Monitor makes popping sound, then dies

I have a Mitsubishi Diamondtron trinitron monitor which I dearly love.
A few months ago I noticed intermittent flickering of the picture,
like it was degaussing, only with a popping noise. A few months down
the road I noticed that when I turned on the monitor I would hear this
loud "Pop!" noise as it powered up. The picture looked fine. Finally
the other day I turned it on, heard two loud pops!, and the screen is
blank. Now when I turn it on I hear it make some sort of undulating
hissing sound for a few seconds, like a car trying to start, before it
just gives up. Interestingly, I noticed when looking through the air
vents with the lights out there is some sort of blue sparking action
going on in the back of the monitor. Anybody have a clue what is going
on? I may "upgrade" to a LCD if necessary, but I would like to try to
fix this one if the cost is not outrageous. Thanks.

Sam Goldwasser's monitor FAQ:

http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/sam/monfaq.htm

In particular, look at the "high voltage power supply problems" area.

Before you attempt to work on the monitor yourself, be sure to read the
warnings that a monitor can retain a dangerous charge for a long time after
it has been powered down.

HTH.

Bob Knowlden

Address may be scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.

"BH" <bthuynh@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:130243a5.0409281551.7c6fbaee@posting.google.com...
>I have a Mitsubishi Diamondtron trinitron monitor which I dearly love.
> A few months ago I noticed intermittent flickering of the picture,
> like it was degaussing, only with a popping noise. A few months down
> the road I noticed that when I turned on the monitor I would hear this
> loud "Pop!" noise as it powered up. The picture looked fine. Finally
> the other day I turned it on, heard two loud pops!, and the screen is
> blank. Now when I turn it on I hear it make some sort of undulating
> hissing sound for a few seconds, like a car trying to start, before it
> just gives up. Interestingly, I noticed when looking through the air
> vents with the lights out there is some sort of blue sparking action
> going on in the back of the monitor. Anybody have a clue what is going
> on? I may "upgrade" to a LCD if necessary, but I would like to try to
> fix this one if the cost is not outrageous. Thanks.