Monday, October 20, 2008

DELL P791 as D(ismantle h)ELL

Son of my brother once played with the power button of this very old (but great) CRT and since that, the monitor started to suddenly turn on and off. I decided to fix this problem, as I thought - it's just a button, it can't be too complicated.

Well, it wasn't. I mean, the part with the button wasn't. The part "how to get to that damn little power switch" was much worse.

First, I tried the brute force naive/intuitive way. Nothing special. Then I tried to google something. Only something saying that there are no screws (see this). I had some, so I threw this solution away. My fault.

So, finally, this worked for me:
1. Put away the monitor stand (flip the monitor and simply push the only lock on the bottom, then take it away)
2. Put away the two (and only) screws on the bottom
3. Remove the back cover
3a. Simply push together two weird looking flaps on one side of monitor, now you can press the whole lock (containing these flaps) down (in the direction of the monitor). Once it is down, it can be pushed outwards and the back side can be lifted.
3b. Now, repeat the step 3a for the second side
3c. On the top of the monitor insert something (with small rectangular profile) into the wholes (you will hear a little pop when it's enough)
3d. The back cover can be now given away
4. Only two visible screws hold the big metal shield
5. The whole electronics part can be simply given away, if you bend out the locks (which can be seen at any time on the bottom of monitor behind the front buttons).
6. If you need to remove the ray tube, just unbolt the 4 remaining screws (each in one corner).

To assembly the monitor back, simple go backwards. Just take care, if your electronics part fits well. For the first time I didn't checked this and the contrast lowering button was permanently pushed down (disallowing me to use the menu).

Once again, usual warning: Do this only on your own risk!