Sony GDM-FW900 Busted :(

When it gets cool outside, my room gets pretty cold at night particularly because I do not leave my system on when I go to bed. But if, I do leave it on, I usually never leave the my Sony FW900 monitor on.

Anyway, one cold morning I turned on my computer, and my monitor started making these very loud, screechy noises where some light was trying to pass through to the screen but it would be all twisted and then fade off quickly. It kind of looked like it tried to get the screen but it couldn't. What I would do to bypass this is to switch to the other monitor side thingy where I didn't have a computer plugged in, so it could try to find input to a monitor longer. Eventually, it would get the monitor to display stuff again. Then I would just switch back and I would be able to use my computer. I've been doing this trick for a week.

Then, when that week past up, when I tried to turn on the computer, same thing happened, but on steroids. The screen made a big loud popping noise and a huge flash went to the screen. Now, it makes the screechy noises like it did when it was trying to come on before, but now it's making clicks and retrying like 2 or 3 times before it give up trying to get input from the computer(Screeeech! Click.... Screeech! Click...)... Now on both inputs. So there is no way I can get the monitor to display anything.

I called a repair shop, and they told me it doesn't sound like the tube is fucked and it could be repaired with a flat rate of $125.

Just wondering if anyone who has owned this monitor has any experience with this type of situation. And, if you believe this monitor is repairable?

My GDM-FW900 has been busted for 34 months. Its problem is similar to yours, but not the same. It was working fine and then suddenly it stopped working (there was no lead-up, like there was for you); I don't remember exactly in what way it failed, but I know it was sudden.

When I turn it on, I hear it degaussing, but nothing shows up on screen, not even a black level. Then it starts doing a screeching noise, once every 2.3 seconds (approx), for four iterations, like it is trying to make itself work. Then it gives up and starts blinking the power light every 2 seconds. This happens regardless of what inputs I have plugged in or not plugged in. BTW, it's not a "Screeeech! Click.... Screeech! Click..." for my FW900; it's just a "Screeeech!.... Screeeech!...."

A flat rate of $125 for repair sounds wonderful. I tried calling a repair place local to me, and the guy said it was a problem in my FW900's picture tube and would require replacement (which would be impossible or too expensive). But maybe he was wrong?

What is your backup monitor?

a 17" flat CRT

Mines does the orange glow blink too after it attempts to get the picture 2 or 3 times. And it's almost impossible to turn it off afterwards (You gotta catch it when the orange light is on or something)

Oh, and IF they can't fix it, there's $25 bench fee, but that is if I don't replace that monitor with one of their refurbs which would be a different, smaller monitor.

But, I told him what happened, and he sounded pretty optimistic... Maybe he's just wants my $125 bucks :\

r.i.p. fw900

gone, but not forgotten

Those monitors are so wonderful that I would risk the $25. I mean really, there is nothing even close. The only downside is the size and heat but the picture, OMG the picture...truly nothing will ever exceed them.

Couldn't agree more. It's the best monitor I've ever had, and the guy on the phone said he understands how much I would try to fix it because he has one himself. Although, I almost break my back carrying it

What nonsense. I have owned the Sony GDM-FW900. The NEC LCD24090UXi, to take the limiting case, is far better. Bury the dead and move on to better things.

SD45 said:

What nonsense. I have owned the Sony GDM-FW900. The NEC LCD24090UXi, to take the limiting case, is far better. Bury the dead and move on to better things.

Click to expand...

Try that "nonsense" at non-native resolution. Or anything above 60 HZ.

bye bye now.

Non-native resolution: Who cares?

OK

No more being a smartass. The people who own these monitors care. You can run any widescreen resolution up to 2304x1440 and have it look magnificent. You can taylor it to the game your playing or in other words, your not limited to the horsepower of your graphics card. To top it off, it does it at superior refresh rates and none of the artifacts associated with LCD's. No matter how good the NEC might be, it will never equal the color reproduction or black levels of the FW-900.

I listened to guys like you and although I couldn't afford an IPS techology monitor, I did go with a nice MVA low input lag panel and the lack of heat and extra deskspace is nice but the artifacts, low refresh rate and inferior black levels are constant reminders that I am on inferior technology that tries to make up its shortcomings with superior external design aesthetics.

The LCD2490WUXi (or almost any 24" 1920x1200 LCD) beats the GDM-FW900 in brightness, sharpness, and geometric uniformity.

The GDM-FW900 wins in:

• contrast ratio
• can display motion without motion blur
• can go up to 2704x1730 and still resolve fine vertical detail (how about that — this monitor can do a resolution that the hardware of its time couldn't even support; it exceeds its specifications)
• doing any resolution lower than that without ugly resampling artifacts (instead of being tied to a native resolution)
• doing any refresh rate from 48 Hz to 160 Hz (the LCD2490WUXi can maybe do 50-85 Hz, but I've not seen a report demonstrating it to truly support that without conversion to 60 Hz)
• able to do 16:9, and any aspect ratio up to about 2.2:1, with letterbox bars that are perfectly black (not emitting any light), instead of just black-level black
• allowing the user to correct the aspect ratio of aspect-ratio-idiotic content using simple OSC size controls (e.g., an HDTV channel that stretches 4:3 content into 16:9 can be squeezed back into 4:3, and vice versa)
• able to do 1080i with true interlacing, without interpolation (I'm not sure this is the advantage it used to be; real-time software deinterlacing has gotten quite good)
• the LCD2490WUXi may have less anti-glare sparkle than most IPS LCDs, but it still has some. The GDM-FW900 has a tiny amount of grain in its phosphors if you look closely, but it's less grain than any LCD I've seen and does not change depending on viewing angle (it doesn't sparkle, like the anti-glare grain in LCDs does).
• no input lag (Edit: forgot to put this in because some LCDs also have no input lag)

SD45 said:

What nonsense. I have owned the Sony GDM-FW900. The NEC LCD24090UXi, to take the limiting case, is far better. Bury the dead and move on to better things.

Click to expand...

What does the GDM-FW900 have over over the LCD24090UXi?

No input lag
No motion smear
Vastly superior blacks
Over 15x (15x!) the dynamic range

So maybe you can see there are two sides to this?

Quiet you guys, you're making me want to go out and find one, and I only switched to an LCD a few months ago from my 22" Mitsubishi diamondtron.

SH1 said:

What does the GDM-FW900 have over over the LCD24090UXi?

No input lag
No motion smear
Vastly superior blacks
Over 15x (15x!) the dynamic range

So maybe you can see there are two sides to this?

Click to expand...

Bingo

I get tired of the LCD zealots posting how great LCDs are and to give up the CRT because they suck or whatever. IMO the only use for an LCD is for for a work monitor or a secondary display. In my house LCD TV is only fit for playing endless amounts of Dora the Explorer and Oprah and whatever other SD stuff gets Tivo'd.

OP, try posting in the semi-official FW900 thread

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=952788&page=272

Uncle Vito in particular may have some input on what specifically might be wrong with your FW900.

Okay, I will. Thanks for the link!