Guide to Buying Hard Drives

Apart from being one of the most essential parts of your computer, hard drive storage is constantly updating, in terms of both capacity of disk space and in physical size. When it comes time to upgrade your disk storage, there are a number of factors for you to take into account. Once you've made basic decisions about size, connectivity, speed and data transfer rate, and whether you want an internal drive or external, you can search through Myshopping.com.au to find the most suitable brand, and model, and compare the prices of different vendors.

Hard Drives

How A Hard Drive Works

Your hard drive has a number of magnetized platters connected to a spindle. The spindle spins the platters at a very fast speed while a series of read/write heads scan over them both looking for and writing information. This information is transferred via a cable system, or through a wireless connection to a hard disk controller, which in most systems is built into the motherboard, or in some systems installed as an add-in card. The information that comes from your hard drive through its controller is then made available to the components of your computer. The effectiveness of your hard drive (its performance) depends on how much of its capacity remains unused, how well organised the data is (known as fragmentation) and its data transfer rate, which in turn is dependent on its connection type and the drive's spin rate.

Internal Hard Drives

Most computers from, the most basic home models up to the most powerful servers, have an internally installed hard drive. Technology today ensures that they are all generally fast, reliable, and offer dependable storage ability. Most modern computers have installation slots and cabling to enable you to install additional hard drive. This allows you to increase your storage capacity without giving up your existing hard drive.

External Hard Drives

These drives are essentially the same drives as ones installed inside computers, but cased inside a protective, portable case. This is a good solution for people who work remotely and need to transport large amounts of data. If an external hard drive is your choice, make sure your computer is compatible with the interface that the hard drive uses. An add-in card, such as a FireWire card can help to increase your computer's capabilities. You can compare different brands of external hard drives simply at Myshopping.com.au and search on the connection type, or other specifications.

Laptop Hard Drives

There have been many advances in miniaturization of hardware components for laptop computing, and hard drive technology is not left out of this loop. Laptop hard drives function in exactly the same way as internal hard drives on other computers, only they are designed to provide maximum storage and efficiency in the smallest possible package. For added flexibility, some laptop computers come with removable hard drives that can be easily installed and removed. However, before you buy a hard drive for your portable computer, check that the hard drive's specifications will meet the standards of your computer, as many laptop hard drives are proprietary, and are not compatible with other brands and models.

Size

Your hard drive stores your operating system, its programs (games and applications), your working data, and your digital music and movies. Most new computer purchases have a minimum of 80 GB of hard disk space; many have considerably more. Hard drive space is one of those things, once you have it, you'll find ways to fill it soon enough. There is no real rule of thumb, but consider the cost per gigabyte of storage as a way to guide your purchase. If you work with large files, such as music, video and graphics, it pays to have a big storage space for your work. It may pay you to have two hard drives, one that houses all your programs and applications, and another for storing your work and projects.

You may want to compare the price of say a 160GB drive against two separate 80 GB drives. If one drive fails all is not lost. Today's hard drives however, are fairly robust pieces of equipment and providing they are not abuse, will serve you well for a long period of time.

up to 32 GB Hard Drives

32-64 GB Hard Drives

64-100 GB Hard Drives

100 GB and more Hard Drives

Interface

One key distinguishing factor between hard drives is the way in which they connect to your computer. There are a number of basic types of connection schemes used with hard drives. Each connection type has a range of differences in performance.

IDE (INTEGRATED DRIVE ELECTRONICS)

This is by the most common connection methods. Because the hard drive controller is on the drive itself rather than on the motherboard, it helps to keep costs down. There different IDE standards available. Mostly, you will want to purchase the fastest possible standard that your computer can support. Most computers will support a standard that is faster than what the computer currently supports, so you can buy a faster drive, and update your computer at a later time. The different IDE standards, in order from most basic to fastest, are:

ATA (Basic). Supports up to two hard drives and features a 16-bit interface, handling transfer speeds up to 8.3 MB per second.

