7 Year old monitor started to have panel issues today, no initiating event. Did the normal trouble shooting, shut every component down, disconnected, swapped cables, updated firmware, changed resolutions, etc... issue persisted.
Took it apart to have a looksie
Getting all the plastic snaps off the back of the monitor was the single longest part of this... very annoying. I miss easy to repair devices.
The PSU has shorts!!
the other side of the pcb is a transformer
some other leaking seen as well
both sides of the PSU in full
the logic board looks fine
I'm tempted to just fix the shorted pads and test the voltages... I probably should replace the transformer
Lots of chatter on youtube about the thunderbolt ports dying on this monitor, but I don't think that is applicable to me. At least the PSU shouldn't look like this even if its not the core problem.
Any insights or suggestions from those you have rescued erstwhile monitors? This is the first monitor that has ever fully died on me. I melted a laptop screen sitting too close to a fire.. heh, but it was still usable.
I can't tell you what's wrong, but these shorted pads aren't it. They are added to the traces for extra thermal mass, a bit more or less solder doesn't hurt. If you look closely, all of the shorted pads are on the same trace of the PCB, so they would be connected anyways.
Could it indicate something overheated on the other side of the board (the transformer)?
Maybe, but the plastic of the transformer would show signs of melting/burning way before the solder on the other side would be melting.