My Monitor went on the fritz. HELP!

[Buff]

I haven't had a chance to call Dell tech support yet but when I was home for lunch my wife informed me that the computer wasn't working.

I took a quick peek and it looks like it is the monitor itself.

The Monitor: Dell 2208 WFP Ultra Sharp

The Symptoms:

- black screen, power light is green
- upon power recycling I can see the desktop for about 3 seconds, but it is dim
- when screen goes black the monitor makes a two tone beep and then a static noise for about 2 or 3 seconds (the noise is similar to the snow you'd get on tv when cable was out.. but softer).

I did a quick peek on their website but I couldn't find any knowledge base for their monitors. Has anybody else encountered this problem with their Dell Flat Panel Monitors?

Edit: I can't use the on screen display either (OSD)

[llama64]

Sounds like the electronics board in the monitor itself blew something. You'll probably need to send this into Dell and get a replacement monitor.

I say this staring at the exact same monitor with some more unease then normal...

[Bobblehead]

I had a problem with my 2405 WFP a couple weeks ago. It is annoying because they don't really acknowledge monitors. I ended up calling the TV support line, getting a great tech who, after going through the standard troubleshooting steps (is it on, have you tries another power cord, etc - I could tell he was as annoyed by the questions as I was pretending to do the steps).

Eventually, he got permission to replace my monitor (even though it is 2 years old). It was a refurb that they replaced it with, but a working 2407 WFP is better than a broken 2 year old 2405 WFP any day of the week.

I called on a Saturday afternoon and had the replacement on Tuesday. I then had 10 business days to return the original.

[Hack&Lube]

Hopefully you have a good warranty. Several Dell models are known for blown transistors or fried capacitors on the circuit boards inside them.

I have a 17" one that does the same but it was out of warranty (only 1 year).

[Buff]

3 year warranty, I'm only 3 months into it. It is a PC that my work bought for me as part of compensation for being on-call.

I basically knew it was toast and that Dell needs to fix/replace it, I was just hoping that somebody had the same thing so I could tell Dell exactly what happened.

I eventually found a troubleshooting on Dell's website for the monitor but they had nothing that meets my symptoms.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Buff

3 year warranty, I'm only 3 months into it. It is a PC that my work bought for me as part of compensation for being on-call.

I basically knew it was toast and that Dell needs to fix/replace it, I was just hoping that somebody had the same thing so I could tell Dell exactly what happened.

I eventually found a troubleshooting on Dell's website for the monitor but they had nothing that meets my symptoms.

Dim screen probably means the backlight or the power transformer is fried, the buzzing noise is probably something like a voltage regulator or coil or something else buzzing or zapping something. I had an entire melted transistor on mine and then the fuse went as well when it zapped against the metal case.

[Buff]

Well I finally got to call Dell and they confirmed that it is the monitor (because i was able to plug in another monitor to the PC and it worked). However they call me back at 11:30 pm (waking up my already sleep deprived wife) to tell me that they can't find any record of the order (yet they can tell me that it has a 3 year warranty).

I'll likely never find out exactly what the problem is as they will send me a new one (if they decide not to be pricks about the supposedly missing order).