Dell 2000FP Monitor

I had this same problem.  My Dell customer service experience would have been funny if it hadn't been so pathetic - the tech support person I reached (whom I assume was offshore) could do nothing for me without an order number, and it took many minutes to arrive at this conclusion.  I bought my Dell 2000FP from someone retail a couple years ago, and Dell customer service had no interest in looking at the serial number.

 

Anyway, I sent the monitor to "sunrise technology" in California and for $150 they replaced the system board.  I talked with them first to describe symptoms.

 

When I got it back, it worked better; sometimes it would do funny things when I shut off the machine, like spraying weird horizontal lines all over and/or refusing to turn off or functioning fine but none of the buttons would light, but the display worked again.  It even had several weeks where it worked perfectly.  I think it's been four or five months and now it's "dead" again - all lights on (including both the green and yellow behind the main power light) so I assume the main board is again upset.

 

I assume there is a cottage industry of refurbishing some part on these mainboards that keeps going wonky.  I have no idea what part that is - do they have to lift a QFP chip and put a new one on, which requires tools, skill, and technique?  Or do they replace a SM capacitor which any monkey with delicate hands could do?

 

eBay has at least one seller listing refurbished main boards (search for "Dell 2000FP Logic" ) for $60.

 

I only wish my Dell 2000 FP would stay healthy.  It worked great for such a long time, and I find the viewability and pixel response characteristics great for my regular use and gaming use.  On the one hand, I'd consider buying another, but on the other hand I don't want to send more money to Dell for a monitor that appears to contain a timebomb flaw. :(

I just found my way to this thread while trying to diagnose my 2000FP problem. It's the same mode of failure as above - all panel LEDs lit (including the dual color LED) when powered-up. I found by trial and error that it could be taken past this point by repeatedly connecting and disconnecting the power supply from the mains. It might take a dozen or so attempts, but lately this is how I start my day! Once the screen is working it seems to stay working (although I've also had it working and stay working even though all the LEDs came on and the buttons froze part way through the day!)

 

Anyway, I've stripped it down to the control board and checked obvious things like power supply voltages. NOTE: I'm an experienced electronics engineer and know how to take sensible precautions in the presence of HIGH VOLTAGES! Everything at this simple level seems in order. My guess is that one of the controller chips (playing a supervisory role?) is looking for a voltage somewhere to be in spec and is refusing to sequence everything up it if it's not happy. Perhaps this is before it initialises the video processor such that once powered up OK the video stays working even when the supervisor goes AWOL. As has been mentioned capacitors are the most likely culprits because they do suffer the effects of age - but which one!

 

Unfortunately I have a limited amount of time to continue investigating this fault, but it sure is looking like a "common" failure mode. That means someone out there probably already knows what's going wrong - and I bet they'll be milking it for everything they can get.

Simple question - haven't these got a 3 year warrantee?

2 ys = trouble & no warrantee = expensive.

cheers

I originally said -

When I called Dell Tech Support, it took me ten minutes to establish that they had no intent to assist me without an order number.  They did not appear to understand the concept that I could be in possession of a Dell monitor without having ordered it from them.  The serial number and date of manufacture on the back of the monitor was of no interest to them.

 

Now, this was mostly annoying.  I got a lot of life from the thing, and my complaint is not that it broke, but that they were incompetent about even suggesting to me what I might do to with the thing other than throw it in the trash.  I was (and am) convinced a company so vast would be warranty-fixing these things for customers who _did_ have their order numbers, so they'd be all set up to receive, repair, and return them and the only thing tricky was making sure I paid whatever they wanted.

 

But I found the tech support experience included no brain cells to be able to work outside the single thought of "order number".

LUH

OK, sounds good to me.

btw. I said -

Kevin, I don't know the answer to your question. Whether these monitors have a 1, 2 or 3 year warranty is academic for anyone who sourced their monitor more than three years ago from somewhere other than Dell.