So I picked up a Sony PVM-20m4u off of eBay about a week or so ago, and it arrived today. Didn't have any BNC adapters yet, so I turned it on just to test it and scrolled through the menus. All of a sudden, the monitor flashed and I lost all picture, and the tally lamp at the top turned on. Even fiddling with the menu didn't help, so I unplugged the device and decided I'd test it again tomorrow, to no avail. So, any idea what could be wrong with it, or what kind of places repair CRTs in this day and age? On the plus side, the fellow on eBay refunded me instantly the moment I told him what the issue was, though I had hoped he could have suggested what the problem was instead.
Not even the menu. It worked very distinctly until the thing suddenly pooped itself, and now none of the buttons on the front function at all, not even the degauss button.
It's dead, jim. Could be a blown fuse if you're lucky. If not something was damaged in transit. Could be the flyback transformer that allows the electron gun to shoot electrons.
It was packaged very well with no signs of any external damage, so I wonder... What are my best bets in regards to getting it fixed? Finding a business that repairs CRT monitors locally?
Yeah, I can only imagine. I'm pretty sure I know a place, though, so I'll go in and see if I can get a quote or so. The refund gave me quite a bit of money to put towards a repair, at least!
bit OT but I found this really old and small TV repair shop next to kids school not far from where I live. It's run by this rather old chap and the shop window is full of decade(?) old CRT/VCR/Cassette Tape Player/etc. and possible 8-track? @__@
Lucky you. The 8 track is probably 2 track 1/4" tape. If he has a Nakamichi Dragon for under $100, send it my way lol To the OP, any decent television repair shop should be capable. One that's been running 20 years or more, preferably.
Yeah, I think I found a place. I called up a place that did to CRT repairs, but they forwarded me to a shop that was more experienced with PVMs. Soon as I get ahold of them, I should be good as gold. Hopefully.
Well... some not so happy news. I phoned three different locations in my city--the only locations that deal with CRTs--and all of them told me to look elsewhere to get a PVM repaired. One of them suggested I call up Sony, which is looking to be my only option right now. Should I? How much should I be expecting Sony to charge me for something like this?
Better to find a friend who knows CRT and can steal service manual (torrent search can be good) then have him check around. The quality may not be the same as professional service (scratched parts, stripped screws, cracked plastic, etc) but it is possible he can make your monitor work for a price of one large pizza and 6 pack beer. :very_drunk:
PVMs are professional so should be dealt with by a pro service centre. You'd expect it to cost a good couple of hundred with one of them.
There's a repair centre just out of town that I can get it to, I just gotta find out what it'll cost me. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'll be able to find someone locally who can do the job at this rate.
Possible, I'd strongly suggest checking Craigslist as you can score deals sometimes. I managed to get a 13" and a 20" for $25 total with about $35 spent on gas on top of that. I'd offer to sell you my spare 13" but my asking price is amazing if you're local and not so much if you're in Michigan which I'm assuming is the "mitten state". I can't imagine what it'd cost to ship this thing and not have it break.
So true. People take areas like mine for granted. RGB monitors of usable size closer to Freeland than Seattle, yeah right.
I'd been looking for one locally for quite some time, but I guess they don't find their way into the Greater Toronto Area too often. Well, it was certainly worth a shot. I'll get a quote from Sony, which will likely be ridiculous, and probably end up putting it into storage or... doing who knows what. I really don't know what to do with it.
Heh thanks for the offer but I'm not the one with a broken PWM. The OP is the one with broken display and I suggested looking for another.
