Samsung 2232GW repair of bad capacitors

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 7:19 pm

So it was a few weeks ago that my main monitor (2232GW) started acting up. Coming out of standby it would flicker (1-30seconds). I thought it may be drivers at first, then a recent bios update (unreleased beta). It did not take long to rule them out, all the while the symptom continued to get worse (flicker 1 sec- 2 minutes). It started to flicker when I would restart the system (although I do not do that often) all the way from booting to logging in and beyond.

I unplugged the cable leading from my video card to the monitor. Shut it off, and turned it on the next morning, it flickered for some time. Hardware! So I opened up the shell of the monitor (it is no longer under warranty). A few screws later and yes, some capacitors look like they are bulging (not good) and some were leaking.

Bad capacitors:

After a bit of research and help from some people on badcaps forums I located replacements caps for all the capacitors of a particularly cheap (as in cheap in price and quality) brand that makes its way into a lot of electronics now days. Capxon. I also replaced 1 Samyoung capacitor and went with Panasonic equivalents and tonight was the moment of truth!

Yes! It works good as new! Cost roughly $10.00 USD Although the invoice will show a bit more as I also replaced some caps (also Capxon) that went bad in a 700 watt power supply late last year.

Here is the Power board for the Samsung monitor (not much to them):

Sub-assembly of PCB's, shielding, panel, and front bezel: