MS9 Freaking Out

[themisterfalcon]

(Also posted over at Neo)

Hey all, one of my MS9s are on the fritz. Have already gotten answers from other about what could be wrong - just looking for some more opinions as I know there are alot of monitor savvy folks here.

Monitor is experiencing a horizontal collapse - not the kind that is typical with a deflector going out though.

Below is a video of the problem. It will do this randomly, then power off. Cycling power brings it right back up.

I inspected the chassis and no caps are busted, nothing leaking, etc. It's actually very clean...

Any insight you guys might have would be greatly appreciated.

[themisterfalcon]

Also, I just tried swapping the control board from my other Egret 2 with no luck. Same thing happens about 10-15 minutes after it's powered on.

[grantspain]

its either a cap in the width circuit or the width transistor breaking down
double check your yoke plug for burning and see if the picture is affected by a physical shock to the side of the cab

[themisterfalcon]

Thanks Grant. Will check it out tonight after work.

[themisterfalcon]

An easy update - found a spare working chassis on eBay for $75 USD.

Inspecting the back of the monitor, it seems the anode cap is in a pretty tricky place due to the rotate mech.

Does anyone here have any tips on the easiest way to get to the cap? Besides having small hands...which I do not.

Again, any help is greatly appreciated.

[Rossyra]

Discharge it first.

Fold back the cap, carefully squeeze the prongs together with a set of needlenose or long/thin pliers.

[themisterfalcon]

Getting to the cap is the hard part. With the damn mech in place. Another friend just told me to yank the monitor. Might be the best bet to work on this thing.

[Rossyra]

You need long shaft screwdrivers to discharge it.

After that, you can unscrew the the 4 large screws holding the mech frame (not the tube!!) in place and lean it out towards you if you must.

Make sure the cab will not roll back, and dont lean it out too far, a couple of inches should be enough.

The tube weighs about 50kgs so i'd get some help if you are unsure.

[themisterfalcon]

Ah good call. Thanks!

[themisterfalcon]

So, I got the chassis on fine. For anyones future reference, the anode cap is rather easy to get to from the top of the monitor once you lift the hood up.

Color, geometry, focus are all spot on.

Having some problems with the brightness now. Whenever there is a flash on the screen (screen goes to white, Marvel countdown counter, supers in Marvel, etc.) the flyback makes a slightly high pitched noise and the picture warps. Various adjustments get it close - but the problem still repeats.

The closest combination so far that has *almost* worked:

Flyback
- Screen turned up just a tiny bit

Chassis Pots
- RGB limiters all down
- Contrast limiter up a bit

Remote Board
- Brightness about half way
- Contrast in the default setting (where the pot 'clicks')

I've been fiddling with it for over two hours now and nothing seems to get it just right.

Is there a starting point I should adjust everything to and try again, or does it sound like I just have another faulty chassis?

Times like this I really hate this hobby

[themisterfalcon]

Digging around on here/google some more seems it might be a problem with the ABL. I did adjust this, which I now find out is a no no. I have it set at the middle position and things are better, but still acting up a little. Here is a video of the latest adjustments.

[grantspain]

contrast too high

[Rossyra]

So, I got the chassis on fine. For anyones future reference, the anode cap is rather easy to get to from the top of the monitor once you lift the hood up.

You were trying to do it from the back? No wonder you couldn't get at the anode cap

[themisterfalcon]

haha, yeah. I've always owned Sega cabs before this and you can get to the cap pretty easy through the back service door.

[Rossyra]

I imagined you had these massive hands like the Thing from Fantastic 4

[themisterfalcon]

Made a little bit more progress last night. The HS Limit was all stretched out. Turning that down, ABL down, Contrast limiter down, Screen on the flyback up and brightness/contrast on the remote board up a little bit resulted in this:



While not perfect it is at least playable while I get my original chassis repaired.

Any more ideas on what to tweak at this point or does this chassis look bunk too?