Monitor Color Changes with Orientation.

ManiN

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I've seen this brought up before, but cannot find it in search...

One of my games seems to be sensitive to it's position with respect to the earths magnetic polarity. I'm assuming that's what it is.

When I rotate it in the undesired direction, the colors are all skewed. When I rotate it 180 from that (face of tube facing east) it seems ok.

Is there a way to eliminate this? Is some component weak to allow it that I should replace?

Thanks!
 
You need to degauss it after rotating the cab to the desired position. However, this will not always fix it completely.

Degaussing coils can be bought from Bob Roberts or eBay. Some guys have built home made ones out of old tube degauss coils as well.
 
Ok. Do you think a few cycles of the built in degausser will help? It's been out of commision for a few months. Maybe magnatized tools close to it affected it? i.e. a screwdriver that's become magnetic?

You need to degauss it after rotating the cab to the desired position. However, this will not always fix it completely.

Degaussing coils can be bought from Bob Roberts or eBay. Some guys have built home made ones out of old tube degauss coils as well.
 
The internal degauss coil may work over time but it is actually only on for a very short time so it has very limited effectiveness. I have heard of people using a corded power drill as a degaussing tool. Other reciprocating tools may work as well...
 
The built-in degaussing coil is supposed to remedy this. That's what it's there for. But it only fires when the monitor is powered up from cold. So, turn on the game, it'll fire, shut the game off, let it sit for a half hour, try again. It should fix it. But, if the degaussing circuit doesn't work, then you'll need an external degaussing coil.

Magnetized tools can affect the picture, but typically only while the tool is present - i.e. you hold a screwdriver to the screen, it'll distort a bit, then when you remove the screwdriver, it'll go back. Reason being, that most tools don't act as a powerful enough magnet to magnetize the tube's shadow mask. A powerful magnet can - and too powerful a magnet can even bend it, ruining the tube.

Basically, you're getting the purity errors because the monitor is affected by the earth's magnetic field. You can do the same thing with any monitor, really, and you rarely notice it because most of the time when you move a monitor or TV, it's turned off...

Try this: rotate your computer monitor 90 degrees - making it oriented like a vertical game monitor. The colors get screwed up. Use the monitor's built-in degauss function, and *poing!* the colors are correct again. Now, put the monitor back in it's proper orientation... the colors are screwed up again! Great trick to play on co-workers.

-Ian
 
Yeah, I've also heard of using those large soldering irons with a pistol grip can work.

The internal degauss coil may work over time but it is actually only on for a very short time so it has very limited effectiveness. I have heard of people using a corded power drill as a degaussing tool. Other reciprocating tools may work as well...
 
Sounds great! I'll cycle it again and see if things change in the 'bad position'.

The built-in degaussing coil is supposed to remedy this. That's what it's there for. But it only fires when the monitor is powered up from cold. So,


turn on the game, it'll fire, shut the game off, let it sit for a half hour, try again. It should fix it. But, if the degaussing circuit doesn't work, then you'll need an external degaussing coil.

Magnetized tools can affect the picture, but typically only while the tool is present - i.e. you hold a screwdriver to the screen, it'll distort a bit, then when you remove the screwdriver, it'll go back. Reason being, that most tools don't act as a powerful enough magnet to magnetize the tube's shadow mask. A powerful magnet can - and too powerful a magnet can even bend it, ruining the tube.

Basically, you're getting the purity errors because the monitor is affected by the earth's magnetic field. You can do the same thing with any monitor, really, and you rarely notice it because most of the time when you move a monitor or TV, it's turned off...

Try this: rotate your computer monitor 90 degrees - making it oriented like a vertical game monitor. The colors get screwed up. Use the monitor's built-in degauss function, and *poing!* the colors are correct again. Now, put the monitor back in it's proper orientation... the colors are screwed up again! Great trick to play on co-workers.

-Ian
 
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