So this workstation I've been agonizing over for recently may be soon
forced out of the prime space on my desk.

My last working monitor is apparently on its last legs.  The switching
power supply inside is getting weak and it won't lock in and come up to
working voltage after being powered on without a great deal of patience
and "encouragement" (or threats, or something), and it lapses into a bad
state sometimes if there aren't enough white pixels on the screen too
(presumably that means if it's not under enough load).

When first powered up it makes a repeating "wheeeip-wheeeip" sound, and
eventually as it warms up the display momentarily appears just as the
sound peaks, then disintegrates into a wiggle of Lissajous Curves down
the centre of the screen.  Finally it locks in and the display steadies.

It's on a UPS and would normally be on 24x7, but recent extended power
outages seem to have exacerbated the problem.

Another one I have does that forever (i.e. it never locks in and works).

The third one simply blows its fuse (and when doing so spits sparks out
of some region of the power supply, though there's no obviously damaged
component in that area).  This one also has a bad horizontal board (back
when it still powered up fine I accidentally shorted the metal pot you
have to adjust through the frame to the frame and now the display would
be about three times as wide as the tube :-).

The Sun part number on the mostly working one is 365-1047, i.e. the
19-inch monochrome monitor (Motorola L7201S-Y01) 1600x1280 pixels with a
DB9 input connector.  The other two are the Displaytek-stickered models
(365-1005).

West Coast Computer Exchange claim on their web page that they'll
possibly be able to repair it for $150, but the shipping wouldn't be
worth it (unless mabye I just sent the power supply PCB).

Has anyone else encountered this problem before and managed to fix it?
Does anyone have or know where to look to find schematics, particularly
for the PS?  (I'll bet this same PS is used in other older monitor
models too.)

A friend who's an electronics tech is going to look at them, but he
thinks it may be a bit difficult to repair them without schematics.

I'd really like to be able to use this resolution monochrome display
until the time I can afford to buy the same resolution in a colour flat
panel display.....  I cannot use ordinary colour tube monitors for any
extended period of time -- not even very expensive high-end ones.

-- 
								Greg A. Woods

+1 416 218-0098;            <g.a.woods@ieee.org>;           <woods@robohack.ca>
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