Well Gardener - No Image !plz hlp!

[xonix_digital]

I have a Wells gardener monitor and when I boot my machine I can hear it turn on (high pitch sound) but game will not display, monitor stays totally black like its still off. I have spoken with a few repair guys and they said it probably isn't a cap kit (but I have no Idea).
I left my machine on one day and came back to a playable machine that has no video.  Just looking for a starting point for what I should do.

Is there any way to test the monitor without the board plugged into the machine?
If I root around inside will I get Blasted?
How can I test my capacitors/tube?

I checked the power to the monitor: ok

I have ZERO experience with monitors so any help you guys could give me would be great! 
Thanks,
-   XD

[xonix_digital]

OH YEAH: The monitor is from a Galaxian Cabinet. But I don't have the model number.

Thanks-

[Thenasty]

maybe your driving your 15khz monitor in a higher frequency. Do you have AVGA or a regular Video card and running a program to drive the video down to 15khz ?

[xonix_digital]

No, its a pretty standard arcade setup. I am not using any video card or vga adapters.  The board I am using is a galaga bootleg but I am assuming it is working Because it was working while the monitor was off I just couldn't see what i was happening.
Where would I start troubleshooting a monitor Issue like this? Or is there any place I can go to learn about troubleshooting this type of monitor without getting electrocuted?

[Karetaker]

A model # or serious would be helpful (eg K4600, K4900, K7000) I know you said you don't have it, so a pic of it would work as someone will know what it is. A monitor is a very dangerous thing so you just don't want to start poking around in there. It could be a lot of things, you just need to narrow it down a bit. From what you've said so far: "you can hear the high pitch squeal of the flyback. So, to me that says that the monitor is not in protect and the power supply of the monitor is working. So the first thing I would check is if the heater is working. Can you see an orange glow in the neck of the tube? If not you probably have an open heater circuit. If you turn up the screen control on the flyback can you see anything? If you see white raster it could be a blanking problem. Was this a game that was working or did you just get it and it was in it's present state? It would be nice if it was just the bright, contrast, screen, or black levels simply out of adjustment. I guess I have more questions than answers at this point.... sorry.

[xonix_digital]

I do not see an orange glow. should that be coming out of the glass thingy? lol. If so how do I fix it. I read somewhere that I should see an orange glow but I don't. Is that an expensive or tricky fix?
definately  no raster, no nothing and I have played with the knobs controlling the brightness.
also what is the name of the thing that is supposed to be glowing?

Thanks guys...

[Karetaker]

Are you sure there is no glow in "the glass thingy"...hehehe. Make sure the neck of the tube is clean. Discharge the monitor or just leave it off for a while. Then you can wipe it GENTLY WITH A DRY SOFT CLOTH. The neck board is the little board on the end of the tube. Right in front of that is a clear section (the neck of the tube) that you should be able to see an orange glow inside the neck of the tube. It can be hard to see on some monitors so view it in low light conditions.

The thing that is supposed to be glowing is the "Heater". It needs that glow for the monitor to work. If it is a heater problem it's usually an open resistor or cracked solders on the flyback transformer. It's just a low voltage winding in the flyback. Most of the time it's around 6vac or so. It's usually a pretty simple fix.... there's just nothing to the circuit.

[xonix_digital]

Is there anywhere I can go to see a tutorial or something similar?
also, if i had a perfectly working monitor and it wasn't hooked up to a board would I be able to see anything on the monitor like a test screen or anything?

[Karetaker]

No normally you wouldn't see anything if you don't have the video and sync plugs hooked up to it. You may see a white flash as it is powered off. On your monitor you should see a plug going into the monitor that comes from the wire harness on the main board (the game board). On your monitor it is probably connected to a 10 pin connection on the monitor board. One of the pins will probably be snipped. You may have one or two plugs for the video & sync that plug into the monitor board. (More than likely 2).  The wire colors of it vary. Going into the monitor you should see something like this:

Pin 1  - Red wire
Pin 2 - Green wire
Pin 3 - Blue or Brown wire
Pin 4 - Bare wire or White Black, Black, Black white.... etc.
Pin 5 probably empty
Pin 6 probably empty
Pin 7 Key (pin on board snipped)
Pin 8 Black wire or empty
Pin 9 White wire or empty
Pin 10 White wire

If that's not how it looks on yours it should be something pretty similar to that. If it's hooked up you can check and see if you have some kind of video signal going to the monitor with a meter. I set it to DC and put the red lead in the video plug (the red, green, and blue or brown wires one at a time) and ground the black lead to the chassis. It will probably only read around 1 volt or so. But if you see it fluctuating then you should have video.

For a tutorial, Randy Fromm seems to be a good source for understanding monitors better.

Was this game working and then stopped working or did you get it in it's present state? More info will help trying to narrow it down.

Try taking the wire harness off the game board and putting it back on.  You said that you could hear it before and just couldn't see it. So I'm assuming that it's a monitor problem.... hard to say at this point.

You said you could hear the high pitch squeal of it as it turned on. Can you continue to hear it, or is it only for a second as it powers on. If it comes on for a second and then stops your monitor is in protect. That just means the voltage is too high and it's shutting itself down so you don't get an unintentionally X-Ray....hehehehe.

If the squeal stays on.... then you know you have AC to it. You know that the power supply section of the monitor is working. You know that the flyback is working. The fuse is good or you wouldn't hear anything. You said you turned up the screen control on the flyback and saw nothing on the screen so chances are it's not a blanking problem. So right there you've already narrowed it down. All that's really left is:

Video
Sync
Vertical Deflection
Horizontal Deflection

Usually with a vertical deflection problems you can see something. This is all of course assuming that the problem is indeed the monitor itself.

[xonix_digital]

Wow,
Thanks for all the help.

I did infact have it working. When I bought the machine I was having some issues with the baddies and starfield but I was able to get it working by turning up the voltage in the main power supply ( I think it was because the board wasnt getting enough power). Then I was able to play it and shut it off all the time with no Issues. One day I just happend to get my highest score ever and left my machine on while I went to the store, when I returned the monitor was blank but I could still hear and interact with the game.

The squeal is permanent so I know that the monitor is not in protect mode.

Also. I have three plugs going to/from the board. One is an array of wires similar to the one you described, a ribbon cable connecting the two pcbs, and one plug with a set of two wires (pink and white) going to a different part of the board.  Maybe power?  Would this be a good place to check for 5v power going to my board or should I test the capacitor closest to it?

Thank you all,

- XD