Comments on: Gas Plasma Screen

By: bob

bob — Sat, 14 Jan 2023 01:11:58 +0000

I remember watching the techs testing the screens when I worked at Compaq in the eighties. I thought the screens were so cool.

By: Mike Lycett

Mike Lycett — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 17:06:05 +0000

Thanks for the good article here. I now have two compaq portable 3’s both the 286 version however the boards are different with different types of cpu sockets. One also has a Dallas rtc. The screen on the later model is bad but the other machine’s screen is perfect. I feel kind of bad to swap out the screen but I would like to get it to be the best it can be. The keyboard cable id replaced already on my first machine but it’s stuck at a stock ram of 640kb which even my IBM 5155 (8088 based) machine betters with its modified 1mb. I really could do with sourcing a further screen as I kind of don’t like robbing from Peter to pay Paul. But having one mint machine would be great. If anyone reading this does have a spare screen then do let me know.

By: Mike Lycett

Mike Lycett — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 17:04:23 +0000

Thanks for the good article here. I now have two compaq portable 3’s both the 286 version however the boards are different with different types of cpu sockets. One also has a Dallas rtc. The screen on the later model is bad but the other machine’s screen is perfect. I feel kind of bad to swap out the screen but I would like to get it to be the best it can be. The keyboard cable id replaced already on my first machine but it’s stuck at a stock ram of 640kb which even my IBM 5155 (8088 based) machine. I really could do with sourcing a further screen as I kind of don’t like robbing from Peter to pay Paul. But having one mint machine would be great. If anyone reading this doe have a spare screen then do let me know.

By: Retropaq

Retropaq — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 13:34:37 +0000

In reply to KERR.

If you haven’t already, I would recap the machine and check the PSU output pins of the PSU to the plasma. I believe the output pins and voltages are available on an official Toshiba PDF somewhere online. Next if those two things don’t solve the issue, clean the connectors and then very gently take the plasma out of its case and use 95% isopropyl alcohol to clean the driver ICs. Little pieces of dust can cause shorts to form and lines to flicker on the screen.

If all that doesn’t do it, then you may want to consider finding a doner unit and swapping out the screens.

Good Luck!

By: KERR

KERR — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 05:51:12 +0000

Hey mate, thanks for the info about the plasma display. I’ve got a T5200 (640×480, 16 shades of orange) which has some “unstable”/flickering/wavering parts (no dead lines or pixels though). Keen to try cleaning the ICs as I have no other leads (pun kinda intended). Is there any further info about fixing plasma display issues you can link me to? Cheers!