Compaq Presario 1410 Monitor and others with cut VGA cables.

[Ozzuneoj]

I picked up some old computers from a guy recently and one of them is a Presario 7240 from 1996 or so. It has a Pentium (133 I think?) and no L2 cache onboard, with an S3 Trio64 V+ and ESS Audiodrive ES1788 integrated. I have cleared all of the personal information off of it (there wasn't much) but it appears to have an original Compaq-themed installation of Windows 95 on it, which is neat. The computer works quite well considering the lack of cache. It has a cache-on-stick slot but it is missing jumpers near the slot so I'm not sure if it's possible to add cache without modding the board. The system is physically in beautiful condition... almost no dust inside.

Anyway, my reason for posting about this is because it came with the original monitor... but the guy said that he really regretted having (years ago) cut the VGA cables off of the three CRT monitors I picked up from him. This included the Compaq's. It is one with attached speakers, with actual speaker wire terminals on the back of the monitor so you could theoretically power other speakers with them if you wanted. It's a very odd monitor but the whole setup is in great condition except for that monitor's cut cable. I opened it up and it is actually in excellent condition inside and it seems to have a lot of Samsung branded internals as well.

Is there a simple, cheap, replacement VGA cable for something like this without having to solder a new cable onto the old connector? I don't know if monitors from this era used similar connections inside or if they were all different. My alternative to fixing the monitor is giving it away to someone who has the time to fix it, since I doubt there are a lot of these still around in decent condition. Sadly, I'm in Northern Pennsylvania USA so it's hard to find other people interested in old PCs around here, and it isn't really worth the time packing up and shipping a CRT for basically nothing. I just hate to send it (and the other two) to the curb because I was told they were all working years ago.

Here are some pictures of the internal connector on the VGA cable:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/sKVhNnXgw5NEAJzM7

The only cables I've found for sale are these ones on eBay and not only is the cable incredibly short, it looks like a different connector and even different colored wires on the end that goes inside the monitor. Plus, it has a separate ground. Definitely not a drop in replacement.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-17-LCD...899859?hash=item3f421963d3:g:hSUAAOSw7ThUfOhw

 

[New2vtgpc]

I picked up some old computers from a guy recently and one of them is a Presario 7240 from 1996 or so. It has a Pentium (133 I think?) and no L2 cache onboard, with an S3 Trio64 V+ and ESS Audiodrive ES1788 integrated. I have cleared all of the personal information off of it (there wasn't much) but it appears to have an original Compaq-themed installation of Windows 95 on it, which is neat. The computer works quite well considering the lack of cache. It has a cache-on-stick slot but it is missing jumpers near the slot so I'm not sure if it's possible to add cache without modding the board. The system is physically in beautiful condition... almost no dust inside.

Anyway, my reason for posting about this is because it came with the original monitor... but the guy said that he really regretted having (years ago) cut the VGA cables off of the three CRT monitors I picked up from him. This included the Compaq's. It is one with attached speakers, with actual speaker wire terminals on the back of the monitor so you could theoretically power other speakers with them if you wanted. It's a very odd monitor but the whole setup is in great condition except for that monitor's cut cable. I opened it up and it is actually in excellent condition inside and it seems to have a lot of Samsung branded internals as well.

Is there a simple, cheap, replacement VGA cable for something like this without having to solder a new cable onto the old connector? I don't know if monitors from this era used similar connections inside or if they were all different. My alternative to fixing the monitor is giving it away to someone who has the time to fix it, since I doubt there are a lot of these still around in decent condition. Sadly, I'm in Northern Pennsylvania USA so it's hard to find other people interested in old PCs around here, and it isn't really worth the time packing up and shipping a CRT for basically nothing. I just hate to send it (and the other two) to the curb because I was told they were all working years ago.

Here are some pictures of the internal connector on the VGA cable:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/sKVhNnXgw5NEAJzM7

The only cables I've found for sale are these ones on eBay and not only is the cable incredibly short, it looks like a different connector and even different colored wires on the end that goes inside the monitor. Plus, it has a separate ground. Definitely not a drop in replacement.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-17-LCD...899859?hash=item3f421963d3:g:hSUAAOSw7ThUfOhw

Can you find a generic cable, and splice them either to the connector ....or remvoe internal pins from white connector, strip wires, replace with new pins and reinstall into white connector? Not the exact same but did something simiar to a cars pcm pigtail.

 

[Ozzuneoj]

....or remvoe internal pins from white connector, strip wires, replace with new pins and reinstall into white connector?

This seems like the best option, thank you! I looked it up and it looks like the connector uses PH2-type terminals\pins. Figures, I have a whole kit of the other type commonly found in PCs (like CD audio connectors or motherboard front panel headers). It looks like I can get PH2 kits on eBay for only $2-$3 from China so I'll just do that. Now, my only concern is whether all VGA cables have the same colored wires or not, because I doubt there is any way to tell which ones go where without the other end of the original cable or a schematic.

 

[New2vtgpc]

This seems like the best option, thank you! I looked it up and it looks like the connector uses PH2-type terminals\pins. Figures, I have a whole kit of the other type commonly found in PCs (like CD audio connectors or motherboard front panel headers). It looks like I can get PH2 kits on eBay for only $2-$3 from China so I'll just do that. Now, my only concern is whether all VGA cables have the same colored wires or not, because I doubt there is any way to tell which ones go where without the other end of the original cable or a schematic.

That im not sure since i 'think' vga, era, cga used similar connectors but different wiring (dont qoute me tho since vga all I have regarding retro pc) but in theory should be somewhat similar wiring. Maybe test with a pcb board and jumpers to act as a breakout box to avoid damage?

 

[kgober]

Now, my only concern is whether all VGA cables have the same colored wires or not, because I doubt there is any way to tell which ones go where without the other end of the original cable or a schematic.

The larger red, green, and blue wires are pretty obviously the red, green and blue signal lines. The black wire next to each one will be the corresponding signal ground. For the rest, you can figure out which one is horizontal sync and which one is vertical sync by trial and error if it's unclear by just staring at the board. The rest will either be EDID pins, or audio pins. I'm not familiar with this model myself so I don't know how audio got from the computer to the monitor. Normal VGA doesn't have any pins for audio but there were a few unused pins which eventually got reused for EDID.

 

[GiGaBiTe]

you can figure out which one is horizontal sync and which one is vertical sync by trial and error if it's unclear by just staring at the board.

No, you can't. If you swap horizontal and vertical sync on accident, you're going to blow ICs off the analog board. Been there, done that.

You need to be 100% sure what the wires go to or you're going to have to deal with severe damage to significant portions of the analog board.

 

[kgober]

No, you can't. If you swap horizontal and vertical sync on accident, you're going to blow ICs off the analog board. Been there, done that.

You need to be 100% sure what the wires go to or you're going to have to deal with severe damage to significant portions of the analog board.

I stand corrected. On some monitors you can do this, but apparently there are others where you can't. Best not take chances.