Astro city woes.

[neorichieb1971]

Over the past 2 years my Astro city is developing a kind of distorted image when its first turned on. On the top half (horizontal orientation) the scan lines are stretched out and the top of the image rolls over itself or leaves a black margin at the top. Over the course of about 5-10 minutes the image pops out normally and all is good.

So can anyone explain why this symptom is happening? I imagine its a capacitor problem.

The effects are worse in winter when its cold. It takes longer to get to normal (30 minutes sometimes).

Are there any cap experts in the Bedford area that would do the job? I am suspecting its the caps tbh.

Any help appreciated. I am not good with monitors.

[emphatic]

I imagine its a capacitor problem.

+1

IIRC, http://www.giz10p.co.uk/ used to do chassi repairs for NANAO brand screens, but I'm not sure they do any longer. You could email him. You can also get this tri-sync chassis: http://www.giz10p.co.uk/index.php?_a=vi ... ductId=173 that's (according to a Swedish guy who got one) delivers superb 31kHz AND 15kHz picture with the Toshiba tube fitted in your cabinet.

[neorichieb1971]

Well i'd rather pay some guy to install new caps and make it new again at some point. Right now i'm happy to wait till it goes completely. I'm sure I've got several months until it goes completely. I'd pay whatever the going rate is for something like that. I might get both cabinets done at the same time just to stop it happening again anytime soon on the other one as well.

Thanks for the advice.

[neorichieb1971]

Craig at giz10p will fix it for me. I have to take the chassis off though and send it to him.

I don't think im comfortable doing that. Any tips on how its done?

Can I just get a TV repair man who is local to take the chassis away and replace all the caps etc?


Craig got back to me, he wants -

It's all the circtuit boards related to the monitor, chassis, neck board, and remote control board.

That seems like a lot of work to take all that off. He also instructed that if I don't know what I am doing I should not attempt it. Figures.

[burgerkingdiamond]

Craig at giz10p will fix it for me. I have to take the chassis off though and send it to him.

I don't think im comfortable doing that. Any tips on how its done?

Can I just get a TV repair man who is local to take the chassis away and replace all the caps etc?


Craig got back to me, he wants -

It's all the circtuit boards related to the monitor, chassis, neck board, and remote control board.

That seems like a lot of work to take all that off. He also instructed that if I don't know what I am doing I should not attempt it. Figures.

Not hard to do. You will have to discharge the tube and remove the anode suction cup though, which can be dangerous. Google it and read very carefully how to safely discharge a CRT. Make sure you understand what the risk is and decide if you feel comfortable doing it. Even a CRT that's been turned off can hold 20,000-30,000 Volts (I had to include this disclaimer, but, people do it all the time. I've done it myself.)

After the tube is discharged, remove the neck PCB from the tube. Be very very careful, that part of the tube is very fragile. Then remove the R,G,B,GND,Sync wires that go from the JAMMA connector to the Chassis (the large PCB). And finally remove the power to the chassis.

Besides the discharging part, it's easy. Would take you less than an hour.