CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[thewolfman]

I will try the suggestions given, and do it soon, and I know perfectly well it is wrong to make a public spectacle of it, but I am tired of it and just want this resolved and with as many input there is from other technical knowable people there is. You gave me one just now with testing just one color at a time.. I may have but forgot how that looked. So with that advice, and many more from MP, I'll try some more soon.

[thewolfman]

[mp20748]

[cmjohnson]

A dark bar in the raster is a classic indicator of a grounding problem, USUALLY a grounding problem between the projector and something else connected to it, which is a ground loop/ground hum problem.

Simple diagnostic for it: Disconnect absolutely EVERYTHING else from the projector. Sum total of things the projector is connected to is its own power outlet. And NOTHING else. Bring up the internal test patterns and go through them all.

If the dark bars go away, and they reappear when something else is connected, then it's that ground loop issue.

I mean, DISCONNECT everything else from the projector. Not just turn it off, it must NOT be connected AT ALL for a ground loop test. Yank out plugs and cables.


Of course, you are referring to a dark bar you see BY EYE, not through any camera. Ignore what a camera sees, it doesn't see a CRT the way we do. It is only the phenomenon of visual persistance that even makes CRTs workable for the human eye, and
cameras don't have visual persistence.

[thewolfman]

[cmjohnson]

It would not hurt to check and tighten down every ground connection in the chassis. I doubt that's going to be it, but it sure can't hurt to try.

[greg9518lc]

And check the ribbon cable connections as well.

[thewolfman]

[thewolfman]

[cmjohnson]

If you have any issues with a tube not working when you move the hinged heat sink, it's almost sure to be a questionable connection on the ribbon cables, either from the neck card to the motherboard or in the ribbon cables that connect the boards on the rear heat sink to the motherboard. Look for loose connectors, or pinched cables.


I caution you to be sure that you have the ground leads coming from the CRT assemblies connected to chassis ground. Ultimately they ground the outer surface of the CRTs and without a ground path they will build up a static charge of hundreds, going into thousands of volts. The CRT bell acts as a capacitor and it is TRYING to get to the same potential as the anode, but in reverse polarity. Eventually it'll arc over if not grounded out. If it had no ground path at all it would become a 34.9KV negatively charged surface, eventually.

CRT backs MUST be grounded. Or they will arc over and that may damage circuits.

[barclay66]

Hi,

The two ribbon cables that connect the upper mother board to the CVA and VDM on the big heat sink don't carry any video signals. If there were a loose connection, you would either see convergence, stigmators or vertical deflection not working properly (even with a scan fail condition).
However, what can happen is that the G2 and/or video cables to the neck boards get squashed or even pinched near the ribbon cable connectors...

Regards,
barclay66

[mp20748]

Guys can you help me out by keeping this guy on the things I had asked him to do for me. Below is what i asked him and have yet to get a result:


"Before you send them back, you need to first check these few things:

1, what happens when you bring up the internal test pattern, and how does each of the patterns look when you scroll thru them.

2, make sure you select "source" 02 after installing the VIM.

3, what source are you using into the Moome ie.DVD player, HTPC, etc"

And if you look further back in the thread, I had also asked him to try 1920X1080 60hz. For some reason he NEVER gets back with anything Ive asked him to post back with.. and I'm thinking may be he gets confused on trying to do other things that are suggested and forgets to post what I asked him.

There is a reason why I'm asking him to take 60 seconds and do the test for me. That VIM is VERY different from a stock VIM or anything else I've done to an VIM. So unless someone also has this video chain and understand how it works, you'll not be helping him or I in getting this solved.

Barclay is correct in looking at those cables, and if it was the ribbon cables for the neck boards that problem would have to be the same on each of the three cables to produce the black/white he mentioned that would require all three to have the same problem. I can quickly rule this VIM out, but I can never get him to post back what I ask him to do.

