I currently have a 17" Sony monitor. An HMD-A200 to be exact. It's been a great monitor and even though it's a giant CRT I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Anyways, earler today I moved the location of my computer within my house and hooked up my computer again in it's new location. Here's the problem though, no matter what I did I couldn't get a picture on the screen. I've had a few loose pins on the end of the VGA cable for a year or so now and finally one of them broke off. What really sucks is that on this particular monitor the VGA cable goes directly into the case. So, my questions are.... 1) How hard would it be to cut the crappy end off the cable and attach a new one? 2) Would it be easier to open the monitor up and see how the cable is connected inside? Just a note: I'm thinking #2 poses a rather large shock hazard so I'm steering away from that LOL Any help is appreciated.

You're going to have to look inside. Forget about splicing the cable. You won't get a shock just by looking and as long as you don't touch anything else.

Hi, I've spliced cables and/or replaced the 15 pin connector. If you are handy at soldering and splicing you could probably do it. Incidentaly one pin is not used and probably never was there. It's middle row second from one end. Don't remember the pin number. Good Luck, Jim

1) How hard would it be to cut the crappy end off the cable and attach a new one? That depends on your skill level. JimPIM can do it. I can do it too ... but I would do it while drinking. 2) Would it be easier to open the monitor up and see how the cable is connected inside? No, that's not very easy either. I've found that inductance REALLY affects the quality of a monitor cable and even if you get all the wires right, you may get "ringing" which is kind of like an echo effect on the display. This is something you might see if you use low quality monitor extension cables. They make cheap "sacrificial" male/female plugs that you can put on the end of a monitor cable to protect it if you are plugging/unplugging it a lot .... but that ship already sailed. A new monitor might be a better way to go. The technology has improved and the cost has gone down since you purchased this one.

Are you 100% positive this "no video" issue is caused by your monitor? As JimPIM hinted there is actually supposed to be a missing pin (#9) on the monitor's (15pin) video input connector. Does the monitor have a self test feature? Have you tried it on another system or tried a spare monitor on that machine? You need to rule other possibilities like the graphics card or memory (RAM) before concluding it's the monitor.

"Are you 100% positive this "no video" issue is caused by your monitor?" Take note of that. Not getting a display can be caused by a host of things. Do yourself a favor BACKUP! Sorry, I do not check for private messages

when taking the case off you must have the power lead disconnected, BUT there is also the possibility of a shock from power contained within the capacitors inside the case. If it was me, Yes I would open the case and have a look to see how connected inside BUT I would be very careful not to touch anything else inside. I do not know how 'standard' the connections inside are - whether you could take the lead from a scrap/faulty monitor and it would fit straight on yours or if the connections would be different. As other people said, lots of things which cause no image on screen. Check your monitor on another PC first.