Bought three PVM/BVM monitors - some problems...

[Paul]

Hello, I recently bought a BVM-20F1E + BKM-10R, PVM-20M2E and PVM-20M4E. I tested them today with my PSX (I have cables from retrogamingcables.co.uk) and each monitor has some problems. I'd be grateful for a diagnosis to these problems and the best way to approach fixing them. I'll be frank that the monitor I mostly want to fix is the BVM, for obvious reasons.

1) BVM-20F1E - When launched in 16:9 mode or "underscan" mode, it has one white line at top and two white lines at bottom. One of those bottom lines appears, then disappears from left to right, or right to left. When switched to normal "full" 4:3 mode, all white lines are not visible.
There's also a bigger problem - the screen is constantly "moving" vertically (up and down). It doesn't move much, maybe by a few milimetres, but it doesn't stop and is too annoying to play games normally.
I'm using 4 terminator plugs in "out" slots of RGB+Sync.

2) PVM-20M2E - When launched without a game, it has horizontal lines from top to bottom: blue, green, red. There's about 2 centimeters space between them. When playing on PSX, those lines appear near the top of the screen and are much closer to each other (maybe 2-4 milimeters apart).
I also don't know how to configure this monitor. On BVM there's tons of options, but on this PVM I don't know where to configure the screen. My game isn't perfectly centered and there are some black bars I want to get rid of.

3) PVM-20M4E - The monitor emits a buzzing sound all the time. Without a game, the screen is shaking violently left and right. When launched with a game, the video is just full of garbage and noise, flying all around the screen, I can't even tell which game I'm playing. I tried all the buttons but it's impossible to make it stop.

I apologise if the questions have been asked before. Please help me fix my monitors, especially the vertical up-and-down jerking in BVM : )

[Guspaz]

Lines above and below the image: this is normal, at least as described for the PVM. They are outside the visible area, and if you are seeing them, then your display geometry is incorrect, as they should be in the overscan area. Use the 240p test suite on the monitors with the service menu to adjust them so that you have a very small amount of overscan (maybe so that in the overscan test screen you can only just barely see one line of overscan).

They will always be visible in 16:9 mode, because these monitors were intended to be used with a different faceplate in 16:9 mode (a 16:9 mask). So the top/bottom of the screen would be in overscan.

I'm not sure the exact steps to get to the service menu on that PVM, but if it's like my L2, enter the menu and then press "ENTER" and "DEGAUSS" at the same time. The service manual of those PVMs can be found here:

http://neohyphengeo.com/PVM20M2_SM_SONY_EN.pdf

[Paul]

Which settings should I change in the PVM's service menu to move the RGB lines outside of visible range? I noticed there are 120 different settings and I don't want to risk doing permanent damage by changing something I wasn't supposed to change.
Also, can the screen shaking in my BVM be fixed with the Maintenance menu? If not, what could be causing this weird thing to happen?

[Paul]

Okay, I managed to move the RGB lines out of the way, so that's one less thing to worry about.
What should I do with the vertical shaking on the BVM though?

[Xan]

Some of these issues could be capacitor related. The one with the visible RGB lines is a known and verified issue with a prematurely failing cap on the M-series, but if you get a good picture with OSD adjustments, that cap might still be not too bad or it was fixed by a previous owner. 3) sounds like some sync issue by the description.

[Guspaz]

The one with the visible RGB lines is a known and verified issue with a prematurely failing cap on the M-series

Uh, no, RGB lines above the scan area is normal on PVMs, even when brand new. It's only a problem if they overlap the active image.

[Skips]

The one with the visible RGB lines is a known and verified issue with a prematurely failing cap on the M-series

Uh, no, RGB lines above the scan area is normal on PVMs, even when brand new. It's only a problem if they overlap the active image.

He was correct when talking about this specific model. The 20M2U, 204MU, and their medical and 14 inch counterparts have four capacitors on the A board which are known to fail before they should. This puts RGB lines at the top of the picture instead of at the top in the black area where they should be. At first they start out in the black overscan area and as these capacitors fail they drop lower and lower until they are running through the picture itself. On these models you can compensate for awhile with settings but ultimately you will eventually need to replace those four capacitors. A couple of the capacitors Sony installed in the monitor are even the wrong value from the factory. Sony techs would fix this when they came in for servicing. Unfortunately I lost the document I had that listed the four capacitors and their correct values.

As for the shaking on the BVM that is usually failed/failing components on the deflection card (usually capacitors but not all the time). Settings wont fix that issue. You might be able to get a fully serviced deflection card from saveonpat from eBay if you e-mail him if you don't want to hassle with fixing the current one. (PM me for the email not posting it publicly).

[Paul]

If it's just failing capacitors, will an average local electronics repair shop be able to handle it?

[BazookaBen]

If it's just failing capacitors, will an average local electronics repair shop be able to handle it?

My guess is it wouldn't be cheap, since they probably have no idea how to diagnose CRT issues. The caps would have to be exploded or something obvious.