Dell E773s Crt Monitor Case Removal?

I've been trying to remove the case on this Dell E773s CRT Monitor and am officially stuck. I removed the obvious 2 screws and can loosen and somewhat pull out the left, right and bottom sides of the case. But, that friggin' top side does not want to budge. Anyone familiar with this monitor or Dell monitors in general? Anyone have an idea what the trick is to loosening that top side? I hate hate HATE how engineers have the habit of hiding catches, screws and obstacles in general that prevent case removal on ANY product so that we will break them and subsequently need to buy a new whatever.

I've already tried inserting screw drivers there in the top seam to hopefully pry apart the case, but no dice.

I remember a couple of months back I had a hard time opening up one of those HP All-In-One computers ... and that was WITH the so-called official HP removal instructions that I managed to Google up.

But, with this Dell monitor I have had no luck Googling up anything remotely resembling back case removal instructions.

 

Some CRT's have a RF shield around that area. It's like copper fingers sliding into a screen mesh. Be careful as there is a chance for HIGH voltage inside any CRT. And a bad place to be prying with a screwdriver!

 

Oh don't worry. I'm aware of the CRT voltage thing and that it has to be discharged if one is going to be messing around in certain areas. I actually studied TV Repair many years ago. Ironically though, in my career, I worked on many different types of electronic products ... except for TVs.

Anyway, in this case all I wanted to do was take the case off to check out the immediate area where the AC plug is. Originally when I was given this monitor recently along with that computer that I mentioned in another thread, this monitor was dead. I moved the AC plug and it started working. Now, it COULD have been just a loose AC cord. But, the plug seems kind of loose when I plug in the cord. So, I just want to check if there is possibly any damage on the PCB.

And no, by "prying" I didn't mean some serious mega prying like to reach the CRT. I'm just referring to the usual controlled prying that's necessary to try to undo the catches that one encounters in the cases of any product so as to open it up.

I tried to post my inquiry at the Dell Forums. But, they have some stupid mess of a joining setup there. I had no luck being able to join the Dell Forums. It just kept me going in circles.

 

Here's a youtube page of a 770. You may find yours looking through the other videos on the right. I didn't watch all the way through. Hope it helps.

 

Ooooooo, unfortunately I don't do YouTubes. I have Dial Up Internet.

What I had in mind was more along the lines of for example, --- a Dell E773s Monitor Case Removal Guide equivalent of these awesome instructions: http://www.dell.com/support/Article/us/en/19/637067/EN
... that I found last week for when I needed to figure out how to open up the case of that Dell OptiPlex 780 given to me so as to give it a thorough cleaning, which it definitely needed. Now those instructions really hit the spot.

So yeah, something like that would be great.

 

They do that for 2 reasons. (1) They don't want people who don't know what they are doing digging around inside DEADLY electronics. And (2) not to force users to buy new, but because the manufacturing/assembly process is easier - thus less expensive - if the housing can be "snapped" together instead of screwed or bolted. That keeps the cost down for consumers - a good, not bad thing.

 

Let's hope that CRT monitor has been unplugged for a long time. You can get a jolt because CRTs hold a charge for a long time.

 

Depending on the size of the tube, there can be 17,000 volts or more on the anode of the CRT when powered on. So it can take a very long time to fully discharge to safe levels - months even. So I always jam a ground wire to the anode just to make sure. That said, it has been years since I worked on CRT TV or monitor. Since they are analog only, we just recycle them.

 

As I alluded to in an earlier comment, I studied TV Repair many years ago. So being inside a TV is not foreign territory. I know about the CRT High Voltage danger and how to neutralize it.

Anyway ... Ehhh, let's just put this inquiry to rest and let it be. It's not THAT important. Well, I mean, it's not as if it's my main monitor. I just wanted to confirm that that AC plug area was solidly intact and that the monitor wasn't going to be intermittent so that I could then sell it at a yard sale.

It's being more trouble than what it's worth. I don't want to waste anymore of y'all's time or mine. I'll just take it to the recycle center or possibly even sell it very cheaply as --- or give it away at the next yard sale. At our yard sales we actually get customers inquiring if we have any non-working electrical / electronic products. This past winter, at a yard sale I sold an HP 23 Pavilion All-In-One computer with a broken LCD and sans the HD, which I took out ... plus a Printer of questionable status for $15.00. They were my youngest sister's and she was going to send them to the recycle center. So I told her to let me try and see what I could squeeze out of them at the yard sale.

