HELP! ( totally OT) - Hitachi Monitor problem

please see embedded comments below. Dick -----Original Message----- From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Thursday, October 28, 1999 2:37 PM Subject: Re: HELP! ( totally OT) - Hitachi Monitor problem Having attempted to locate a source of service data for this beastie for over four months, during which time it sat on the floor of my already overcrowded computer room, where I, mobility-handicapped as I am, had to step around it, I decided to look at the adjustments. This fault came about VERY gradually, having been noticeable during the warmup phase for a couple of years, but until more recently, when the duration of this problem grew to over half an hour, I figured that it might be in some way related to the aging process. Like most CRT's it has several hundred electrolytic cap's, and I'm loath to remove them all so they can be tested, though it may come down to that. I bought this thing in late '93 and it was manufactured in '91, so I have to assume it's aged a bit. The individual scan lines seemed to change both randomly and rapidly, from one to the next, in width, giving a jittering effect to the margins. On a monitor of this size it's not easy to see both margins simultaneously, but it apears that when the left margin jitters to the right, the right margin jitters to the left. Now that I've fiddled with the adjustments to such extent that the jittering is completely gone, the screen has a very substantial pincushion, somewhat more pronounced on the left than the right, though the display is VERY stabile. The width control on the front of the monitor currently has no effect. I find I'm unable to restore the conditions to their original state, not that it would help. There are a few adjustments I've not seen before. A couple, such as side-pin, Hsize, and Vsize have a second adjustment called "sub.-whichever" e.g. sub. side-pin, etc. These seemed to work in pairs with the normal adjustment. I'm baffled as to why the front panel controls don't have the same effects as before. Since I paid out a couple of K-bucks, albeit nearly 7 years ago, (mostly because I like this monitor) I'm loath to scrap it. A prefectly good new monitor of comparable size, brightness, focus, linearity (and weight), etc. costs about $400 nowadays, unless one wants to pay for the name. It's surprising that one can't easily order service documents for these monitors, but I guess it's my inability to understand how business is done these days. this. to