monitor--help

[peted]

Myself and 2 friends each recently bought second hand VIEWSONIC PF 790 monitors from a firm that was closing down where they were used for some sort of
data entry task.The monitors were replacements for the original black and white ones when they went faulty and are only 2 years old,unfortunately although they are colour monitors they seem somehow to have been set up for black and white display and none of us can figure out how to re configure them to colour again.The OSD menu to adjust contrast etc. comes up in colour but there doesn`t appear to be any selection for B/W-Colour switching.
Have tried booting pc with monitor unplugged and then connecting to see if bios was picking it up as B/W with no joy.No buttons or switches apparent either.Any
ideas/suggestions appreciated or they may turnout not to be the bargains they appeared......Have tried other cables and on other pc`s but no change.Viewsonic drivers installed,and support site contacted (who proved very unhelpful)
Thanks , Pete.

[Paddy]

are you sure that it is a colour monitor?

yup it is - just checked

http://www.viewsonic.com/products/crt_pf790.htm

[Gurm]

Weird. You sure the color saturation wasn't just turned all the way down?

I assume you've tried holding down the reset button for a good 10 count?

- Gurm

[Greebe]

if the RGB channels are mixed together at the input it would display B/W only and yet the OSD would remain color. This could easily be what has been done (w/ jumpers or something similar) sold as a speciality item.

[SteveC]

Try replacing the cable or chopping the plug off the end and putting a new one on.

[Gurm]

Hmm yeah.

Ok, step 1 - UNPLUG THE MONITOR AND LEAVE IT ALONE ALL DAY. You really don't want to get tossed across a room, and I've literally seen that happen when someone got too close to a charged tube.

Step 2 - crack the case open and see if there's a wonky looking cable or some jumpers just inside where it plugs onto the board.

They obviously didn't hard-mod the monitor if the OSD is in color... so whatever it is ought to be undoable.

- Gurm

[peted]

Thanks all , for your thoughts-will have a look in case tomorrow,not too sure what Im looking for though !!
Will let u know.............

[Greebe]

One other point... do not under any circumstances touch the red wire attached to the back of the crt. This is the anode and can hold a charge upwards of 30kV for weeks.

It will hurt you!

[Gurm]

I think a "don't touch the CRT or any of the leads coming off it" warning is in order here. We cannot stress this enough!

- Gurm

[peted]

Couldn`t wait so had a wee look but theres nothing obvious I`m afraid , pity because as Gurm said whatever was done must be undoable (is that a word?!) again. There is a connector near the
socket that looks like it would take a jumper but don`t think it has anything to do with prob....
Tottaly baffled here , not that thats difficult....
Will keep trying though as it`s a very nice monitor although pretty useless at the moment.
Cheers Pete.

[SteveC]

Where's all your modding spirit? You never worked on a monitor whilst turned on before?



Obligatory get out clause Safety note: If you've no idea what goes on inside a monitor/TV DO NOT play with it with the case off!

[Brian R.]

Just for giggles, you could post a pic of the monitor innards with detailed pics of the relevant parts...

[Gurm]

THERE you go, and we can tell you what to prod... *ZZAPP*

- Gurm