ATA-2 or EIDE (Enhanced IDE). Supports transfer speeds up to 13.3 MB per second.

ATA-3. A minor upgrade to ATA-2 and offers transfer speeds up to 16.6 MB per second.

Ultra-ATA (Ultra-DMA, ATA-33 or DMA-33). Dramatic speed improvements, with transfer rates up to 33 MB per second.

ATA-66. A version of ATA that doubles transfer rates up to 66 MB per second.

ATA-100. An upgrade to the ATA standard supporting transfer rates up to 100 MB per second.

ATA-133. Found mostly in AMD-based systems (not supported by Intel), with transfer rates up to 133 MB per second.

IDE / EIDE Hard Drives
Serial ATA Hard Drives
Ultra DMA 100 Hard Drives
SCSI (SMALL COMPUTER SYSTEM INTERFACE)

This is the hard drive interface standard used by many high-end PCs, networks and servers, and Apple Macintosh computers, except for the earliest Macs and the newer iMacs. While some systems support SCSI controllers on their motherboards, most feature a SCSI controller add-in card. SCSI drives are usually faster and more reliable, and the SCSI interface supports the connection of many more drives than IDE. While SCSI drives come in many different standards, many of them are not compatible with one another. So it's important be know that your computer supports the drive you plan to install. The different SCSI connections are:

SCSI-1. A basic connection using a 25-pin connector, supporting transfer rates up to 4 MB per second.


SCSI-2. Uses a 50-pin connector and supports multiple devices with a transfer rate of 4MB per second.

Wide SCSI. These drives have a wider cable and a 68-pin connection that supports 16-bit data transfers.

Fast SCSI. Uses an 8-bit bus but transfers data at 10 MB Per second.

Fast Wide SCSI. Doubles both the bus (16-bit) and the data transfer rate (20 MB per second).

Ultra SCSI or Ultra Wide SCSI. Uses an 8-bit bus and transfers data at 20 MB per second.

SCSI-3. Features a 16-bit bus and transfers data at 40 MB per second.

Ultra2 SCSI. Uses an 8-bit bus and transfer data at a rate of 40 MB per second.

Wide Ultra2 SCSI. Uses a 16-bit bus and supports data transfer rates of 80 MB per second.

SCSI Hard Drives

Ultra320 SCSI Hard Drives

FIREWIRE (IEEE 1394)

The FireWire standard is becoming popular in portable hard drives because it can be connected and removed without having to reboot the computer. It supports data transfer rates of 50 MB per second, which means it is ideal for video, audio and multimedia applications. FireWire requires a dedicated add-in card and the hard drives in use require an external power source, but the interface can support up to 63 devices simultaneously.

FireWire Hard Drives

USB 1.1 (UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS)

Pretty much all computers today include USB ports on their motherboards. (On older model, you can install an add-in card.) USB controllers can be used to connect external hard drives, and can support as many as 127 devices simultaneously either through USB port hubs or linked in a daisy chain fashion. USB controllers do delivery power to devices connected to them, but many hard drives still use an external power source. USB is limited by its data transfer speed, the maximum rate being about at 1.5 MB per second.

USB Hard Drives

USB 2.0 (HI-SPEED USB)

A more recently introduced and far better connection standard that offers backward compatibility and data transfer rates of up to 60 MB per second. USB 1.1 system can use a USB 2.0 device; it will need a USB 2.0 controller card to achieve the higher transfer rates.

USB 2.0 Hard Drives

FIBRE CHANNEL

Fibre Cabling is mainly used for high-bandwidth network servers and workstations, providing very fast data transfer rates (up to 106MB per second), and connection at long cabled distances, although it is expensive and you need to install a special interface card.

Spin rate

Data transfer rate is crucial to how well your computer performs for you. Apart from the connection types above, the performance of your hard drive depends on its spin rate, measured in RPM. Higher RPM generally means faster data transfer rate. The lowest spin speed that is acceptable in computing today is 5400 RPM. The common standard at present is 7200 RPM. But higher speeds are available in SCSI drives, and it is one area of computer system technology that is constantly being developed.

