Screen whine UPDATE!!

[dannn]

sorry if this has been posted before but i think sony has come out with a new screen or a revision.
i sent in my UX50 i bought back in 9/03 in december of 03 for the screen whine. I got it back on 1/16/04 and the screen was silent for 2 days and the whine came back just as strong. i just kept it til 6/11/04 and i sent it in. i got it back today and i compared the invoice papers and i notced different models for the LCD part they ordered.

on the first one from back in december it says

Part ordered Description
180536711 LCD MODULE CB-25

on the most recent one i got today:

PArt ordered Description
180536721 LCD MODULE CA-2

hopefully this is a different type of screen.
right now itis completly silent!! no whine even when my ear is an inch away.
can anyone look on their invoice sheet and see the part number and description and post up their results with that screen?

format:

Part# 180536711
description LCD MODULE CB-25
status: whine came back after 2 days

part # 180536721
Description: LCD MODULE CA-2
Status: No whine after 3 hours of receiving back from sony.

[winexprt]

The interesting thing is a great deal of us that bought the UX50 when it first came out last year have reported no whine at all. So the original module can't be/isn't necessarily the problem.

I bought mine at the end of March and no whine whatsoever.

The mystery continues! :D ;)

[dannn]

ARGH!! damn you sony!!!
i'll see if the whine comes back.
is there anyone with a UX that has been silent since the day they bought it?

[cktlcmd]

I bought a UX40 last March and a UX50 last month. I can hear a very faint whine from my UX40 if I put it an inch to my ear. My UX50 does not have any whine, even an inch away from my ear. I just hope they both stay that way.

[macstibs]

Mine doesn't whine as far as I can tell. My girlfriend compensates for that.

[madmaxmedia]

Is she already out of warranty? Maybe Sony can fix her...

[Simon995]

There was an early theory that if you played hi-res movies in mpg format on your clie in clievideoplayer that would trigger the whining in the screen. So my advice is to test play a movie imported from your pc, preferably with a higher resolution that 800*600. :D

[dannn]

hmm will try that once i get my clie software installed on the computer

[JustaNoob]

No whine after three hours? Don't you think you're a little premature? Don't jinx yourself! :)

I actually don't still have my invoice, but I'd love to look up to see what I got when I had mine replaced two months ago or so. I think it was the -CA but I can't be sure.

Mine still whines a bit, but not too much. And it's been the same from the day I got it back until today, so while I'm not really happy that it whines at all, I am happy enough not to send it back.

[winexprt]

is there anyone with a UX that has been silent since the day they bought it?

Me! :D :o

[dannn]

hmmm so there is hope.

[Voodoo Delnyc]

Silent as a night in a farm!!! Oct. 17, 2003

[winexprt]

In all seriousness, I believe this has a lot to do with the fact people's hearing abilities differ GREATLY.

I say this because a long while back at ClieSource there was a thread about this (one of the first I believe) and a few members attached .wav file recordings of what they claimed was their UX50 whining.

On one I literally heard NOTHING.

On another I heard nothing but background static.

Only on ONE of the recordings members posted did I hear the FAINTEST of a whining sound...and the person who made the recording obviously had the volume turned WAY up to get this sound because there was a LOT of background static.

The fact is people are all wired differently when it comes to hearing.

[SimL8r]

In all seriousness, I believe this has a lot to do with the fact people's hearing abilities differ GREATLY.

I say this because a long while back at ClieSource there was a thread about this (one of the first I believe) and a few members attached .wav file recordings of what they claimed was their UX50 whining.

On one I literally heard NOTHING.

On another I heard nothing but background static.

Only on ONE of the recordings members posted did I hear the FAINTEST of a whining sound...and the person who made the recording obviously had the volume turned WAY up to get this sound because there was a LOT of background static.

The fact is people are all wired differently when it comes to hearing.
I believe this to be the best source of realistic insight, the fact is, I bet some of us can hear noises on almost anything, I for one can hear a very faint whine, but its to the point that I can hear it when my wife is using it to listen to music, with the cover closed and the screen off, so if its not in the ear, its in the head.

[phoenix3200]

I remember those threads...

I could hear it quite well from the wave files. The files were still on my computer desktop until about a week ago when I noticed them and finally deleted them.

The saddest part is that I work at a TV Studio. So all of the high-pitched noises from all of the TVs get on my nerves occasionally (even after over 5 years experience in the area)

[junglemike]

Hi, I also had the problem and successfully fixed it . I do NOT recommend doing this to anyone. Another guy at Brighthand did this following these steps and it worked only partially for him, he says noise is reduced by some 50%, Anyway, here's original message:

Hi everyone. You hear this high pitched noise from you pda screen? In some cases this noise can be really distorbing.
I cannot read for a long in silence because the noise drives me crazy.
OK, so Opening my zire71 once again (i opened it at least some 100 times) i tried to look for the problem and if it is possible - to solve it.
Anyway, i do NOT recommend following these steps, consider them as demostration only. First , if your device is under warranty -

PalmOne DOES replace the units this the abovementioned defect. Also this operation is very risky, you can destroy your screen of whole

pda in second. Anyway, here's the process:
_MY_ zire looks a little bit different from inside :-), but it shouldn't bother you , it's not related to the problem anyway.
OK, so let's open Zire71:
http://forum.ladoshki.com/images/inposts/50b3c07d40f12d37e4f95.jpg
After removing the blue protective plastic it looks like this:

http://forum.ladoshki.com/images/inposts/50b3c07d40f12db4c0461.jpg
Next stage: - pull out the main board and unplug the cable which connects board to screen electronics.:

http://forum.ladoshki.com/images/inposts/50b3c07d40f12e4279b71.jpg
Well, after experimentig a little i found out that nois is NOT coming from this small pcb on the creen. I tried listening the this small pcb from

both sides. No noise. The nois is also has notheing to do with backlight. Look at the previous picture. The most left small connector - is a

backlight. After disconnecting it - noise continues as before. Nois is coming from the surface of the screen itself and almost zero at the

screen's back. So let's unplug the screen itself:
http://forum.ladoshki.com/images/inposts/50b3c07d40f12f5f5809c.jpg

