bill@videovax.tv.tek.com (William K. McFadden) (10/05/90)
My 48SX seems to have developed a problem with its LCD display. There is a
region in the upper left-hand corner that is becoming dimmer than the rest of
the display. I'd say it is about 10 X 10 pixels large. The amount of dimness
seems to be related to the number of pixels turned on near the dim region. For
instance, text looks mostly okay, but plots look terrible. I can really see it
if I turn up the display contrast. I see a white region surrounded by a dark
halo, which is then surrounded by normal looking pixels.
Has this happened to anyone else? Looks like I'll be sending it back to HP
(after I find a way to back up my data). When I send it in for repair, will HP
send me back a new (Rev. E?) machine instead of fixing mine? Is this the first
time anyone on the net has had to have their 48 repaired? Why do I ask so many
questions?
--
Bill McFadden Tektronix, Inc. P.O. Box 500 MS 58-639 Beaverton, OR 97077
bill@videovax.tv.tek.com, {hplabs,uw-beaver,decvax}!tektronix!videovax!bill
Phone: (503) 627-6920 "The biggest difference between developing a missle
component and a toy is the 'cost constraint.'" -- John Anderson, Engineer, TId0evert@dtek.chalmers.se (Mats Olsson) (10/16/90)
Hi there! I`ve got exactly the same problem with the display. There is an little area in the upper left corner which is more "blue" than the other area of the display. I haven`t done anything special to the calculator, one day it was just there!! Is this a known problem for HP?? Unfortunately, I bought my calculator at EduCalc, so I think I will wait sending it until it becomes even worser (I live in Sweden). My ROM revision is C. Any suggestions from HP or anyone else about this display fading? Cheers, Mats Olsson Chalmers Institute of Technology Sweden
bill@videovax.tv.tek.com (William K. McFadden) (10/18/90)
I thought I should follow this up, because apparently it may start happening to
more people. I got a call from an engineer at HP who explained it to me:
The problem is the LCD manufacturer messed up on the artwork for one of the
mask layers. This causes a trace to be gradually dissolved electrochemically,
resulting in a blemish in the upper left corner of the display. I was told
this blemish will continue to get worse until pixels start failing completely
(this is already starting to happen to me).
The good news is HP will replace the calculator for free (incidentally
upgrading you to REV. E). This was an early production problem that only
affects certain date codes. The problem is now fixed, so newer calculators
will not be affected.
BTW, he did say HP will replace a calculator even if the it's out of warranty,
because there's no telling how long the display will last before it fails, if
at all. So far only about twenty calculators have been returned for this
problem, so it's not yet widely known.
DISCLAIMER:
This information is not guaranteed, so if HP decides not to fix your calculator
out of warranty, don't come crying to me!
--
Bill McFadden Tektronix, Inc. P.O. Box 500 MS 58-639 Beaverton, OR 97077
bill@videovax.tv.tek.com, {hplabs,uw-beaver,decvax}!tektronix!videovax!bill
Phone: (503) 627-6920 "The biggest difference between developing a missle
component and a toy is the 'cost constraint.'" -- John Anderson, Engineer, TIarc@dde.uucp (Arne Christensen) (10/23/90)
d0evert@dtek.chalmers.se (Mats Olsson) writes: >I`ve got exactly the same problem with the display. There >is an little area in the upper left corner which is more >"blue" than the other area of the display. I haven`t done >anything special to the calculator, one day it was just >there!! Same here, suddenly my 48 started doing this, and it slowly gets worse. Is this a general phenomena, or can't the 48 stand the Scandinavian climate? :-) BTW, the size and precise shape of the "bluer" corner seems to depend on what is in the display - a clear display (in graphics) results in the most uniformly rounded area; in the stack display the blue area is less blue around the columns where the colons (after the stack level numbers) are placed. Arne Christensen, Dansk Data Elektronik A/S, Herlev, Denmark. Email: arc@dde.dk or ...!uunet!mcsun!dkuug!dde!arc