3600 RPM Hard Drives

4200 RPM Hard Drives

5400 RPM Hard Drives

7200 RPM Hard Drives

10000 RPM Hard Drives

15000 RPM Hard Drives

A larger capacity hard drive will not necessarily make your system function any faster unless you are low on available disk space with your existing drive. But a drive with Ultra ATA/100 or ATA/133 and a 7200 RPM spin rate will pretty much guarantee an improved hard drive performance.

Other considerations

CACHE

Cache (pronounces 'cash') is additional temporary memory that acts as a buffer between the system and the drive. Frequently accessed data is stored in the cache for quick access. Cache sizes vary from 512 KB up to 16 MB on some SCSI drives. The larger cache you have on your drive, the faster your drive will transfer data. If you are working with large files, such as video, images and audio files, it pays to have the largest cache you can get (8MB or more).

SEEK TIME

The data on your disk is stored in tracks and sectors and when you instruct your hard drive controller to retrieve some data, it goes looking. The seek time is a measure of how long it takes the hard drive to find a specific track on a disk. Seek times can vary slightly from disk to disk and a drive with a faster seek time will always perform better.

INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL TRANSFER RATES

These two rates tell how fast a drive actually reads the data and passes it along to the system. Internal Transfer Rate refers to the time it takes for a drives heads to read data from the platter and pass it to the drive's cache. The External Transfer Rate (sometimes called the Transfer Rate or the Burst Transfer Rate) is a measure of the time it takes to send the data from the cache all the way to the computer's memory. Naturally faster transfer rates provide better performance.

S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology)

This is a nice built-in feature in some hard drives that can help alert you to a potential hardware problem. Your computer's BIOS must support this in order for the SMART function it to work, however the drive itself will still work in a system without it.

Buying and installing a hard drive has some technical aspects that you need to take into account. Use Myshopping.com.au to compare different hard drive makes and specifications to find the drive that will work best for your needs and computer. You can compare prices and service offers from different vendors.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com

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Bookmark Managers: Programs vs. Web Services

The rapid development of the World Wide Web in recent years has led to an explosive growth of information on the Internet. Our contemporary lifestyle would be unimaginable without access to such a super-abundant cornucopia of valuable information and web surfing has now become an everyday occupation for even the most diverse sections of society.

This rapid expansion of web resources raises some new issues for all of us. How could you possibly remember; after a long search, the address of that crucial web page? How will you be able to return to the page without repeating a tedious web search through hundreds and thousands of pages?
The answer is obvious, you need a program that will allow you to easily create and manage a database of web resources. Of course, this database must be quick, intuitive and convenient to use.

One way to resolve this problem is to use your web browser's bookmarks feature. Bookmarks are a popular term for the lists of web page links stored in web browsers, although they are called 'Favorites' in Internet Explorer. These web browser bookmark systems have some severe limitations. For example, each bookmark list will only be compatible with a specific web browser. If you use several different web browsers you will have to manage the bookmark system in each one. Web browser bookmark lists may become cumbersome to use when your bookmark list grows beyond a few items. Important features missing from web browser bookmark systems include:

Powerful search functions Synchronization of bookmarks between different computers
Detection and automatic deletion of duplicate bookmarks Checks for availability of bookmarked web pages.Specialist programs and web services that store and organize bookmarks are now available and they offer a comprehensive solution to these problems. They are called bookmark managers or bookmark organizers (in this article both terms have the same meaning). The difference between online (web-based) bookmark managers and standalone bookmark managers is in the location of the stored bookmark database and in the way that the database is accessed. Web services called 'online bookmark managers' store the user's bookmarks on their remote servers and their bookmarks may be accessed from any browser. A standalone bookmark organizer is simply a program which runs on your local computer. It stores the bookmark database on a hard disk and allows access through its own built-in interface.

