3700 WS4 - reboots itself, screen goes crazy... what can we do?

[ben@nimbus]

The screen goes crazy on one of our workstations, it has flickering horizontal lines all over it.

Does this sound like a hardware, or a software issue? It happened in the middle of the night, when no one was using the system.

When rebooting the system, it works for a few minutes, then either freezes up completely, and usually results in the video being all jumbled as a result of the horizontal flickering lines.'

This is urgent, and responses would be awesome!

Thanks in advance.

[Henny]

It is 1 of 2 things, definatly hardware related.

A - a fan has burned up and it is no longer cooling the system properly

B - the graphics adaptor memory is corrupt.

I would lean towards A, open up the system and check the cpu fan etc.

Good luck!

[ben@nimbus]

Thanks for the response, Henny.

I've opened the workstation up, and it appears to be fanless.

How can I determine if the video memory is corrupt, and how would I go about correcting it?

Thanks again!!!!!

[ben@nimbus]

After more careful inspection, I have discovered two blown capacitors. The tops are bulging out on capacitors located at EC14 and EC15.

[Henny]

Ugh, those are going to be tough. Is the unit's power supply working correctly?

[ben@nimbus]

Well, replaced the capacitors and it's still giving us problems.

We are in the process of looking for a new workstation, or the motherboard and power supply to one. 

[microsman]

the 2 most common causes for the video glitch you describe are 1) defective video processor chip next to the video cable connector on the motherboard, and 2) grit and debris working its way into the LCD panel, which requires removal and careful disassembly of the LCD panel itself.  removing random grit that works its way into the aluminum LCD bezel circumvents this problem almost every time.

[microsmike]

You should investigate sending it t to a repair facility and getting them to fix or replace.
Any Micros office or Micros dealer is probably going to do the same. They are going to field replace the main board and charge you for a new board. Getting the board repaired at a depot facility will likely save you hundreds of dollars.