VDI screen not working correctly

[robert roy]

Took the MXT out this morning to test out my new 6x10DD coil.
Everything was going good for the first 10 minutes. Then the screen went out on me.
I turned the machine on and off a couple times before the screen came back on. The coil was working fine.
I could hear the MXT zeroing in on the target as the coil passed over it but NO VDI came on.
I finally got it working ok and then the letters went crazy. They looked like lower case Japanese
writing!!!! I called the Whites dealer in my area and he never heard of that happening. I said it was in the lower 30's
but he said that should not cause the screen to act up like that. SOOOOoooo whats going on?
Anyone else have this happen and what was the end results.

Regards
Robert R

 

[coinnut]

I had that happen on my DFX before. It is definitely a real problem. It can't be solved by pulling the battery to clear memory or any other trick. The characters that appeared on (the bottom) of my screen looked like something from a sci-fi movie. Alien looking. Probably computer language of some sort. I don't remember if it was a software problem, or the screen itself, but I sent it back!! Mine screen would also go down, and sometimes it would run perfectly, except there was nothing on the screen at all, just BLANK! I had to go by sound for the rest of the hunt. It happened to me when I was out on a very damp , rainy day. Call White's first before you ship, of course. George

 

[nc-joe]

I had that happen once. It was due to cold weather. I left my detector in the car the night before, went detecting in the morning and it had the chineze sybols. I turned it off, put it in my car and turned the heater on it for about 5 minutes, never had any trouble out of it again.

I would also suggest you "reboot" your detector to be sure there are no other hidden problems. Just turn the machine on and while it is on, pull the batteries out. Wait atleast one minute before putting the batteries back in and turning the detector back on.

 

[robert roy]

Finally talked to someone at Sweet Home Oregon service center who is familiar with the problem.
Apparently when the machine starts sending jibberish to the VDI its an LCD problem. I'll have to
send it into Tony and have the LCD replace, also send the new coil and make sure the machine is
calibrated to the new coil properly. $68 isn't a bad price to pay to get this baby up and running. AT least I
have my ACe 250 to use while the MXT is out of comission.

Robert R

 

[hank1]

Hey Rob, I've had some screen blank out in very cold weather but only momentary. a few seconds or so. Didn't have any gibberish on screen though. This subject has come up in the past on this or the MXT forum. I believe the result was what you did, send the unit back for repair. I don't have a back-up machine like you. I'd get anxious for its return.

 

[robert roy]

n/t

 

[robert roy]

Its been to cold to take it out today (even though the service people said the cold would not hurt the machine) but I
have been playing with it indoors and NO PROBLEMS today. I'll take it out tomorrow since its
going to be warm weather and see what happens. It may be when I put new batteries in/reseating the old ones, this
could have helped. We'll see.

Yea, having an extra detector is wonderful.

Regards
Robert R

 

[BarberBill]

Yah, my philosophy is "anything worth having is worth having two (or more) of."
HH
Bill

 

[robert roy]

Just mailed off the MXT to Tony at
Electronic Explorations for repair. I took the machine out one more
time today but after about an hour the screen began acting up again.
Tapped on it a couple times and it was ok but then reverted to
retarded jibberish! Guess I'm stuck with the Ace for awhile.
Found one lousy nickel today and lots of pieces of pop can!

Robert R