About a month ago, my Samsung SyncMaster 226BW began experiencing slight flickering with the screen. It became progressively worse and worse as the weeks went on, and finally it was at the point where it would take 5-10 minutes to ‘warm up’ and shake loose the flickering screen.
Not only was it concerning, but it was just plain annoying having the screen ‘seizure flash’ you. So, I started researching for a possible fix without buying a new monitor of course, I figured it must have been something cheap to fix. Well I uncovered that these monitors (as well as many other Samsung models + TVs) all suffered from the same woe. Bad Caps! Bad Capacitors were to blame for the flickering.
I started with the monitor, and laying it ‘face’ down on a towel to reduce the chance of damage to the LCD and opening it up to take a look:
and looked around the power board for bulging capacitors, and I found 2 of a possible 3 that I should replace:
Getting started here are all the tools you need:
Solder, soldering iron, 3 capacitors (2x 820UF 25V + 1x 330UF 25V)
You can purchase the needed capacitors at Mouser Electronics. Also I purchased my soldering iron and solder at my local Chicago Harbor Freight which ended up totaling me $25 bucks which is pretty cheap for a task that fixed an originally purchased ~$200 monitor that is 2 years out of warranty.
Anyway, after replacement, here is what the job looks like finished, and my monitor is now back in working condition!
In the end, this venture cost me less than $25 dollars, and only 30 minutes of actual hands on work. If you are saying to yourself “eh I can’t possibly do this”, well don’t worry this is VERY simple, just go step by step, detaching the old caps from the board is as easy as heating the points on the back of the board, and wiggling/pulling the caps loose. Its difficult to damage anything if you simply just pull the board out and work slowly watching not to clip anything.
Enjoy! If you have any questions or comments, post below.
Following soldering tips of new caps that were installed should be clipped to the same length as other elements to prevent electric arc particularly if board is installed in metal cage.
OMG I’m totally going to try this out this weekend… if this is all I need to do then im hoping it will fix it. Thanks for this post! I knew there was something I could do but I wasn’t even sure where to start 😀
Worked like a dream for me…. used Panasonic FR series of caps from element 14
Samsung tells me that enough of us complain, the item might go into recall status — which means they fix it
THIS IS A HINT, FOLKS — CALL SAMSUNG!
Same – found 3x820uF and 1x330uF caps all with slight bulge at top. When checked with capacitance meter all were well below their spec. Replaced 820uFs with 1000uF and 25V (just what I had on hand) and 330uF with 470uF 25V. Its now working like a charm. thankyou for post. It was not difficult to pull apart 3 screws at bottom plus 3 holding the stand. It should then unclip, removed small lead from power supply and larger lead to monitor at top (just carefully wiggle free while pushing on the little releasing clips). Was then able to turn unit over to gain access to power board, removed 3 screws from board and removed four more little leads (just remember where they go) and had full access to power board. Replaced bulging caps as explained.
Bob, this issue has to do with bad capacitors from years ago, when the market was flooded by them (it wasn’t just Samsung, I’ve had bad power supplies & motherboards that suffered from this, a colleague of mine at work had this happen with his HP Laptop, the motherboard had to be replaced. You can call your manufacturer, but good luck getting it RMA’d after its warranty period.
This solution also worked fine for me on my 226SW. Many thanks!!!
Fix worked perfect for me, i couldn’t find the 820uf 25v locally so used a 1000uf 25v along with the 330uf 25v and it works perfect.
Nice! Fixed. I had two capacitors bulging on top (110 and 111) with a little brown/purple junk coming out of the seam. $2 in caps from Mouser Electronics (and $6 shipping!), my neighbor’s soldering iron, and it’s working like a champ again. The kids aren’t even awake from their naps yet. Thanks!
My capacitors look fine, no bulging, no discoloration of any kind. I’m going to attempt replacing them any way. I don’t have a way of testing them but I figure for $10 I’ll give it a try. I’ll update after I get it done.
Awesome blog post! Thanks for doing this, you saved me a bundle of cash!
TY for posting this…saved me troubleshooting…took me longer to dig out the replacement caps out of my parts bin than to actually repair my monitor..lol
oh yeah…i only had to replace 2 caps…and i used 1000 uf caps instead of the 820 uf.
This article and $3.82 of capacitors (x3) later and my monitor is back to it’s old form and I no longer need to worry about finding epileptic friends slumped at the desk. Thankyou!
I also Replaced 820uFs with 1000uF and 25V (just what I had on hand) and 330uF with 470uF 25V, just because they were available local at my hobby shop. Nothing beats being able to save what I was about to throw out. Thanks for the great tip.
Thanks, worked well.
Maplin (UK) have sent me 35v instead of 25v…….will this blow the monitor ?
Maplin (UK) have sent me 35v instead of 25v…….will this blow the monitor ?
Well, first time I’ve ever soldering anything in my life and it appears to be working well with 1000uf and 35v capacitors. They were 37p each and I bought a little soldering kit for £14.99. Monitor working like a dream now – thanks for the post !
I decided to go the route of ordering a replacement circuit board because I don’t have a solder iron or any experience soldering and the difference in price between the board and the replacement capacitors made the decision simple. However, I failed to document the four cables connecting the LCD to the circuit board and since they don’t appear to be keyed by shape, I have no idea which way to connect them. Do you know where I can find this information?
BTW – these seem fine (35V). I must have done something with the screen when removing though as I have 1 vertical line of ‘failed’ pixels on the screen. Doesnt really affect usage.
