Author Topic: D9200 Dies after Two Weeks! (Read 5694 times)

KevSteele · « **on:** August 11, 2003, 05:26:41 pm »

Yup, the D9200 that I just finished reviewing has had a board failure, at least according to the WG tech -- my previously bright and colorful display is now a barely-visible green/gray.

WG is shipping me a replacement chassis/board set, but that means, of course, that I'm going to have to disconnect the tube from the anode (and that means making sure it's discharged!)

I've seen some posts here that mention an "auto-discharge" on the D9200 -- does it have such a feature?

I'm not looking forward to this repair.

Kevin

Frostillicus · « **Reply #1 on:** August 11, 2003, 05:31:46 pm »

Good luck with the discharge... (that sounded gross

)

Seriously, I'd hate to attempt it with a beast the size of the d9200. Let's hope you won't have to review the local emergency room facilities

KevSteele · « **Reply #2 on:** August 11, 2003, 05:55:08 pm »

That's why I'm hoping this fabled "auto-discharge" is a reality. I don't mind the board swap, I can even handle mounting a new chassis, but this discharge business has got me more that a wee bit nervous.

I was nervous enough when the tech asked me to reach in under the tube while it was running and start pushing on IC chips to make sure they were properly seated.

Kevin

JoeB · « **Reply #3 on:** August 11, 2003, 06:01:12 pm »

I was scared to discharging my WG 7000 series monitor.. but after I did it, and disconnected it (for a cap kit), I realized that it's not that bad, and in fact pretty easy..

If you find soldering to be child's play.. you should be A-OK with discharging it.

RandyT · « **Reply #4 on:** August 11, 2003, 07:52:57 pm »

Quote from: kevsteele on August 11, 2003, 05:55:08 pm

That's why I'm hoping this fabled "auto-discharge" is a reality. I don't mind the board swap, I can even handle mounting a new chassis, but this discharge business has got me more that a wee bit nervous.

Hey Kevin,

Be careful! The somewhat scary thing about dealing with an improperly functioning monitor is that you really don't know which parts have stopped working!

It may very well be that that the circuitry responsible for the auto-discharge stopped functioning as well, so don't take anything as a given. Make sure you discharge that puppy!

RandyT

KevSteele · « **Reply #5 on:** August 11, 2003, 09:19:46 pm »

Don't worry -- I'm going to treat it as an undischarged monitor, and will do the entire "screwdriver on a wire" act to make sure it is indeed discharged.

I just would like the reassurance that there won't be a loud zap when I put in the screwdriver. (Yes, when it comes to dealing with 20,000 volts, I proudly classify myself as a wuss!)

Kevin

paigeoliver · « **Reply #6 on:** August 11, 2003, 09:24:33 pm »

It isn't as loud as you would imagine it is anyway. Leave the monitor off for a couple of days first, and then if even if does make a zap, it will be a really small one.

APFelon · « **Reply #7 on:** August 12, 2003, 05:52:41 am »

Hm. You couldn't talk them in to sending out an entirely new monitor, eh?

As far as the "zap" goes, I have discharged many o' monitor and I have yet to hear one that produced a noise louder than a static shock- the "rub feet on carpet and touch a dog's ear" kind of zap-- despite being told that it can make a clap as loud as a shotgun blast (I suppose it's possible, but I have never experienced it).

Be careful, be safe, and make sure your heart doesn't become part of a circuit, That's where you run in to trouble.

KevSteele · « **Reply #8 on:** August 12, 2003, 07:26:29 am »

No, actually I think I prefer just the chassis replacement -- the original box is HUGE, and weighs a ton, and had to be sent via a special shipper.

If they sent me a new D9200, that means I'd have to return-ship the original, which means $$$ in shipping, plus making special arrangments (no UPS drop-off on this beast! ;-)

As much as I didn't want to have to learn this much about monitors, I'll take the lesson to save the bucks.

Kevin

paigeoliver · « **Reply #9 on:** August 12, 2003, 07:28:21 am »

Do you get to keep the old chassis? It could come in handy for parts someday.

KevSteele · « **Reply #10 on:** August 12, 2003, 07:30:38 am »

Nope, I've got to return the old chassis/board set -- they did a "cross-ship" order, where they charged me for the replacement set and will credit my card when I return the original chassis and boards.

It's a lot less to ship without the tube, that's for sure!

Kevin

Wade · « **Reply #11 on:** August 12, 2003, 03:41:34 pm »

I had the exact same thing happen after about 10 hours of use. I was nervous, but it was easy to swap. I didn't even remove the monitor from my cabinet. I didn't hear a discharge but I nervously did it anyway, just to be safe. It fixed my problem and it has worked fine ever since. It's a shame though that a lot of these are dying so quickly.