Here are some examples of web-based bookmark managers:

iKeepBookmarks.com - www.ikeepbookmarks.com

LinkaGoGo - www.linkagogo.com

Murl - murl.com

You can find more links to online bookmark managers here:
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/On_the_Web/Web_Applications/Bookmark_Managers/

Bookmark management software can be found here:

Link Commander - www.resortlabs.com/bookmark-manager/linkcommander.php

Linkman - www.outertech.com/index.php?_charisma_page=product&id=5
Powermarks - www.kaylon.com/power.html

Any software catalog will contain plenty of links to bookmark managers. For example: www.snapfiles.com/shareware/misctools/swurlorg.html

Offline and online bookmark managers each have relative advantages and disadvantages due to their differing methods of database storage and access.

An online bookmark manager does not depend on any particular computer. If you have an Internet connection you can access your bookmarks from any computer in the world. You don't need to synchronize the bookmarks on your home/work PC or notebook because they will all access the same bookmarks database. With an online bookmark manager you can access your bookmarks even when you are in an Internet cafe! Another advantage is that most of them are free. They will cost you time, though, because you access your bookmarks via an Internet connection. More importantly, most of the web interfaces are not as convenient as software based bookmark managers and don't have so many useful features. For example, they can't search for and delete duplicate database items. Here are some of the other potential disadvantages of using online bookmark managers:

1) You risk losing all your bookmarks if, for some reason, the web service closes down.

2) There is a danger of unauthorized access to your private bookmarks because your bookmark manager server may not be secure against hackers.

The advantages and disadvantages of offline bookmark managers are almost exactly opposite to those of online bookmark managers and will be discussed next.

Any offline bookmark manager is tied to the computer on which it is installed. It stores your bookmarks in a database (which usually has its own proprietary format) that is located on one of the hard drives. To use your bookmarks on several computers you will need to install the program on each computer and find a way to synchronize the bookmark databases. Most of the currently available bookmark organizers do have a database synchronization feature. Also, there are now devices with high data transfer speeds (e.g. flash drives) that can store an independent bookmark database and allow it to be shared between several computers.

Another disadvantage of bookmark manager software is the price. There are some free programs out there, but they don't have a great number of features and technical support is often weak or unavailable. The programs that require payment are inexpensive, though, usually costing from $20 to $40. The user licenses of such programs will normally allow you to install the programs on all of your computers.

In my opinion, the disadvantages of standalone bookmark managers are minimal compared to their advantages. The location of both the program and database on the same computer guarantees you fast access to your bookmarks and high security from hacker attacks. The convenience of the program interface and the number of useful features are limited only by the power of the computer and the skills of developers.

So, how should you organize your bookmarks? Should you use an online or offline bookmark manager? I don't think there is a definite answer. It all depends on your preferences and working habits. If mobility is your priority, if you travel often and wish to access your bookmarks no matter where you are and from any computer, then you should consider an online bookmark manager. If speed, ease of use, security and functionality is most important to you then an offline bookmark manager might be a better choice.

Author Bio
About the author: Andrew Nemets is co-founder and CEO of Resort Labs - www.resortlabs.com, the software development company specializing in developing human to computer interaction systems, user interface improvements and routine tasks automation software.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com

10 Reasons Why Vista is Much More Than a Spoon Full of Sugar

Every new operating system comes with advanced and much improved features. What is exciting to some is not so to others. Basically within a new system each user has his or her own individual preferences. Windows Vista or Longhorn as it was first known is a replacement for XP and is the "new" desk operating system scheduled to be launched by December 2006.

Descriptions of Vista are glowing; it is seen as a vision of the future. High definition graphics, the 'z' level in organization, greater clarity, unbelievable security, and boundless thinking power are what it is about. The operating system is set to fulfill all needs, it has a secure and speedy start up, not just when booting but also when returning to active status from standby mode; improved and strengthened driver design which protects the os from crashing when other things go wrong; and an antiphishing device or filter that identifies and confirms phishing sites by using a dynamically updated database. Technically, the Vista uses an image-based installation thereby facilitating deployments by IT professionals. An advanced event log simplifies administrative tasks.

