First and foremost, replacing screens on a monitor are very hard and oftentimes just as expensive as buying a new laptop. If you have a broken screen, it is better to just buy a new monitor instead of trying to repair it.
That being said, monitors have several other things that can go wrong with them and most of the time it is a result of electrical power having issues traveling through the board. If you want to explore troubleshooting, please visit our disclaimer page about working with electrical components:
Now since that’s out of the way we can talk about troubleshooting steps to take with your monitor.
Troubleshooting Steps for Monitor Power Issues
Step 1: The first step to take is to make sure it’s not an issue with the cord itself. You can check this by plugging the cord into the monitor and looking for any lights that come on. If lights are not coming on just by being plugged in, that may be an indicator that the cord is bad. If you want to double check if it’s power, you can use a voltage meter like this one on Amazon and test it.
Step 2: If it’s not the cord, then it’s time to open up the monitor and explore further. Unplug the monitor, take out the screws from the back and take out the printed circuit board (PCB) chassis. Take the board out of the chassis and start to look at it for burnt chips or pins on chips that have been burned out. These are really small, so having a magnifying glass will help you see better. Also, take a look at your HDMI connection as these can be damaged from plugging it in over time. If you do find any dark marks showing a burned pin or burned chip, you can replace it, but you will need a soldering kit or a heat gun and soldering flux. Same goes with the HDMI or DisplayPort. There are several out there, and you can find them at your local hardware store. Amazon is also a good choice to look at and I’ve included a couple options here:
It is much easier and quick to buy and replace a new circuit board than it is to replace a chip. But if you’re not afraid of doing a little soldering and have some experience, then by all means, replace a burned chip.
Replacing a Burned Chip:
- In order to replace a burned chip on a monitor circuit board, you need to find a replacement chip. You can do this by searching for and buying another circuit board or chip. Chips range from $1-$2 whereas boards range from $30-$40. If you’re going to replace a chip, find the manufacturer of the printed circuit board’s data sheet. This will give you detailed specifications on the chips present in the board, and from there you can find them online at retailers like https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/, https://www.electronicspoint.com/, and https://www.mouser.com/.
- Once you have the new chip, de-solder the current chip by applying heat from your soldering iron or heat gun. Clean up any burn residue and place the new chip down, matching all pins to the board. From there, solder it on, put everything back together and test.
Unless you’re working with a laptop, problems rarely exist outside of the circuit board. Laptops are a different story. They have cables connecting from the display that wind throughout the laptop. Closing and opening a laptop can make these cables go bad and oftentimes are the root cause of a laptop monitor display not working.