LCD screen problems

[Drum Thumper]

A co-worker's husband, who is also in IT, gave me an Acer AL1715 that is having some issues (his employer was going to throw it away). When a power cord is plugged in, the screen flashes random colors at roughly 1 second intervals.

Anyone have any suggestions as to what the problem might be?

Oh, and I just checked the Serial Number @ Acer. Warranty expired end of last month (figures).

Thanks in advance guys.

[Luke122]

The entire screen goes solid colors randomly, or the desktop is visible, but flashes through random colored tints?

If it's the former.. no clue. That's hella weird. If its the latter, it's either a dying capacitor or poor connection internally somewhere. I had a crt that did this once.. if you punched it just right it would work. If not, you'd hurt your hand.

Either way, probably not worth fixing, since they are under $150 new now, arent they? Might be a 10 cent fix.. look for physical damage inside.

[Drum Thumper]

Its the former--only cord plugged in is the power cord. From what I've read it is either the power supply or the inverter, if it has one. Most likely got knocked out of commission by a power surge via lightning storm we had last month.

I might tear it apart, I might not. We'll see.

[Luke122]

Well, the good news is if it's the power supply, then you can yank it out and replace it probably fairly cheap.

More good news... if the panel needs 12v dc, then you could just use an external power supply, and that might solve it. :D

Once you open it up, grab the make/model off the controller and the panel, and find out what voltage it needs. Most controllers are either 12v or 24v, as as most LCD panels. :)