Display problems going on

I've got a receiver that is having some display problems... Here is a pic of what it looks like:.

Any ideas what the root of this is a issue is? If it is the display, where I buy a new one to install?

Thanks for your help,
Tim

Thanks,
Tim

Looks like the display is actually broken - the cable contains an 8-bit databus, and the data is getting to the display fine as far as I can see. Vertical stripes like that make it look like the internal connections from the LCD driver chip to the LCD are dead.

The display is custom, though. You can't buy them off the shelf :(

You could try taking it apart and applying pressure to various bits of display to see if it helps. Avoid the EL backlight driver though, this is about 1000v!

Hugo

Hmm. It doesn't seem to be all that much less readable than when it's functioning normally.

__________
Tony Fabris

Resurrecting this old thread for a display problem of my own. I have a flaky backlight; sometimes it works as it should and sometimes it doesn't light at all. It seems that if it's been unplugged for a while it works properly, then stops after some period of time e.g. overnight the last time I checked. I'm doing more testing but...

Before I call Tech Support and get an RMA (it's still under warranty, a SB Rio Receiver) I wonder if anyone knows:

1. Is the backlight integral to the LCD or a separate device
2. Mention was made here of a driver for the backlight. Are there schematics available for people to use for themselves?

I don't want to go to the trouble to send the unit back to SB and risk that it will work while they have it, and they send it back untouched. So I want to understand this a little better first (I still have a few months before the warranty expires).

The backlight is separate, with a separate inverter chip. Either the backlight material has arced over and died or the PSU is dead - or both (one killing the other). Schematics aren't available, but you can try unplugging the backlight connector and checking with an AC voltmeter the output voltage. My previous email of 1000v was a bit OTT, I think it's more like 200-250v AC at very low current.

I don't know what the service stock of RR's is like, but it'd be worth asking them before returning it!

Hugo

Thanks Hugo for your reply. I had taken the cover off my unit & observed that there was a ribbon cable running to the front panel, but didn't remove the front panel further. I guess I'm encouraged that there are separate components for the backlight. Since the unit is new, and used less than a few hours, I'm hoping that there is just a cold solder joint or perhaps the inverter chip has failed prematurely. It's in the front panel w/the display LCD?

Do you or anyone know where pics of the FP innards might be from someone who has gone that way before?

altman you said:

>Either the backlight material has arced over and died or the PSU is dead - or both (one killing the other)

I didn't know what "arced over" meant but your reply emboldened me to take the face off my Rio. With the LCD laying before me I could see not only how very delicate the pad connections are to the backlight, but mine was sparking a bit as the backlight flickered off & on! It seemed obvious that by whatever means these "pads" make connection to the backlight material (what is it?) one of them was not making good connection. After fretting over how to make a tiny "clamp" to try to squeeze these connections better, I found a piece of flat plastic/nylon material and cut a slit in it, and slipped it over the tab that extended from the LCD/backlight assembly, clamping the tabs from the wires to the backlight. Like a clothespin if you will.

Hugo your reply was timely and absolutely right on! Thanks very much, I have a reasonably high degree of confidence that this was the problem and that the fix will work long-term. The backlight is still weak, much dimmer that it needs to be, but at least the display is readable now without my having to have a bleeping flashlight to point at it! Thanks again!

Tom

Well done, every time I seem to go near a receiver display recently I seem to break it completely (as people in the office may have noted a couple of weeks ago from the stream of expletives coming from my cube)

No idea what the backlight is made of apart from "EL stuff"

Hugo