Anyway ... Let's call this one CLOSED.
Thanks anyway for trying to help, guys.

 

I can see that concept being the case on something like a CRT. But, I've seen this design concept being used on wayyy more products that have nothing to do with deadly electronics. As to making the manufacturing assembly process easier? Again ... to a certain degree --- yes. But, still, IMO they always seem to unnecessarily go out of their way to HIDE some catch, some screw that if not noticed in time, will result in CRRRACK!

 

I downloaded the manual last night and there appears to be a short top screw on the back of the front panel. Two show on the bottom and some show holding the tube itself to the front panel but there's this small one at top also. Do you see any 'trim' tabs or anything in that area maybe hiding a screw?

 

Nope, Imandy, there doesn't appear to be remotely ANYTHING there at the top that could be hiding a top screw. It's just solid Dark Grey plastic.

About the only micro clues as to what would release that top grasp are these 2 very small slots in the seam at the top between the front panel and the back case. One on the left side and another one on the right. You know ... as in to indicate that a screw driver would release a catch at each of those spots. But, I have already tried as carefully as possible to release any possible catches there at those 2 spots with a screw driver and NADA! That top just won't budge.

Maybe the monitor in the manual you downloaded is a similar, but different monitor? Manuals for any product have the habit of lumping together the instructions / guides to various models other than the actual product at hand. That would explain the absence of that 3rd / top screw on my particular monitor.

 

Could be. My searches keep crossing to 770 773 and 774. Sorry no help to ya.

 

No problem. I already resigned myself to just letting this one go. It would have been worth following IF it had been a Flat Screen Monitor with a higher screen resolution that I could have used either as my main monitor or at least to have as my backup monitor. But, in this case, if I recall correctly, in the past I had a Dell monitor either exactly like this one or pretty close to it. And on that one, I believe the screen resolution was something like only 1024 x 768. That doesn't make me drool what with me being used to my 1280 x 1024 monitor. Yeah, I know. Even THAT pales in comparison to the much higher screen resolutions of newer monitors, but it's still a much better neighborhood than 1024 x 768. That would be only a step above Atari days.

Thanks again for trying to help, Imandy.

 

Nah! If there are no "user-serviceable" parts inside, why would a manufacturer spend extra money designing, developing, and implementing an easy access? That makes no sense. There would zero returns on those costs which would result in higher prices for the product to the consumers.

As an electronics technician, I understand your frustration. But to suggest in red bold letters they unnecessarily go out of their way to "build in" such deterrences, nah!

The ones who really frustrate me are Norelco cordless razors and cell phones that don't have user-replaceable batteries. Instead, they use expensive, proprietary batteries that are hard-wired in. All batteries die eventually. Those makers either want you to send the razor or phone into their service centers, or buy a new razor or phone when all that is needed is a new battery. That seems like a racket to me.

 

This sub topic would make for an interesting further discussion. However, we're no doubt already asking for it to get flagged for Off Topicness. So, I'll just do like Kenny Rogers said in The Gambler and walk away.

 

Except you are the OP. If you wish to participate in a tangent discussion, that's different than others driving the discussion away.

 

Wow! That's a new one on me. From my experience on the various many forums / message boards on which I have participated throughout the years ... Off Topicness has pretty much always been determined by and flagged as a result of having deviated from the Thread / Subject Title regardless of whether one was the OP or not.

Also, in my experience on Tech Support forums, I've usually felt / extracted the atmosphere to be a very strict narrow road of:
State your point regarding your issue and provide all the pertinent information.
Wait for help.
If and once satisfactory issue resolution is achieved, declare issue RESOLVED.
Move on.

Then throw in that I recall that when joining this Major Geeks forum, it was drilled how making consecutive comments unless absolutely positively necessary so as to provide additional information was discouraged, frowned upon and could result in negative points.

So yeah, with all that, I figured with my Off Topic deviation stunt, a Moderator might just be ready to tell me as The Soup Nazi told George Costanza on the TV Show Seinfeld --- "You're pushing your luck, little man."

Thanks for the heads up, Digerati. I'll keep it in mind for the future.

 

If it goes way off topic, addresses a totally different problem best suited in a new thread, or gets "ugly" then for sure they get, and should get closed. But to me, and this is just my opinion and how I do things on sites where I am on staff, if the topic slides a little OT and the OP is actively participating, why not keep it open?

So, for example, it seems with the last 4 posts (counting this one), it has gone way off topic!

 

As you were, Major Geekers. Carry on.