The October 2005 new test build of Windows Vista has fulfilled expectations by incorporating several new IE 7.0 features, new networking and diagnostic functions. Of all the most significant is the incorporation of the core of Microsoft's Antispyware product in Vista. A key feature of the Vista system is deployment, the inter-dependent modules permits easy customization of Vista to fit individual needs. The WIM format allows a single image to be used or accessed by different computer hardware irrespective of individual language requirements, you can easily add or remove drivers, include updates and windows components offline without having to boot the operating system image.

The system comes with features like:

1. A new graphics engine that has easy navigation, toolbars with inbuilt intuition, high resolution graphics, movie action that is better that real-life, and easy to learn tools.

2. Revamped Windows Explorer with a next generation navigation structure, tool bars, and icons. The user friendly design incorporates clear glowing buttons and an interface that can captivate a user for hours together.

3. Virtual folders offer permanent storage with dynamic interaction possibilities.

4. The user account protection features shield you from rouge programs and security risk.

5. The system ensures easy installation of programs with "Click Once." This energizes an installation experience by lending the function speed and security.
6. Error messages are handled by "Task Dialogues" an integral diagnostics that warns of a problem and helps with a solution.

7. New and improved technologies include, PNRP, Peer Name Resolution Protocol, a brand new technological revolution that enables applications to find and connect to one another; WWAN, a router; WLAN, indoor connector; VLAN, allows LANS to communicate; Wi - Fi, deals with radio frequencies.

8. A system where snap-ins to MMC can be moved up or down as per convenience.

9. Has XImage which is non-destructive.

10. Improved up-time with an automatic Restart Manager.

According to computer experts, Vista conquers new horizons while it takes technology into a new realm. It introduces joys of working along with hum drums like increased productivity. Whether or not the features commented upon and tested by many techies across the world will be incorporated in the final version of Vista is not certain as it will be decided by Microsoft based on surveys, marketing projections, costs, and technical reasons.

Author Bio
Paul Wilson is a freelance writer for www.1888SoftwareDownloads.com, the premier website to find Free Software Downloads including free anti-virus software, free spyware detection software, free toolbars, free chat software and more. He also freelances for www.1888FreeOnlineGames.com

Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com


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Upgrading Your Computer, Easier Done Than Thought

Computers have become an intricate part of our society, that is why most of us will go out and buy a new one every couple of years. Purchasing computers can put a huge hole in our wallets that is why I suggest you upgrade your current computer yourself. It is easy and not time consuming; don't bother paying someone else to do it. There's one computer part that can easily boost your systems performance and give it some extra life. You may now be wondering, how do I go about choosing this part and then putting it into my machine. I will explain.

To increase your machine's performance overall you will need to upgrade your ram, also known as memory. This should not be mistaken with hard drive space. Ram is an important component in your computer to help it run efficiently. It stores the data of the programs you are running at that moment. When you have many programs open and you notice your computer beginning to run very slow, one reason is that you are using up too much ram. Fortunately, there is a solution, and it's easy to do, put more ram into your computer.

There are different types of ram and ram sizes. Generally, most newer home computers utilize DDR-RAM. Understanding the names is irrelevant. Since most home computers use DDR-RAM you can assume yours it too, but to be on the safe side you can check with your manufacturer or find the specifications regarding your computer system. The upgrade size you would find most useful to utilize is 512 mb or 1 gb. Either one should aid in meeting the demands of most of your computer needs. There are also different ram speeds. Most newer computers can handle PC-3200, which is a reasonable speed to choose when upgrading. PC-3200 would be on the box of the ram, you do not need to worry about its meaning.

Next step is to purchase ram. Ram looks like a large green stick of gum. It's small and light, so finding the item then bringing it home is not an issue. The price, depending on your choice, can range from $50.00 to $200.00. All depending on company, quality, and size. Choosing the right one is up to you, the more expensive ones tend to have advanced cooling technology incorporated into them. This can be useful, because overheating causes your computer in general to slow down, but it is not entirely necessary.

