Need help testing IBM 5153 Monitor

[pantheon]

Hello, I have perused this forum for a long time, but never had a need to register until now. So, alas, my first post:

I have an IBM 5153 Monitor that I am putting up for sale, but I wanted to test it first. I know it worked when it was put into storage, but I no longer have a computer that I can test it with. I have plugged it in with a standard power cord, and it seems to power up properly, but is there any way I can test it without connecting it to a computer? Is there anything that should show up on the screen if not connected, but powered on?

Thank you in advance for any responses. Also, if you are in the market for this monitor and live in the Southern California area, please PM me expressing your interest and we can make a deal for it. It's headed for eBay, but I would prefer to sell it semi-locally to avoid shipping mishaps that you hear about so often with these monitors.

Thank you.

 

[strollin]

I don't know how you could test it without hooking it to a computer. Too bad you are in S. Calif. as I would be willing to test it on one of my systems.

 

[Lord Moz]

If you plug it in without any input, it should display all white on the screen. You can adjust and fiddle with the brightness & contrast to see what you get.
It should make a typical CRT noise when it's powered on and off. If it does all those, chances are very good the thing works.
I suppose it's possible some of the sync circuitry might have gone bad, but I don't think that's very likely. If you are getting an all white screen, that means the power supply & flyback transformer are working, which, at least in my experience, are the most likely components to fail.

I hope that helps.
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Trevor

 

[digger]

This thread makes me wonder... Was there ever something as crazy as a PCI graphics card with a 9-pin MDA/Hercules/CGA/EGA compatible TTL output? Or perhaps something over USB?

How difficult is it to hobby around with TTL video signals anyway? Wasn't the whole point of using transistor–transistor logic that it would be easy to interface with common ICs?

 

[pantheon]

It works!

It works!

If you plug it in without any input, it should display all white on the screen. You can adjust and fiddle with the brightness & contrast to see what you get.
It should make a typical CRT noise when it's powered on and off. If it does all those, chances are very good the thing works.

I tested this by plugging it in and the screen does go all white as predicted (on a working monitor).

So, now that we know this is a working monitor, I'm going to put this up for sale officially. If you're interested, please PM me.

Here are some pictures:

 

[Lord Moz]

Good deal.

Looks like you have a fair bit of burn in on the screen, which is unfortunate, but it may still be handy for someone looking for a CGA monitor. From what I've heard, IBM's 5153s were fairly decent quality as far as contemporary displays went.

I wouldn't mind one, but I don't really have the space at the moment, and I think if I were to get one, I'd get one with a lot less burn in than that one.

The casing looks to be in nice shape though. These monitors were painted that color, so are not usually discolored as many other machines of that vintage are.
The little plastic screw covers are not painted, and on your monitor are not faded/discolored either, which is a plus.

Good luck on your sale
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Trevor