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LCD on my hp48 sx has serious problems. The intensity in its right half is very low compared to that of left half. Running the self test, the patterns generated on LCD look very bad. During the test, in the right part, some (four or five) vertical lines don't appear at all, while the intensity of others go decreasing left to right. All rows generated in the test have instead the same intensity, in the right half also (which is curious, isnt'it). I tried all the suggestions in the forum such as twisting slightly the calculator, pushing softly the bottom of LCD, but nothing happened. Is there a chance of solving the problem by opening calculator and cleaning board or display connections? And what have I to expexct once opened it. Has anyone experienced the same behaviour?
Thanks for help and sorry for my bad english.
cristiano

I found that pulling out batteries from calculator overnight, the missing vertical lines become visible but of low intensity. The overall intensity of right halft also increased. Any ideas?
cristiano

Cristiano:

Sounds like you have an HP 48SX with a bad display. The same thing happened to me about 8 years ago. My 48SX started having dark and light areas show up on the display. Then a few days later 3 vertical lines started to appear. I sent the 48SX back to HP along with my credit card number, thinking that they would fix the problem and charge my credit. However, HP sent me a brand new 48SX! Boy was I surprised. I found out a few months later that HP had problems with a lot of 48SX that were manufactured in the early 90's. HP used to send a new calculator to people when they turned in the faulty 48SX. However, since they no longer make 48SX's, I suggest that either you buy a used 48SX on Ebay or but a new (or used) 48GX. Hope this helps.

Jack

Jack,

I had a similar 48SX situation, but it didn't turn out quite as good as your story. About five years ago, I picked up a 48SX for $5.00 because it had three bad columns of pixels along the far left half of the display. Then I found the following document which perfectly described my SX:


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Article: 3937 of comp.sys.hp48
From: akcs.joehorn@hpcvbbs.cv.hp.com (Joseph K. Horn)
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 06:40:02 GMT

For those suffering from failing HP48 LCD's, the following "official" posting about it from HP's BBS sysop is the final word. Due to its importance, it was included on Goodies Disk #7, in the POSTINGS subdirectory. Hope it helps. -jkh-

===============
(Feedbackto.hp)
Item: 248
Resp: 3 by sanker@hpcvbbs.cv.hp.com
Author: [Greg Sanker]
Date: Tue Apr 07 1992 14:35

I checked with the Hardware folks, and here is the scoop:

There was a specific problem that may or may not occur in a limited production of units. The problem has been isolated to the LCD and has been resolved with the vendor. The potentially defective LCD's were installed in HP 48's with serial numbers ranging 3013AXXXXX thru 3044AXXXXX. Symptoms of the problem are a pronounced black spot in the upper left hand corner of the display and/or dark/missing columns
3,5,7 and/or 9.

If a unit is failing for the above reasons, subject to
verification by the Corvallis Service Center, it will be covered as part of the standard warranty, even if the standard warranty period has expired.

Greg (SYSOP)
============

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I sent the calculator and this document to HP asking them to honor their policy (especially the last line). But HP didn't bite. They said the claim period was over so the best they could do was replace it with a 48GX for $100, which I did end up doing. Looking back, I kind of wish I had kept the 48SX (since the price was so right).

Matt