Nasty Discolored Line On Sony F520

[SimGuy]

A little while ago, I managed to snag a Sony GDM-F520 21" CRT monitor for a really decent price.

It's worked beautifully for the last 2 weeks (amazing picture, better than my Dell P1110), until this morning. I turned on the CRT and there's a NASTY discolored line running right down the center of the monitor (from the top center all the way to the bottom center). It's slightly off white (brownish in color) and about 2/5" wide, which really distracts you on light backgrounds.

I've tried everything that I know of through the On Screen Display to configure the device (convergence, color temp, Picture Effect modes, Image Restoration, etc..), but nothing so far has rid the monitor of the nasty brown line.

Now, this monitor has a pair of inputs (one 15-pin VGA and a 5-set of BNCx5 connectors.)

So far I've got the monitor attached this way:

Sony GDM-F520 <-- D-Sub 15-Pin Cable <-- VGA to DVI Dongle <-- GF 6800 Ultra OC Output 1

When I turn the monitor off and look at the CRT from an angle, I can see a discoloration in the tube right where the brownish line has appeared.

Is this thing toast? Anyone good with CRT's?

As always, any help is appreciated :)

[Geeky1]

Sounds like it's toast to me

[RWB]

The monitor still works right? Just that one line?

Does you degauss work? I don't know for sure, but the first thing I thought of is that your degauss thing might have fried.

[SimGuy]

Monitor works perfectly fine other than that damned line. Splits the screen right in half :(

AFAIK, Degauss still works (well, when I run it through the OSD, the image shakes, rattles & rolls before returning back to normal). I assume this to be working.

Think I would hurt this thing if I took a strong hard-disk magnet and waved it over the discolored zone? :)

[TheBaron]

you might hurt it, but then again it sounds like you cant stand this line so the question is... do you care?

[Geeky1]

if you can see the discoloration with it off, the monitor's dead. It's beyond saving.

[bothered]

If you can see it when the monitors off it must be burnt in, looks like new tube\monitor time.

[SimGuy]

Frig. Just when I thought I hit the jackpot.

I think bothered is right... it's pretty much burnt in. No resolution, connection cable or refresh rate removes the crispy area.

DAMMIT.

Okay. Thanks guys. Time to lug it back to the store & get a refund for a defective unit. :)

//Edit: Yeah, this thing's screwed. I just tapped the side of the monitor slightly and the entire Aperture Grille dislocates... I can see vertical blank spaces between the A/G lines. This thing's screwed. :shakehead