacitors probably was enough.
I replaced all the caps. The monitor ran great for a day or two and now is “blanking out”again.
Can someone give me specific instructions on how to troubleshoot the backlighting tiubes or the HV transformers as mentioned above by Pavel?
Thanks!
It only starts to act up once it has been on for a long period of time. Usually a couple of hours. Hopefully that info might be helpful to someone smarter than I to diagnose the problem.
Stuart, when you say ‘blanking out’, do you mean the screen just turns itself off, then back on? When it comes back on, is it at full brightness? If so, are you running 1600x1200x32 @60Hz via the DVI connector? If the answer to all three is ‘yes’, then you are likely running into the same issue I did (apart from the bad caps)… basically the converter chip inside the thing is *barely* able to keep up with that level of information flow, and occasionally throws up its hands and resets itself. A work-around given to me by my graphics card manufacturer is to set a custom resolution which runs at about 59.2Hz refresh. Since then, no problems
Something not mentioned here, some SyncMaster 204B intermittently go blank because the DVI controller Samsung used to build this particular model is at the edge of it’s controller bandwidth when operating at 1600x1200x60Hz. (VGA doesn’t run into this problem because it uses a different controller).
So, to diagnose – use the VGA controller — if you still have blanking issues it’s probably a hardware problem as described above; if this resolves your problem, chances are you need to tweak your video card timings to work with this monitor. I found just forcing 1600x1200x59hz worked well, but I saw several articles on the Internet that claimed you could use ‘reduced blanking mode’ in your graphics card settings to fix it as well.
Hope this tid bit helps,
Sam
Sam,
I saw your comment and thought I would give it a try. I ran out to my garage and located a DVI to VGA convertor, plugged it into my video card and then used a vga cable to attach it to the VGA port on my 204B. The problem is that my monitor is not seeing a signal. Is this because I’m using an incompatible VGA cable or is it because I must change some setting in the video driver? I’m running dual monitors and looked for driver/software settings but didn’t find any. You help would be appreciated.
Thanks, Stu
My monitor has now decided to work using the VGA cable and port but I cannot acheive the 1600 x 1200 resolution. I’ve messed around with the resolution and ATI catlyst setting with no luck.
1. What’s the trick to getting the bezel and back separated?
2. Do you really have to discharge the capacitors before removing? Any place to actually get a capacitor discharge line without having to construct one – or a different way of discharging them?
3. Any other important tips or hints to get this done right? Not a electronic engineer here.
Thanks!
Everything is working fine. I reset my monitor and the picture it popped into place.
The monitor is now rock solid and does not cut out. Apparently this was the issue with my 204B and not the caps.
Be sure you are familiar with a soldering gun and know how to remove the existing solder with a braid.
If you are not good at this, you should probably get a friend to help you.
Hi Dana,
The “trick” is to simply pry at the case with a tool that won’t mar the case. Plastic putty knives are preferred, but you can also use a plastic card, disposable chopsticks, or a CD (I prefer the clear dummy discs from CD-R spindles).
It’s highly recommended that the capacitors are discharged since it’s very easy to give yourself a nasty jolt. Don’t short the terminals with a metal object since this might lead to a small explosion. All you really need is the power resistor – the alligator clips and insulated wire are to make things safer. I don’t recommend this since the leads are exposed and the resistor may get hot.
The whole procedure is pretty straightforward. To save yourself extra work, look carefully at both sides of the board and make sure there are no damaged components, scorch marks, or other anomalies. If so, the board has some other problem besides the caps.
The two power ripple filtering capacitors C110 and C111 have a value (820uF) that Radioshack doesn’t carry. If you want to “fix it today” and not have to wait for mail order parts, consider the following. The purpose of the two 820uF is smoothing voltage ripple. In those situations it is okay to use a larger value. Both are wired in parallel, so the total capacitance is 2 x 820uF = 1,640 uF. I substituted two 1,000 uF/35V capacitors (standard at Radioshack) and all problems were resolved (24 hours ago as of this writing). Note that I used 35V versions instead of 25V to reduce heat development (and thus prolong life).
Very useful information. I was able to fix my Samsung 204B by replacing those capacitors. Works perfectly now!
Now all that remains is to fix my other 204B that suffers from the same problem.
Thanks
Worked great! Another happy reader. My 204B did not flicker, it just shut down completely after running a few minutes. Gradually it started shutting down sooner and sooner until I couldn’t even get to my boot prompt.
My 204B’s CapXon capacitors showed no physical damage. They looked like new. I sent away for the Mouser shopping cart posted on this page (fall 2009) and it took two months to arrive. The caps physical size was a problem in a few cases, but fortunately I was able to bend the leads a little and fit them all in.
My 204B also had the problem with the DVI input at 1600×1200. I don’t know if it still has it or not – I just use the VGA now.
Note: I just noticed they are selling sets of replacement caps on e-bay. About $11 inclusive.