[thewolfman]

I use a HTPC, always. 800p. I will try 1080p also I haven't forgotten. And also make sure I choose source 02 after installing the VIM. I'll loosen the mini rca connectors and the ribbon cables and try other suggestions. Make sure it's grounded. Got it. Tonight I hope.

[thewolfman]

I tried pressing * and it works except for one page which it never lits.

And since I installed the modded VIM 02 again we can rule out the mini RCA.

I'll try some more later, too bright here. But everything white is still black.

[cmjohnson]

Disconnect the HTPC. Check the internal test patterns.

Get a cheap blu-ray player. Got 50 bucks? Hook it up, set it to 1080p, check the picture.


I keep seeing the same thing over and over: You're using an HTPC, and apparently, the SAME one, with the SAME video card,
over and over, and you keep getting the same bad picture.

If you don't switch over to a SEPARATE video source, this troubleshooting will go nowhere.

I think you've got an issue with your HTPC. Nothing internal in the Marquee, Moome card, VIM, or neck cards,
modded or not, can cause inverted video!

[thewolfman]

I tried running it 1080p, but I can't see very well since everything is black so that thing I will have to get back on.

Looking into the lenses I noticed that blue, while having the internal menus up, seems not inverted in colors but red + green are. Sometimes or always I don't know yet.

I set source to 02 + channel 1 but when browsing thru the * menus there is no channel chosen, no input module chosen, no signal type chosen and no video standard chosen. Not sure if it is suppose to be that way but took some images.

Every menu at this point, have their left vertical border missing. Not sure if it became that way now or I missed it before. Other than that the internal menus looks alright, I think.

I'll try reattaching the ribbons later.

I might get that blu-ray player next week when I get some money coming in.



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[thewolfman]

I took 2 images showing the internal menus without anything hooked up, just the pj.

First: The left borders are back on again!

Second: Pressing * makes it look alright, bright and with borders.

Third: Pressing UTIL makes it wrong looking and dim.



EDIT: I resized them now. When I noticed now is that the "good meny" with the modded VIM 02 looks a little weird too. It goes a little darker from top to bottom. I didn't see that before. sh*t, I will have to reshot them again to verify.


Ok, here is the sort of bad menu with modded VIM 02 pressing UTIL.



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And here is pressing * which makes them appear right looking. I'll make better shots later but for now these will have to do.



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I'll get a cheap blu-ray player next week to see 1080p once and for all.

[thewolfman]

I reshot the 2 images, but with a stock VIM 02 now + modded VNB, and now both internal menus work. Just the pj and nothing else.

So the PC is not at fault all by itself it seems. It could be a combination maybe. But the other PC would have been great now and promise to do that soon. I don't remember if it has an HD on it.



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[cmjohnson]

You could make slightly SMALLER photos, resize them, maybe? For me to see the whole photo on the screen, the text becomes
about the size of dust. With normal sized text, your photos are the size of city blocks.

All internal menus and test patterns should (almost) always appear on the green CRT. Only when doing red on blue convergence, and adjustments to red or blue focus, astig, CMM, and G2 and drive settings will you not be seeing internal menus on green.

If you're consistently seeing an issue with ONE tube, swap neck cards between the one not working right and either of the other two. Does the problem stay with the tube or follow the neck card?

After that, check the mini RCA cable from the neck card to the VIM. Swap two cables around if need be.

I HAVE encountered a bad mini RCA cable. I've also seen cracked solder joints on the mini RCA connector on the board.

Get things sorted out with the projector running all by itself, using only internal test patterns, FIRST, and THEN,
once that's taken care of, hook up video sources and proceed from there.

It's way easier to solve problem 1 THEN solve problem 2 rather than try to solve 2 problems together.

[thewolfman]

I have made them smaller now. I will reshot them later because I'm not happy with them. That is because now the good menu, with the stock VIM 02, looks a little strange too. It goes gradually darker it seems, so I need to know if it was the camera doing this. Same on the modded VIM 02.

I will try the new ideas soon. Thanks!