Single Vertical Line on Astro Monitor

[sr101]

Hey all, I'm new to this stuff so I appreciate all the great threads and help on here

I recently had the pleasure of picking up an Astro City Cab. It's been around the block, but works great.

That said, i believe I only have one more technical issue I haven't found a definitive answer for...

See the faint, single vertical white line here? It is extremely hard to see, maybe even invisible, when enough is on screen. But in scenes where the brightness is, say, under 50%... it is pretty visible to an ol' OCDeezer like me.

I've seen this a few other places, so I know I'm not SOL. It's not burn in, it isn't even always on screen (like when the screen is on but not displaying anything)

I've heard people say it can be incorrect grounding, I've seen "recap the chasis" (it seems this is the popular answer for everything ahahaha)

Just wondering, what would you guys recommend for this? AFAIK this is an nanao ms9-29.

I've eventually got to get into the chasis to fix the slight barrel distortion this has. Perhaps that is an additional clue?

Thanks so much in advance. From what I see here, this community rocks.

 

[BuddyC]

If it’s a MS9, it due for a recap. Post a picture here of the chassis and we will confirm.
The vertical line you se is due to capacitors in the vertical section of the chassis that are out of spec. New capacitors of good quality will fix your issues, but I recommend you do the whole chassis while you’re at it.

Ps. Your screen pot is set way too high! Best to turn it down a bit…

 

[sr101]

Gonna open up the back and take a photo when the wife gets back later today, thanks for taking a look!

I've gotta be honest, I'm a bit nervous to touch anything back there... Haven't done much electrical work. I know that most of the pots are pretty accessible... how bad is the risk to adjust those through the back of the cab? I'll be using something non-metal, and one-handed of course...

In terms of getting this re-capped... I'm not even sure I'd know enough to get this thing off and sent out... Are there any options for a newbie like me? I'm in the North East USA... so I doubt there's many folks who I could pay to help me with this.

Any ideas are appreciated!

 

[sr101]

Alrighty, here's the board. Looks a little dirty, but does it look like it's causing this?

I'm wondering... if I turn down the SCREEN, maybe that could fix it? Apparently it's up really high?

The wire in front of it in this photo... is it safe to touch briefly while I turn the screen pot?

 

[sr101]

Here's a better Pic of more of the board, the overall board looks pretty good?

 

[yosai]

Looks like an MS9. There is generally a label on the heatsink.

 

[AlxUnderBase]

If you are not nervous , the best way to remove the chassis is with the cabinet turned off .

Look here how to remove / discharge tube / replace the chassis (is in french,but the steps are same in any situation) :

ps : first step is everytime discharging the tube (put one hand in pocket always)

View: https://youtu.be/FWqh-MHVutk?si=l7gWGaO3vtduq3_Y

 

[BuddyC]

Alrighty, here's the board. Looks a little dirty, but does it look like it's causing this?

Not possible to tell based on pictures, but….
It’s a MS9 chassis and they are getting old. 30+ year of service means that it could use some love and TLC.

I'm wondering... if I turn down the SCREEN, maybe that could fix it? Apparently it's up really high?

Turning the screen pot down will make your image much better. Won’t fix the problem, but will look much better.

The wire in front of it in this photo... is it safe to touch briefly while I turn the screen pot?

Yes.

Heres a ok video regarding CRT safety. Some good tips that will make you more comfortable working on your cab.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N39PZB8gYhk

 

[sr101]

Alrighty: the good news.

I'm not dead! All I did was adjust the pots in the back, but... a big step not taken lightly!

I managed to dramatically clean up the light and get the black areas lookin black. Very good observation on the SCREEN pot.

Even better news, this has very much improved the line on the screen, now it's only slightly visible in games when you're looking for it and it's scrolling. (The difference is much more visible than a stationary image)

The bad news: in fixing the pincusioning, I discovered there is indeed some misaligned convergence. I assume this was mostly masked by the curve of the barrel distortion. In the end... I feel like this isn't so bad, I might prefer it slightly barreled just to mask it a bit... but I ain't going down the convergence rabbit hole.

I didn't really touch much, so I'm going to assume it's VERY unlikely I could've caused this with just the SPC15 pot. More likely, I assume, that it was like this but I didn't notice.

Anyways, thanks a bunch! I will be looking into recapping, and potentially fixing it further in the future, but I do feel a lot better about it like this. No monitor is perfect, and I think in the end the line on the screen isn't as permanent as like... burn in or dead pixels.

Time to learn to live with some imperfections! xP