Had n email notify from Sdavids5670 as follows:
“I decided to go the route of ordering a replacement circuit board because I don’t have a solder iron or any experience soldering and the difference in price between the board and the replacement capacitors made the decision simple. However, I failed to document the four cables connecting the LCD to the circuit board and since they don’t appear to be keyed by shape, I have no idea which way to connect them. Do you know where I can find this information?”
I did take a photo of the board before removal so I knew where the leads were. Looking at the board, the top right connector – the rhs lead is the white and black wires – the LHS of that connector is the pink and white on my pic. The LHS connector – this is reversed – the rhs lead on that connector is pink and white lead and the lhs of that connector is a black and blue(?) wire.
I’ve got the pics still if they help.
FlipperMan
FlipperMan, it should not matter. The voltage is the max voltage the capacitor can handle. However the uf rating does matter.
May want to mention the part numbers. Found them on another site but since this was the first one I found in google I’ll post it here as well. The 820uf is 667-EEU-FC1E821 and 330uf is 667-ECA-1EHG331. Just punch those numbers in the search form on mouser to go right to them. I just ordered them today so no first hand experience with them but look like high quality capacitors.
Awesome! Took about 10 seconds to see that I had 5 bad caps. Took less than 24hrs for the replacement parts to show up from Mouser.com and now my monitor is back on for the first time in months! It was collecting dust in the garage! The only issue with the post was lack of part numbers but I quickly found them in Todd Eddy’s post.
Thanks!
I hope you’re still checking this blog…
I’m confused by these pictures… They don’t seem to match the cable placements in the picture above. Above, the red cable is always on the bottom, but in these pictures, the red cable is always on the inside. Could you please list which is which? Thanks!
I hope you’re still checking this blog…
I’m confused by these pictures… They don’t seem to match the cable placements in the picture above. Above, the red cable is always on the bottom, but in these pictures, the red cable is always on the inside. Could you please list which is which? Thanks!
Used your instructions today to repair my Samsung monitor. It works great! I tried to learn from the comments below and unplugged as little as possible to make re-assembly easier. Thanks!
My Samsung monitor also suffered from “the flickers.” Thanks to your very helpful article and photos I was able to replace the (obviously leaking) bad capacitors, thus restoring normal operation. For me, the most difficult part was disconnecting the control switch cable connector at the circuit board, As the locking tab for this connector is not readily accessible (in addition to being very small and fragile) I was able to unlock it by carefully using a dental pick while teasing it lose by gently pulling on the cable. [I bought (2) 1000mf and (1) 470mf @ 35VDC replacement caps for $5.50 from my local Radio Shack, just because it was expedient.]
Thanks for the help. Have the exact same monitor, and your diagrams/instructions worked like a charm. Much, much appreciated…
My 226BW, purchased late 2007 just began showing the symptoms. I knew it was always the bad caps responsible for such failure after about 3 – 5 years of operation. Mine was ON 16 hours a day at least and lasted this long. Fair enough… Nice to see others attempting repair too. It would be a waste of a wonderful monitor. AFAIK it’s probably impossible to find a 1680X1050 screen nowadays. And 22′ is small for HD res. yet all they produce are these. HD should start from 26′ in computer monitors. Anyway, thanks for the post and photos.
this worked EXACTLY as stated.. completely flawless… My Monitor now has new life after being thrown in the corner for a year.. cost me $2.00 at a local shop for the caps
they had 330UF 25v discontinued, so i used a 330uf 50V in its place…
dismanteling took about 5 mins (its soooo easy.. 3 screws for base stand, 3 screws for plastic cover, and 3 more for the board itself all regular sized phillips heads)
soldering took 5-10 minutes (i suck at soldering)
thank you for the great pics and how to guide
tip: make sure the replacement capacitors are 10mm x 25mm or smaller
those are the limits.. but they are huge in retrospect as far as caps sizes go
mine were 10mm x 15mm
but because some caps can be really big,, its best to make sure you get them sized right
I have the 226 BW Samsung which had the black screen senerio. I replaced the capacitors. I now get the anolog/digital screen in the top left corner, and after a minute I get a roaming screen on “Check Signal Cable” .. What have I done wrong, or what else should I be looking for.
Thanks for your help.
Fixed my own problem.. Hooked this monitor up to my wife’s laptop, screen come as as I mentioned above, first anolog/digital, then the roaming screen check signal. I turned the power button off and back on and everything is working fine. It is now connected to my Train Room Desktop computer and it is working fine.
Thanks to the original postings for setting me on the right track in regards to replacing the defective caoacitors. I may have clued in to the problem, but this forum has made it so much easier. Thank YOU…..
I highly recommend the Panasonic FR series for this sort of replacement. They have excellent specifications – very long lifetime, very low equivalent series resistance (ESR) and high ripple current rating, all of which are important in this sort of application. They are a little overpriced from some vendors, alas.
I have repaired several monitors of various brands, and one common issue is capacitor physical size. Most of the “larger” capacitors are 10mm x 20mm case size, and bigger types may not fit. I’ve seen several monitors that use 1000uF 25V caps in 10x20mm, and it is difficult to find these in high-quality capacitors. Actual capacitance is often not very important in this sort of circuit. The critical characteristics of ESR and ripple current rating tend to go with the can size, so using lower capacitance (e.g. as little as half the capacitance; certainly using 820uF instead of 1000uF is of no consequence) in the same can size is almost always perfectly acceptable WITH HIGH QUALITY CAPACITORS. During design it is common to select vastly more capacitance than is actually required, just to get the ESR and ripple current ratings within requirements. I’ve designed switchers where I’ve use about 10 times the “required” capacitance, just to meet the requirements for ESR, ripple current and lifetime.