Thisi is how it looks from the side. The bottom lair - is a digitizer which registeres your taps.
http://forum.ladoshki.com/images/inposts/50b3c07d40f12fc79229b.jpg
The digitizer in all such Transflective screens is soft, unlike previous palm V , VX, and palm III, also other models.
After experimenting a while with digitizer i found out that if you raise a digitizer just a little bit - 1/3 of mm - the noise almost stops.

I had to experiment powering the unit in disassambled condition , which is a bit risky:
http://forum.ladoshki.com/images/inposts/50b3c07d40f133bb8808c.jpg
Ok, so let's eject the digitizer very carefully:
http://forum.ladoshki.com/images/inposts/50b3c07d40f130b441313.jpg
http://forum.ladoshki.com/images/inposts/50b3c07d40f13106f0176.jpg
After completely removing the digitizer, the picture looks like this:
http://forum.ladoshki.com/images/inposts/50b3c07d40f1316b35fff.jpg
Than let's cover the screen with regular FOIL, all of the perimeter, including graffiti area.
http://forum.ladoshki.com/images/inposts/50b3c07d40f131d5554ed.jpg
When finished, it looks like this:
http://forum.ladoshki.com/images/inposts/50b3c07d40f133cf44117.jpg
Now put the digitizer back, you can even notice, that in the left bottom corner part of foil can bee seen. Don't worry, you will not
see it in assembled state.
http://forum.ladoshki.com/images/inposts/50b3c07d40f1344801fb5.jpg
Let's connect the screen and check that everything is working.
http://forum.ladoshki.com/images/inposts/50b3c07d40f134bab1812.jpg
Assemble the screen again, by the way, i also put foil under the small pcb - just in case...
http://forum.ladoshki.com/images/inposts/50b3c07d40f135201e7e1.jpg
After assembling everything back again - let's check that digitizer is working properly.
http://forum.ladoshki.com/images/inposts/50b3c07d40f1357881d29.jpg
Conclusion.
To be honest, i must say, that nois is no Completely removed - but it is very silent and can be heard only when putting your ear near the

screen.

[duraace]

I had the LCD replaced last November, and the whine was gone for several months. Sadly, it returned about 2 months ago, and is nearly as bad as it was before. BTW This is a REAL problem and has NOTHING to do with varying degrees of hearing.

[[CK]]

OK, I've been putting up with a noisy screen for 9 months now, as I don't want to send it in for service for god knows how long, only to have the problem re-surface.

I just made my bi-monthly call to Sony service about the problem to see if there's any update, and although the guy was cagey and didn't want to admit the problem, he did say it would require a screen replacement and that there's "an improved part" <- his words.

Woo - sounds promising. Off to Sonystyle I go! :D

[junglemike]

small update: 2 another guys made the mod following my steps and improved the method. Now it is very simple to do. go to
http://discussion.brighthand.com/palmhandhelds/showthread.php?s=&threadid=64429
Look around - you can see hundreds of post about screen buzz, people paying money, sendig thir units all over again, getting refubrished back......... Why to suffer? You even don't need to buy anyting. You got your palm - just stick the protector to the other side of digitizer than most of you do. It also seems the only reasonable usage of these cheap protectors that come with palm. Sorry for a little offtop - since this problem is a mayjor problem wiht PalmOne devices, Sony devices have this prob very rear.

[[CK]]

Sorry, but cracking open an expensive PDA which is still under warranty is a ridiculous thing to suggest.

[duraace]

']OK, I've been putting up with a noisy screen for 9 months now, as I don't want to send it in for service for god knows how long, only to have the problem re-surface.

I just made my bi-monthly call to Sony service about the problem to see if there's any update, and although the guy was cagey and didn't want to admit the problem, he did say it would require a screen replacement and that there's "an improved part" <- his words.

Woo - sounds promising. Off to Sonystyle I go! :D

Hmmm...that does sound promising!

[dannn]

still no whine!! or at least its VERY quite my ear needs to be touching the screen to hear it.
i think this is a real problem cuz everyone i was aorund back in december could hear the whine even when they werent trying.
like when i would be using in the car everyone would ask what the noise was. it wouldnt even be facing them. so yes i think this is a real problem not just different levels of hearing

[duraace]

still no whine!! or at least its VERY quite my ear needs to be touching the screen to hear it.
i think this is a real problem cuz everyone i was aorund back in december could hear the whine even when they werent trying.
like when i would be using in the car everyone would ask what the noise was. it wouldnt even be facing them. so yes i think this is a real problem not just different levels of hearing

There's no question that it's a defective LCD part.

[dannn]

yes hopefully the sony did revise the LCD.

[Skullkrushr]

I relunctantly gave in and sent my UX off to Sony today for repair. I hope I am done with the whine. I finally decided to since my warranty was going to run out in September. I will update on the results.

[duraace]

I relunctantly gave in and sent my UX off to Sony today for repair. I hope I am done with the whine. I finally decided to since my warranty was going to run out in September. I will update on the results.
What we need to confirm is whether the replacement LCD is updated to fix the the original problem, not just another identical part. My warranty runs out in November.