• Registered: 2011-05-04
  • Posts: 1

Topic: Parts of LCD screen not working

Hi there, new user on board looking for some advice!

I bought a used G-Major which seems to work well apart from the fact that the display is missing about half of its functions. All the backlight works, but the text field at the bottom is empty, the large number field at the top right corner is empty and the tuner "bar" is missing. All other elements are in place and working. I´ll post a picture if my description is confusing.

Anyways, I read the thread on poorly seated internal chips, so I ripped the thing open, made sure the chips were in place and wiggled the ribbon cable to the front panel but none of this did any good.

Have any of you guys experienced this problem? May the LCD display itself be faulty and can it be easily replaced? Is it possible to try removing the display to check its connections or is it soldered to the curcuit board?

Thanx in advance, hope my unit can be fixed easily smile

  • Registered: 2011-08-07
  • Posts: 1

Re: Parts of LCD screen not working

i have  the same  problem i tried  the hardware reset but  it  did not work  for me it  has worked  before  i know  for shure  that itsnothing  to  do  with  the  lcd

  • Registered: 2009-05-17
  • Posts: 163

Re: Parts of LCD screen not working

http://forum.tcelectronic.com/topic/275 … to-fix-it/
It worked for me!

(^L^)
  • Registered: 2011-10-27
  • Posts: 4

Re: Parts of LCD screen not working

I am facing the exact same Problems with the lcd screen mentioned above. I was investigating with a scope, as i found out that one DC voltage  going out the Power PC board, is quite noisy but probably acceptable. Has somebody found a solution, or otherwise i will replace the capacitors on the power PC board.

  • Registered: 2009-05-17
  • Posts: 163

Re: Parts of LCD screen not working

I've found another problem: even if you do all the steps required in this post (http://forum.tcelectronic.com/topic/275 … to-fix-it/) you should be careful when reassembling the case with the screws.

(^L^)
  • Registered: 2011-10-31
  • Posts: 5

Re: Parts of LCD screen not working

I have exactly the same problem that Pellick describes and it in no way relates to the fixit suggested by sharm. I notice that MesaPlanar has perhaps located a problem within the power supply which interests me.

I am by no means an electronics expert but touching the top of the large electrolytic capacitor accidentally I received a considerable whack from it and wondered if this condition is normal. I wouldn't expect this component's case to become live if it were functioning normally. Could a fault in this capacitor and/or elsewhere within the power supply be a source of the problem?

I received a quotation from TCs service agents here in the UK, which was 'around £90 for labour' plus £30 for the display if faulty (I suspect it isn't), plus tax, plus shipping.

This is going to prove to be a hefty repair bill, so as with Pellick and MesaPlanar, I'd be extremely grateful for any suggestions as to the source of the problem.

  • Registered: 2009-10-04
  • Posts: 7

Re: Parts of LCD screen not working

maybe related to this
http://forum.tcelectronic.com/topic/487 … re-update/

  • Registered: 2011-10-31
  • Posts: 5

Re: Parts of LCD screen not working

Thankyou Agamemnon2 for your suggestion.

Certainly replacing the electrolytics on the power board is a worthwhile idea and should contribute to the general reliability of the device and might prevent a hefty bill. I'm a bit busy at the moment, but when I get the time, I'll try this and report back.

In the meantime, perhaps MesaPlanar will let us know how he gets on.

  • Registered: 2011-10-27
  • Posts: 4

Re: Parts of LCD screen not working

Hello again

Sadly after replacing all of the capacitors on the power PCB board, the problem still remains. I did not had the possibility to take measurement with the scope today, but i will do tomorrow. In my desperation i took the display apart and cleaned the connectors. To disassemble just melt away the plastic connections through the board, with a soldering iron. Unfortunately this did not change anything. I am starting to believe, that maybe the display itself can be defective. When i look at the (back lit) display in a dark room, i can see something like tension rings in the glass. Possible that my display got mechanically overstressed maybe by temperature or force. Probably only a replacement display will solve the problem. But where to get hold of one. I do not assume that TC will send one out. Maybe we can live with the defective display. It is possible to edit the G-Major with the PC. For that we do not need the display. When playing live, any preset can be dedicated to a midi footcontroller, which then reads the preset name. Because i never used a midi footcontroller before i would be very thankful about any suggestions for overcoming our problem by using this means.

Tomorrow i will reply, if the output voltages are still bumpy. Until then good night.

  • Registered: 2011-10-31
  • Posts: 5

Re: Parts of LCD screen not working

Needless to say, that is extremely disappointing news.