Once you have acquired the ram you need to remove it from its box, remove any protective covers, then we can begin putting it into your computer. First you need to remove the wires from your computer then place the computer on its side. The side of your computer comes off, you just need to find if there is any mechanisms or latches that need to be moved or pushed to unlock the side. Next, you will see a big green board, this is your motherboard, there will be wires and cards coming out of it. You need to find the ram that's already in your computer it is not flat, but standing. Once you find it there should be an open slot next to the ram you currently have. Keep in mind if the computer has not been upgraded yet, there will be an open slot. Carefully place the ram in the slot and apply pressure until it snaps the two locking mechanisms in. Then you can put the case back together, plug in the computer, turn it on, and your performance will noticeably increase. Be sure to clean up your computers hard drive a bit, delete stuff you don't need. This will definitely help a lot as well.

Cory Henig Founder/President of XCSystems - http://www.xcsystems.com

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ATX Power Supply Repair And Troubleshooting

Customer ATX power supply came in with the complaint of intermittent no power. When testing it with power on, I could see that the fan is not rotating. Not only that, some filter capacitors also became bulge because of the heat accumulated inside the power supply. The failure of the fan would not suck out the heat generated by the components especially the switch mode power transformer.

If you switch off a working power supply and power removed, touch the power transformer, you could feel it is quite warm. Another heat source would be the heat sink where the output diodes attached to it. Diodes run a little bit hotter in filter circuit than diodes in other circuits due to the high current present at the secondary output line.

As for the malfunction fan, you actually could use a Philips oil based contact cleaner to service the fan. The grease inside the fan would run dry after serving for sometimes and eventually stop rotating. Remove the back plastic cap of the fan and spray it with the contact cleaner and you would be surprised the fan could actually regain back its glory. It will actually work just like a new fan. If it still doesn’t rotate, the best choice is to replace with a new fan. If you have the power supply that lying down at your work place then you could salvage the fan and install it.

From the photo at my website you also could see those decayed glue that stick besides the components. Manufacturers purposely used some kind of glue to apply on the components where they think those components will shake or comes out when there is vibration or during shipping. After the equipment work for a long time and the heat generated inside the equipment will turn the glue into conductive and sometimes would even corrode the pins of the components and eventually cause the equipment to stop working.

Scrap it off with your test pen and use Thinner solution to clean the printed circuit board. After replacing the capacitors, removed the decayed glue and service the fan, the Atx power supply again given a new life to faithfully serve the computer.

Some ATX power supply would take you a longer time to troubleshoot because of ‘too many’ components on the board. The most frustrated part is that you could not get the spare parts especially the power ic. Even if you could locate one, the price would be sky high and if this happen, I will usually get the customer to buy a new unit since nowadays the price of a new one are quite cheap.

Jestine Yong is a electronic repairer and a writer, if you want more information about ATX power supply, please visit his electronic repair website now!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jestine_Yong

Disadvantages of a Laser Printer

There are very few disadvantages to owning a laser printer in general but one of them is definitely the cost. The money that you could spend on a very high-end inkjet printer will only buy you a very low-end color laser printer with limited capacities. Color laser printers with multi-functions such as a copier and a fax all in one are even more expensive. However a middle of the line black and white laser printer is comparable to the price of a top of the line color inkjet printer.

Another disadvantage is the cost of the cartridges inside a laser printer. Sometimes the cartridges cost almost as much as the printer did which is why many people throw the entire printer out and buy a new one after the cartridge expires in year or two.

The cartridges for laser printers are several times more expensive then the cost of the toner cartridges for inkjet printers. However they do last longer especially if you remember to set the printer in black and white printing mode when printing black and white and only using the color mode when it is really needed. Another way to make an expensive color laser toner cartridge last longer is to keep the printer in low quality mode unless you are printing out the final document.

If you live in a hot or humid climate a laser printer may not be the ideal solution for you. This is because running these machines can make a room very hot. The fuser inside them, which is the device that melts the plastic granules that constitute the powder that makes up the toner onto the paper, heats up to as high as 200 degrees Celsius.