Thanks for posting this. I was having the same problem on my 226BW and there were three bulging caps – C111, C112 & C114 (they are the same ones as your C110 & C111, except the 226BW evidently has 3).
Replaced with Panasonic EEUFK1E821′s (for other UK users, you can get them here: http://uk.rs-online.com/web/0571290.html).
The monitor is easy to dismantle, the PCB is well marked and not too cluttered around the cap pins, so it’s about a 15-20 minute job.
Sorted. Once again, thanks for your help
Thanks for the web-site.
My 204B monitor was very slow coming up and though damm, “I have to buy a new monitor”. It was not a cheap monitor either.
I ordered a set of caps from Digi-Key.
I selected the highest quality caps they had, and it still was under $10 bucks with a few spares.
I used a putty-knife to open the case, which left no scratches. Pushing it in and then twisting it slightly unsnapped the “hooks”. It was very easy.
The replacement went fine, I got some caps that were a little taller so I put one of them at a slight angle for clearance.
I did not replace the 450V/150uF cap, it seems to be good enough (I still have the replacement cap sitting in a drawer).
All original CapXon (CrapXoff?) caps, except the 450V, had bulges. I measured their capacity with a humble Wavetek 27XT DMM: The 820uF caps measured ~120uF, The 330Uf caps measured 100 -130 uF, the all important ESR (which I have not yest measured) is likely degraded too.
The 450V/150uF cap was in spec.
These are the caps I got from Digi-Key:
P11221-ND 820uF/25V $1.07/ea.
P12414-ND 330uF/35V $0.43/ea.
P10321-ND 47uF/50V $0.28/ea.
493-2074-ND 100uF/450V $3.81 (not used)
The monitor now works fine and comes up instantly.
That connector connecting the monitor logic board to the display matrix can be a [removed - please watch your language]. My guess is you have to make sure it is seated perfectly. I had to tape the wire in place because I’d accidentally destroyed the latch on one side of that connector.
One of my 204B takes about 15 minutes to display the screen. Even then it flickers for another 15 minutes before becoming stable. I followed this guide along with the comments posted below, ordered the capacitors (2 sets for 2 LCDs) from Digikey, and replaced just the broken ones. The bad LCD has been fixed.
My new C110 and C110 have diameter larger than the stock ones. Once replaced, they sit at a slight angle to one another. I was more concerned about their height than width.
A note, the OEM capacitors terminals need to be straightened out in order to remove them without too much pulling force.
Total cost of two sets of capacitors: ~$20 (including S&H). I’m back to using dual LCDs. Thanks for the guide!
Thank you so much!
I have a Samsung 204B that takes 5 minutes to light up. I was going to send it to Samsung service center (in NJ?). It’s out of warranty.
Here are the parts that I ordered from digi-key:
Qty Part Number Description Unit Price Extended Price
2 P11221-ND CAP 820UF 25V ELECT FC RADIAL 1.07000 $2.14
3 P12414-ND CAP 330UF 35V ELECT FM RADIAL 0.43000 $1.29
1 493-2074-ND CAP 100UF 450V ELECT PW RADIAL 3.81000 $3.81
2 493-1554-ND CAP 680UF 25V ELECT HE RADIAL 0.66000 $1.32
1 P13464-ND CAP 47UF 50V ELECT EB RADIAL 0.14000 $0.14
The 680 uF cap is only needed for Rev. 0 boards. I was not sure what hw rev. is my 204B. So I ordered it.
Try to order other 47UF 50V caps. The one I ordered has much thicker legs and it wouldn’t fit into the hole on the board. I had to do the drilling.
C110 and C111 on my board obviously look bad. I replaced other caps as well. It took me the whole night to do the job. I am very clumsy.
Now the LCD works fine.
Thank you very much.
Hey, I have a question for you Hein.
I just bought the radioshack ones and arent they a little wide to fit both of them? Did you just cramp them both in??
How in the world did you remove the old caps? I cranked the soldering gun up to 860F and those suckers didn’t move at all. The solder barely looks dented. Any tips?
Thanks in advance!
-Erik
Erik,
I use a Hakko 808 desoldering gun.
It’s not cost-effective for a one time job, so I’d recommend using liquid flux and a flat-tipped iron.
thank you.
can please someone get me the website i can order capacitors(820uf 25v) really worked, because i don’t wan’t to get defect some chinese. pleaes help. thanks,
Thanks for the info! I ordered the parts below, not being sure what rev boards I had. I have five of these LCDs, and two were flaky, so I ordered enough to fix all five. Turns out the two I had to fix were Rev 0.0 boards. Some of the caps were swollen, two had actually oozed out the tops.
Hardest part was getting the cases apart. I screwed up the corners on one of them, broke the little internal locking tabs. Some close-up photos would be really good to add.
Of the five LCDs, four are refurbs, one was bought new. The new one and one of the refurbs had to be fixed, and the [removed - please watch your language] at the refurb center apparently thought the four machine screws that hold the back shell on were optional. Luckily, from my large collection of PC case screws, I found four that were correct.