Whether TC will sell you a display I'm not sure. TC recommend their service people for repairs and won't supply circuit diagrams, but other people repair TC equipment so they must be able to obtain spares. As I said earlier, I was quoted £30 plus VAT for the display, which didn't sound too bad pricewise.

Funnily enough, when you mentioned the noisy power supply it struck a chord  with me because although I was able to scroll through the effects, they did sound very noisy compared to usual. I'm not sure it is just a display problem- and several people have had exactly them same elements on the display going down. If it was just faulty displays, surely you'd expect people reporting different parts failing.

Anyway, you sound more as if you know what you're doing than I do. In the meantime, thanks for posting.

  • Registered: 2011-11-05
  • Posts: 1

Re: Parts of LCD screen not working

Same problem with my Triple-C compressor. Lower part with characters is dead, while meters above still run OK and it doesn't affect the sound. Resoldering of the display unit solved the problem, but after several hours of using it died again. I tried to resolder it for a second time, point by point with connecting power cord and switching ON after each, curious which point had bad connection... Missing LCD characters woke up after resoldering second point from bottom on the left side. It worked one gig, then some unreadable "chinese" characters appeared and after restart it was blank as before.
I use it like stereo linked pair with another Triple-C, connected via MIDI, so i gave it up. But tonight, between soundcheck and gig, the "leading" unit's display died the same way...
So - it looks like the resoldering just temporary solves consequences, not the source of the problem... Any idea?

Last edited by Alcaphonesound (2011-11-05 04:44:28)

  • Registered: 2011-10-27
  • Posts: 4

Re: Parts of LCD screen not working

After replacing the caps on the power PCB board, i found out that the output current is still bumpy (i now consider it as normal). After taking apart the display and finding nothing, i took the whole thing to a friend of mine, who definitely knows some about electronics. With the scope we found out, that on all pins (on the left and on the right side of the display; they are interconnected) reasonable signals are present. This leads us to the conclusion, that probably one of the two driver ic´s on the backside of the display is defective. Those two actually get pretty warm, maybe too warm when switched on for several hours. I found a way of using the G-Major, by editing it with the RealMajor tool (PC/Mac) from Haax (big thanks), and control it live with the legendary (because affordable) Behringer FCB 1010 midi footcontroller. But i am still interested in solving the problem itself. If anybody is willing to sell his defective G-Major, which has not the exact same failure, i could figure out the problem. I wrote to the TC service here in Germany if i could get hold of a display, but they did not even reply.

  • Registered: 2011-10-31
  • Posts: 5

Re: Parts of LCD screen not working

You obviously are very determined to get to the bottom of this problem and I admire you for it. I'm actually surprised that TC didn't reply to your request for a display. Perhaps it would be better to approach their service agents. I know that some people do repair TC gear so parts must be available from somewhere.

  • Registered: 2009-05-17
  • Posts: 163

Re: Parts of LCD screen not working

MesaPlanar wrote:

I wrote to the TC service here in Germany if i could get hold of a display, but they did not even reply.

Here, in Italy, Lemi guys told me that the display cost is 40 euro plus shipping. So they sell it

(^L^)
  • Registered: 2011-10-27
  • Posts: 4

Re: Parts of LCD screen not working

Good news from me guys

I ordered a display from the service provider in Germany (PMS Elektronik) for round 60 Euro everything included. The package contained the display board, which is soldered onto the front PCB board. The desoldering is quite difficult, because you do not want to take off the soldering pads, while lifting up the display board. I was placing the soldering tip over as many pads as possible, while lifting carefully. Do not apply to much heat, therefor wait five minutes before continuing. After I took out the display, i cleared the soldering pads from excess solder, with a special solder-soaking wire (do not know the name in English). After that you need to check each neighboring pad, if they are interconnected (accidentally with a solder bridge). Except the upper left two pads, all other need to be not connected. Finally i reinstalled the new display, and it just worked perfectly. As suggested one of the two driver IC´s on the backside of the display was faulty.

If you guys have more questions i will answer of course

  • Registered: 2011-10-31
  • Posts: 5

Re: Parts of LCD screen not working

Brilliant news!

In English I think the stuff is called desoldering wick. So it was a faulty display after all. I seem to remember you replaced the capacitors on the power board also although perhaps that wasn't necessary. I'llprobably try and replace the display on mine.

  • From: Copenhagen
  • Registered: 2010-02-02
  • Posts: 59

Re: Parts of LCD screen not working

I had the exact same problem. Just half of the display was on.
I fixed it soldering wires from each solder of the display pcb (where the miniature led are) to the main pcb (where all the buttons are). It has been working perfect since then.