Wade

KevSteele · « **Reply #12 on:** August 12, 2003, 03:49:35 pm »

Wade,

Do you use 800x600 mode often? I'm wondering how many D9200 owners have used this mode, and how many of those have experienced a failure.

Kevin

paigeoliver · « **Reply #13 on:** August 13, 2003, 04:49:23 am »

All these failure stories have kind of turned me off to this model of monitor. My Wells Gardner VGA monitor died too, but it was 12 years old anyway.

Wade · « **Reply #14 on:** August 13, 2003, 09:51:06 am »

Kevin,

I hadn't even used 800x600 by the time the boards went bad. I only use 800x600 in Windows occasionally (just when I want to add a new ROM - and otherwise my cabinet runs on DOS only) and I just recently set the vectors to run at 800x600, which I don't play terribly often.

The only bright sides to these failures are:
1) all that I have read about on this forum happened very quickly, and haven't happened since, suggesting that if the problem doesn't arise immediately then it isn't likely to happen for a long time
2) standard warranty on these monitors is 1 year and WG's support is superb.

Wade

KevSteele · « **Reply #15 on:** August 13, 2003, 10:15:24 am »

Wade,

I agree -- WG's support is super. I called the 800 number and was through with no wait at all (and no "press 1 for..." automated garbage - I actually got a receptionist!)

I just wonder what causes such an early mortality on these monitors?

Kevin

Frostillicus · « **Reply #16 on:** August 13, 2003, 11:59:28 am »

"All these failures"? There are only two d9200 failures on this thread as far as I can tell - Kev and Wade.

I think we need to keep the failures it in perspective - how many people use the d9200 happily vs. how many have failed? Sounds like the old electronics rule of thumb here: If it doesn't break in the first few days then it's going to last years.

And I don't see why 800x600 would destroy it - I've used it at that res for a long time, my last cab has been going strong for almost a year like that...if they didn't want to include 800x600 I'm sure WG could have manufactured it differently.

PhoneGuy · « **Reply #17 on:** August 13, 2003, 01:50:37 pm »

The original chassis in my D9200 lasted about a week. before it had the dim gray/green screen problem. The replacement chassis lasted a month before it developed the dim gray/green screen problem. Both times this happened at power up. A tech at WG said IC101 or IC103 goes bad and causes this problem.

The third chassis arrived DOA. No picture, no "no signal" display, no menu. The neck glows and the chassis clicks but the screen stays dark. The forth chassis arrived with a problem. It has a red glow which is very evident on black or white screens. Changing the CB one value and changing it back in the factory menu gets rid of the red glow until the screen changes resolution like exiting a game or after losing the signal like when the screen saver blanks the screen. It also will not do 800x600 which the WG tech says is not supported. The first 2 chassis would run at 800X600 which would be nice for windows and vector games.

I am now waiting on a complete replacement. WG customer support has been very good. I hope the replacement works because this monitor is nice when it's running correctly. This is frustrating because I basically setup my cabinet around this monitor.

Wade · « **Reply #18 on:** August 14, 2003, 02:06:29 pm »

This thread only had 2 failures but I know that when I bought mine, another person on this forum had the same issue (Phoneguy, possibly?) Whoever it was emailed me directly about the problem and the chassis swap.

Frost, I don't think there is a high probability of a failure with a D9200 and I don't mean to suggest it, but there have definitely been more failures noticed on this forum than you'd expect for any other new monitor. It might be a function of the shippers, maybe there was a bad batch, who knows. I'm not worried about it now. As you mention, practically every failure has been with an almost new monitor. To my knowledge, no one has suffered any great consequence from one of these failures yet.

Wade

KevSteele · « **Reply #19 on:** August 17, 2003, 08:26:26 am »

UPDATE TIME:

I got my replacement board set for the D9200 on Friday, and swapped out the main board (I decided not to replace the neck board, the VGA connector board, or the little control pad).

The swap was moderately easy, with only one misplaced cable (the degaussing control cable), which the WG tech support helped me catch.

Bottom line? It Works! Even Better Bottom Line? It Works Better!

Seriously, the picture is much sharper in VGA mode than it was before. In fact, everything onscreen looks better than with the original board.

I'll be updating my D9200 review with my new findings.

Oh, and about the whole 800x600 controversy -- I did discover when I first connected up the monitor that it gave me a "Signal Out of Range" message onscreen, as I hadn't changed my monitor settings in Windows. It seems that, like most modern multisync monitors, that the D9200 has some signal protection built in.

That leads me to suspect that even though 800x600 isn't officially supported, that it may be within an acceptable signal range.

Kevin

matt888 · « **Reply #20 on:** August 20, 2003, 08:47:05 pm »

Well folks, MY WG 9200 just died (went green/grey) after 4 days! I called American Gaming too late today and will find out tomorrw what's up.

I'm NOT impressed at all with this monitor's life span at all. Shoot, even my FORD mustang is more dependable!

J/K I love my cobra!


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