P992 Problem

I recently purchased a Dell Dimension 8250 system that included a M992 monitor. I wanted to purchase a P992 but I noticed that several weeks ago they pulled them from their system customizer. A review I found on the internet, I think it was PC World, rated the M992 very good. Better than some Trinitrons. They were wrong. When I got the M992 I was not happy with the quality. It was washed out. I compared it side by side with my old Dell P991 Trinitron and there was no comparison, the M992 was worse. So, I purchased a P992 from the accessories section of the Dell website for $348. While I was waiting on the new monitor to be shipped I noticed that Dell pulled them completely from their website. That makes me nervous. When I checked on returning the M992 I was told that since I purchased it as part of a "kit" I would only receive about $90 refund. It would cost me $25 to ship it back to them. So, for 65 bucks I decided to keep it for some unknown future use.

Luckily, when I turned on the P992 monitor it works great. My son at who is away at college also has a P992 that I purchased for him last spring. It has been running since then with out a problem. I have 4 year extended next business day service on both of these systems so it will be interesting to see what they replace the monitor with if one goes bad. Dell even gave me a case number that provides warrantee coverage for my P992 like it was part of the original invoice. So, should I have a problem, other than waiting for monitors to be shipped back and forth, I should be all set. However, it is unfortunate that I got stuck with a new M992 that is worth only slightly more than a good boat anchor. It’s my fault for not understanding Dell's business system.

Dell is a good company but it is very difficult to find anyone who can do a complete job for you. I had several people send me to someone else because they couldn’t handle my issue or couldn’t see my information on their computer. I bounced from tech. support to customer support to sales several times. I kept wondering why the tech. support people had an accent. Heck, on the Dell commercial where the tech support people leaving for the evening turn the lights out on the people staying all night, they are all young Americans. When I asked one of the accented tech support people where she was she said the Philippines. I think Dell is too big, too much off shore and too fragmented. I hope they fix it soon or they will loose the lead to a company who provides better customer support.

I have purchased 4 Dells since 2000. I hope they remain the value I once thought they were.

Good luck to all of you who either have working P992 or problems with one.

If I have a problem with either of mine I'll be back to post an update.

Here is the problem: Location on the board is Q505.  The part number is 2SC5682.  This is a horizontal output transistor.  This is a high voltage section so don't mess around unless you are trained.

The solution?  Replace above mentioned part if you can find it.  In Harrisburg PA contact Gary Barker at 717-774-5999 Tech Select Inc.  He fixed my monitor  ($120 American)and understood what the Dell Idiots did not- the monitor was dead!  And the advice to change the settings and go into the control; panel was simply idiotic Dell advice. 

Dell, send me a check for $120?  Ha, ha, yeah, right! 

"Want a bad deal, you can go straight to Dell"  (new Dell Corporate slogan.

Here is the problem: Location on the board is Q505.  The part number is 2SC5682.  This is a horizontal output transistor.  This is a high voltage section so don't mess around unless you are trained.

The solution?  Replace above mentioned part if you can find it.  In Harrisburg PA contact Gary Barker at 717-774-5999 Tech Select Inc.  He fixed my monitor  ($120 American)and understood what the Dell Idiots did not- the monitor was dead!  And the advice to change the settings and go into the control; panel was simply idiotic Dell advice. 

Dell, send me a check for $120?  Ha, ha, yeah, right! 

"Want a bad deal, you can go straight to Dell"  (new Dell Corporate slogan.

My monitor suffered an identical demise yesterday.  Unfortunately, it's 5 months past the end of the 1-year warranty.  It probably lasted that long because I use my laptop a lot more than my desktop.  The original P992 that came with my Dimension 8200 died 2 weeks after I received it.  Unlike many of you, this is only my second P992.  I had no idea that there was such a widespread problem with this monitor until I started reading all of these posts this morning.  No wonder Dell isn't responding to these posts.   I'd be ashamed too.

I can accept the occasional hardware failure, but this smells of a design problem, and one that Dell does not seem to feel any responsibility for.

I work for a large company that orders a lot of Dells.  I have been happy with the hardware and the support.  I recommend Dell to the people who ask me for computer advice.  I can't do that any more. 

I don't know if the Dell moderators review all posts, but if so, I'd like to see a response from Dell regarding this issue.  Acknowledge the problem and tell us what, if anything, you will do about it.

It's hard to believe that a Sony manufactured monitor would have a high failure rate.  If you check other web sites, you'll see higher failures on the bigger Sony monitors.  There were two versions of this monitor made - one in midnight grey, and the other in a different color.  Both seem to have original manufacture dates in 2001.  I'd think that over that course of time, there'd be a general recall if the failures were too high.  I remember hearing about a power switch problem on some bigger monitors - if you pressed it incorrecly, it'd fail, and if you turned it off and back on too fast, it'd short out somewhere. 

The monitor also seems to be bulky and heavy, being 19" and about 55 pounds.  Damage during shipment is a likely cause.

I think the following is still true:

http://www.dell.com/us/en/bsd/topics/products_monitors_001_monitors.htm

Quality
Dell Monitors are designed to our exacting quality standards and manufactured by the world's foremost suppliers, who must pass Dell's stringent quality audit. All Dell Monitors meet or exceed relevant industry standards.

Reliability
Dell Monitors undergo exhaustive testing for performance, reliability, durability and compatibility with Dell systems. Under our H.A.L.T. (Highly Accelerated Life Cycle Testing) regimen, Dell engineers push our monitors well past specified tolerance limits for heat, cold, vibration, shocks and drops, to ensure that they have more than enough durability to hold up under real-world conditions.

The argument that because two monitors have a lot of posts, so all Dell monitors are equally bad is not valid.  There may be a quality issue which came up after the product went to mass production.  There's equal chances that there are issues with the O/S and Windows Updates, video cards and alternate drivers people install, etc.  I remember my video screen being trashed by a Microsoft Update.  I ended up having to reinstall the video drivers, and reset the monitor in Windows so that the correct one was selected.  That was all caused by Microsoft, and was not a Dell hardware fault.

If there's a power light, but no display even in self-test, then that's another story.  Even so, it may not be a significant percentage of the total quantity Dell sells.  Most manufacturers find a 2% failure acceptable, and get really alarmed when it exceeds 4 to 6%. 

i no longer feel lonely :)