IBM 5154 EGA CRT Monitor Repair...Eventually

I recently picked up this IBM 5154 to help with future projects with the intention of repairing it to reduce the cost for me to get an EGA monitor. I was in for a much longer and more involved project than I realized though.

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[B-in-Norva]

The 5154 has about 45 repair tips in my tips database....C605, C705 and C805 are called out for video smear, often confused with a blue/red/green lateral shift issue. Not a convergence issue, a capacitor issue.
BTW, I repaired a TON of the 5153 and 5154 monitors 1994-1997, all were deflection cap issues - vertical, C311 and C312 were the culprits, and for horizontal issues (foldover, dark bar on left side, C401.
Power supplies, well, most were obvious problems or bad solder joints from a bad solder flow from the factory. 24/7 operation, best to let them breathe by not blocking any ventilation slits.

We used the EGA mode on our desktops with Wordstar and a couple of graphic-heavy programs used in Aviation Maintenance. Most of the IBM monitors we had were Tatung-made, I remember only a few with non-Tatung chassis (likely NEC chassis)

[polygonvvitch]

Nothing is better than "Hopefully this will be a short video" followed by editing youtuber showing the absurd length of the editing timeline.

[viviennemaley]

LMAO the cut to editing voiceover of "Oh you poor naive fool you have no idea what's coming." at 7:08 got me laughing hard. if that aint the mood working on vintage electronics idk what is

[misterhat]

The corrosion on J45. If they used a glue called "Sony Bond" (which was common back then) to hold that cap, it is corrosive over time. It will even eat the the copper traces from the board. You should clean off all traces of it and use silicone (without acetic acid), hot snot, or epoxy in its place.

[yf]

"... is instantly identifiable by the white knobs". Points at the brown knobs 😅
Love the video, as always a lot of detailed info and I've learnt lots, keep it up man!

[elektronischermeister]

Retro programming is a thing, and now retro designing electronics

Neat.

[Stormnatt]

You are living my dream. I cannot do it myself, but at least I can enjoy it here so much! Thank you, keep doing your work, greetings from Austria.

[semifavorableuncircle]

11:00: It corrodes because of the glue. Thats the infamous brown glue, killer of many electronics, that turns conductive (and corrosive) over time. Scrape it off whereever it touches any component.

[misterhat]

I've got a KDS monitor that worked for about two years and then crapped out. I opened it to find a 2W resistor shoved in a hole with no solder. It just made contact for those two years and then didn't. Soldering it fixed the problem.

[jeremylindemann]

Every time I see a new Tech Tangents video Shelby seems to have gone a bit deeper into the specifics of electronics and he seems to be prepared to do more to fix things, as well as having more items of equipment that a more serious electronics enthusiast repairer might need.

I like seeing this, I often pick up new insights as well as learning more of the basics by watching Tech Tangents videos.

This is the kind of thing I want to do myself but I'm a more difficult and reluctant learner than Shelby.

[luqasxXX]

You are a life saver. I have an IBM 8513 vga monitor with similar problems so your let me learn based on your experience

[JarrodCoombes]

I was the one who originally wrote that entry to your Caps Wiki page. The values I put in the table are based on the caps I pulled out of the 3 5154s I recapped. Interesting that yours were different (for record the IBM schematic calls for a 47uf at C11), apparently 100uf works too, lol.

Also, I made a point of using 105C rated caps, the originals were only rated for 85C or less, will this make a difference in the long run, who knows, but I figured it couldn't hurt.

[Nuklen]

The Mysterious Green Jumper is like a Flash Gordon villain.

[net_news]

oh I love the EGA so much... I dreamed with one when I had an Hercules MDA monitor back in late 80s... finally I bought a VGA but I always loved those dithered EGA graphics and its weird resolution. In fact, even today I prefer the EGA version of most games of that era.

[TeflonBilly]

Great video, I loved the in depth dive into fix this, the troubleshooting, the trial and error. Keep us posted if swapping out those last two caps fixes things.

[ajslim]

the most dramatic 7min20sec intro in a Shelby video for a long time :D

[oldnotobsolete.]

Brilliant video. Love seeing the process you used.

[AndrewBates]

Amazing hard work you've put into this, and I appreciated the fourth wall-breaking!

[DiskWizard]

I do remember the situation happened some 20 years ago when repairman for company explained to me - Hot or "stressed" (heavy load) solder joints tend to simply evaporize solder over time.

[MAKRON-R]

This was the most impressive TT video you’ve done; never seen such a deep dive on CRT repair before. You saved a rare monitor, showed us how, and now have a nice record of it and the EGA monitor you’ve wanted as your trophy. 🎉 congrats