Two Lenovo monitors failed simultaneously. Can it be fixed?
Two Lenovo monitors failed simultaneously. Can it be fixed?
I own three Lenovo le22-20 monitors. Roughly six months ago one stopped working completely. Now the condition is clear from the photos. I’ve been managing with two, but previously another failed too. The issue is consistent—same shape, same problem. The image shows the monitor without it connected to a computer. It’s not likely a hardware failure like a cap; I’m not confident enough to confirm that. I remember the first one broke apart easily. I checked the boards and didn’t find any swollen caps or discoloration. I can send pictures, but they might be obvious. These have been around for a while. If fixing it with a soldering iron were simple, it would be best to replace them. I’m not sure if this will last much longer if two more fail like this. Thanks.
Welcome (back) to the forums! First, I assume you checked warranty and found that they are out of coverage. If not, DO THAT. Even if they are past coverage, you could contact customer service and see if they can point you in the right direction. My assumption is that it's a dying digitizer, though I'm no expert. It's possible that they will have old stock kicking around and sell it to you for a sweetheart deal (Sceptre hooked me up a couple years back). There is likely *some* component that is dying. Caps can die and leave no external sign that they have. If you are well equipped with a good multimeter and scope, you could manually check each component against its rating and identify which needs replacing. If you are further even more well equipped with a reflow workstation and very lucky, you can grab replacement components and swap them in. With a significant amount of time and effort and a healthy splash of luck, you might end up with functional monitors. At least until another component dies. If that seems too steep a hill to climb (and let's be clear, it really REALLY should be), you could look at the board and hunt around ebay/aliX for a drop in replacement. I know there are a lot of monitor brands that very lightly customize boards from some OEM or another, slap their brand and model number on it, and use it in multiple products. I've not had great success with that path. After spending ~90$ on a 100$ monitor, I got it up and running but with some *wonky* colors.
It seems like you're considering contacting Lenovo despite their limited warranty. You found a replacement board but encountered high costs—almost half your budget for shipping. It looks like the issue might be with the board itself, not just the caps. You noted a price of around $90 per unit, which feels quite steep compared to other options. While monitors are available for over $165, they're still quite basic at 1080p and 75Hz. I think it would be wise to reach out to Lenovo to get their perspective.
This problem appears consistent across both devices, suggesting a possible factory defect. However, because of its age, the warranty might not cover it. Hopefully it works fine—my Dell 3007 is still in use as a secondary display.