Below is my Digikey list. I used different 47uf caps than the ones Xiachen warned about, the 565-2004-ND’s fit with no issues. The 820uf’s were a little taller than the originals, but still cleared the shell with a couple millimeters to spare.
1 10 565-1553-ND CAP 820UF 25V ELECT KY RAD 0 0.45900 $4.59
2 10 565-1551-ND CAP 680UF 25V ELECT KY RAD 0 0.36900 $3.69
3 10 565-1984-ND CAP 330UF 35V ELECT LXZ RAD 0 0.49200 $4.92
4 15 565-2004-ND CAP 47UF 50V ELECT LXZ RAD 0 0.31500 $4.72
Incidentally, the caps in my boards where made by V O A.
Probably NOT Voice Of America
great information thanks
Mouser was great
This works. My monitor was taking 5+ minutes to warm up. I used the suggestions here and replaced C110 and C111 with 2 1,000Mf 35v capacitors from Radio Shack for $1.60 a piece. The whole project took about an hour and the monitor works. Thanks for the help.
David
Sorry, wrong abbreviation. Should read” 2-1,000 UF 35V.
Thank You So Much Pavel! $5 and my beloved 204B is like new!
My board is Rev 0.1 with no 680µF caps and a 150µF at C105. All caps are CrapXon except the 330µF’s which are Samxon (Hong Kong). All caps are rated at 105ºC.
I will order a complete Cap replacement set but, since only the 820µF caps at C110,C111 were bulging, I went with the Radio Shack 1000µF 35V caps, pn 292-1032, 85ºC, $1.59 each. At 12.5mm x 20mm, height is perfect but the diameter is a little too wide so one had to be tilted slightly.
Thanks to Nick, a $1 2″ Plastic Putty Knife works perfectly for opening the case. Standing the panel upright, upside down, and holding the knife ‘stabbing’ style, starting over the ‘Samsung’ label, just push down with increasing pressure until the snaps yield. It sounds like they’re breaking but they’re not. Once the first ones open, just slide the knife along the widening gap while still pusing down with a rocking motion. The corners were a bit harder so I didn’t force them, just rotated the panel and started in the middle of the next side.
I used a $.50 10W 10kΩ wirewound resister to discharge all caps. Since the leads were so long, I just bent them at 90º and held the resistor with forceps across all cap leads for a minute each.
Desoldering was no problem at all. Using a Radio Shack 15W/30W soldering iron set to 30W, the old solder melted right away and wicked away easily. The leads were bent over but also seemed to be glued. I gently pried with a small knife at the tip of the lead until it moved then used forceps to bend upright. A slight push with the soldering iron and the old caps fell right out.
The whole operation took just over an hour but I was being anal about not rushing and getting it right.
The results were astounding. Went from a 15 minute wait for a dim image at 100 Brightness to an instant-on blazing image even at 25 Brightness!
Thanks again to Pavel and all who have contributed! It gave me the confidence I could do it myself!
Thanks for the guide! I have also been experiencing the flickering issue for the past few weeks. I took my monitor apart and also found that C110 and C111 were both swollen…not leaking yet. I stopped by the local Radio Shack and was able to get all the needed parts to do the repair. My monitor is now working perfectly!! Thanks so much for this info! Just before finding this site I was shopping on NewEgg for a replacement…now I can save money!!
BTW – my LCD case was a little different to take a part. I could not locate the “green tabs” as indicated in the PDF. I started at the back bottom right and began prying on the case until it came apart. I managed to break the little clips in each of the four corners, but I doubt it will have any problems as the stand on the back pretty much holds the load.
Thanks again!
-Andy
This is so great. I’m using my newly revived monitor right now. I really glad you elaborated on the YouTube post as you pretty much answered any question that would come up. Especially issues with the new caps fitting. My 820 caps were to tall but I just leaned them over a bit and it works fine. All my caps were bulging except the little one and i replaces all of them. before it took about half an hour to see anything on the screen, now it is instant. Thank you Thank you Thank you.
I have a 204B, and mine is flickering/having trouble displaying what it is supposed to display. I assumed since the capacitors are an overwhelming problem with these monitors, that that must have been the issue. I took it apart but did not find bulging capacitors. I attached pictures to show. Any other ideas?
http://i28.tinypic.com/3479mbl.jpg
http://i29.tinypic.com/111ibnn.jpg
http://i27.tinypic.com/97thc2.jpg
Success on my SyncMaster 204B, thanks. All five of my caps were bulging. Removing the old caps was the most difficult. I tried using a de-solder braid with little success. I would recommend getting a de-solder tool. Ordered the kit from ccl-la.com for $12.00.
The cost of the Capacitors is so very little and the monitor is faultering already. what harm could it cause in replacing them anyway.
P.S i have know capacitors to go bad without bulging.
One Trackback/Pingback
[...] http://pavel.kirkovsky.com/2009/03/samsung-syncmaster-204b-repair/ [...]
Post a Comment