Another limitation of a laser printer is that they only really print on certain kinds of paper. If you want to print out photographs then a laser printer is not for you as they are not yet capable of printing high-resolution images. Also you cannot put photographic paper through a laser printer. For the best quality images you need to buy a bubble jet ink printer that can transfer an image onto photographic paper. The color quality that you get with a bubble jet ink printer is just as good if not better than the color quality that you can obtain with a laser printer. A high-end color printer that produces quality color images can cost as much as $3,500 to $10,000 whereas you can get a good quality ink jet printer for about $200.

Another disadvantage of laser printers is that many of them are limited by the amount of memory that they are sold with. This can sometimes limit the number of fonts that you can use. To expand the memory of your color laser printer you usually have to buy a small RAM board. This is the only reliable way to install memory so that the color laser printer can utilize a number of fonts.

The more expensive a laser printer is the faster it is. The affordable models only print out about four pages a minute. Top end models print out about twelve pages a minute but they are not really affordable for the individual.

Laser printers, especially the color laser printers, can also be heavy and take up a lot of desk space or room in the office. At the time of writing there was also no such thing as a portable laser printer. The reason that a portable laser printer has yet to be invented is because a battery does not yet exist that is small enough to provide laser printer functions with enough power so that it can be taken on the road.

Have you ever wondered how laser printers work? Or what types of laser printers are available? Visit our site at Laser Printers Etc and find out.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Enid_Edginton

Samsung 153V LCD Monitor Power Supply Repair Tips

Troubleshooting Samsung 153V LCD power supply is just like troubleshooting those crt type. This monitor came in with no power symptom. If you are first time repairing this type of power supply, I recommend you to first remove the switch mode power transformer. Then test every single component in the primary section, before you continue to check the secondary section. You have to be good in testing basic electronic components in order to detect the fault.

You can always browse through my website just in case you do not know how to test basic electronic components. If you do not know the right way to check, you might miss out a bad component and this will lead you not able to solve the problem. After carefully checking all the components in the power supply section, I found the filter capacitor do not have any reading using digital capacitance meter (open) , the two round type fuse also open circuit, 1N4744 15 Volt zener diode short circuit and lastly the power ic TOP247F blown! Testing the switch mode power supply primary winding with a dick smith flyback tester shown green bar which indicated good winding.

What we left here were the secondary diode and filter capacitor. Upon checking them with analog meter and esr meter, found all of them to be good condition. Other area like main board and inverter board also looks okay (Power failure rarely affect these two circuit). Now we have confirmed that only five components found to be faulty. One by one the components were replaced (except one fuse) and just before you switch on the power supply, make sure you connect a 100 watt light bulb across the live ac line-refer to the photo at my website. Once it is done you can then proceed to switch on the LCD monitor to look at the brightness of the bulb.

If it very bright, this suggests that there are still short circuit somewhere in the power section. If it dim or totally goes off, you can now place your red probe to the secondary side to check if any dc present at their respective line. If there are DC voltages present at the output, you can switch off the power, discharge the filter capacitor (for safety purposes), remove the light bulb and connect back the new fuse to its original location.

You are now hundred percent sure that the LCD power supply won’t blow once you switch it on. By the way the filter capacitor is rated at 105 Celsius and you cannot replace it with the 85 Celsius type otherwise it may open up again after using for couple of weeks or months. The ventilation in LCD monitor is not as good as the cathode ray tube monitor, because the power supply is fully covered by a large aluminum plate and it can get hot pretty fast. Conclusion, whether you are repairing Samsung 153V LCD power supply or other brand of LCD monitor, the procedure is the same. Who knows the power problem in this monitor is a common fault and in the future you can tackle this brand of power supply in the shortest time. To measure electronic components is not that difficult, but to get the original parts like the power ic will consume you lots of time.

Jestine Yong is a electronic repairer and a writer, if you want more LCD monitor electronic repair information, please visit his electronic repair website now!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jestine_Yong

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