D9200 Problem

[Madman]

I have a D9200 that's about 2 years old that has developed a brightness problem. the monitor is dim now (still playable) and does not seem to have control via the brightness control (it does not appear to change at all when adjusted).

Has anyone at all had this happen to them? If so what part/s turned out to be bad?
I have checked the parts suggested in the D9200 repair guide with the exception of IC103 and they all seem to be good...
Any help would be VERY much appreciated!!!!!

Thanks,
Dan

[Ken Layton]

Telephone the tech support department at Wells-Gardner.

[Madman]

Did that... no help yet. They suggested that I adjust the gain in the factory menu....
While this did make the picture brighter it did not fix the problem. I still have no control over the brightness in the regular menu. it does seem to change but you really almost need a light meter to tell.
Could someone post their values for the GAIN/BIAS portions of their factory menu please?
This will help me tell if they were right about the eeprom getting reset (I do not think this is the problem).

One thing.... If you do own this monitor you should copy down ALL your setting in the factory menu because they DID admit that this has been an ongoing problem with this series of monitor ( I also confirmed this with a google search ).
If you copy down your setting and it happens you can fix your monitor in 5 min otherwise you need to calibrate by eyesight or hire a tech to do it.... BADNEWS!
Thanks
Dan

[Ken Layton]

This monitor was used in the Golden Tee Golf series and the game manufacturer (www.itsgames.com) issued a service bulletin regarding brightness problems. Turns out to be some bad capacitors.

This monitor needs capkits sooner than many other models.

[Madman]

Thanks for the headsup!
Actually I don't think this is the problem as I can crank up the gain and the monitor looks fine...

I just have no control over the brightness at all... Wells Gardner has not been very helpful at all. the tech IS VERY rushed on the phone and seems not to really care as each time I spoke to them they gave a different answer and don't appear to be listening to the whole conversation.
They are now saying the video processor is bad... I do a have scope at home but am trying to avoid troubleshooting at that level as I would need to remove the entire monitor and not just the main and neckboard... I have already removed and tested all the resistors and transistors they suggest that could cause this problem.
I stills am very interested in seeing someone else's setting's so I can completely ruleout eeprom reset.....
Thanks,
Dan

[grantspain]

i dont know anything about d9200 chassis but i am guessing this is a digital chassis and are the controls for adjustments done on a digital menu,if so let me know if not ignore me.

[Madman]

Yes is a digital control. It just has no effect when adjusted.

[grantspain]

well i cant promise this will help but we had very similar problems happen with digital pentranic chassis,what would happen is from time to time the chassis would suffer from a static zap which would reset the presets thus causing your exact problems,no brightness etc making the engineer think that the chassis was at fault-in fact there was a set up routine using a pot-what you had to do was hold the adjustment control on during power up thus giving you an extended menu with a save option,only on this menu could save your brightness controls etc-now i dont know about your chassis but i bet you a quid its something on that line.please tell me how you access the adjustments menu.unfortunatly many industry techs are about as helpful as a chocolate tea cup.

[Madman]

Good news! It did did seem to be eeprom corruption......

I adjusted "CB" in bias mode up to around 100 and I have a nice bright screen again! It had defaulted to 10 somehow...
And now the brightness control works just fine!
You would think WG would have known about this and suggested it right away. It's truly sad... I went through their suggestion of removing the chassis and parts before I found the answer on on my own.
Oh well... thanks for the suggestions! I guess you were right grantspain!

[Ken Layton]

That's why I hate 'digital' monitors. Ordinary analog monitors don't suffer from this crap.

[grantspain]

digital monitors are pants,always suffer static zaps-we actually started to replace digital with upgraded analogue chassis on the pentranics because of all the silly problems.