[rescue] Q about Voyager screen repair; bonus: pictures of T-SPARCstation 2

[Dan Moisa]

Before you guys drill more irreversible holes in that aging plastic, wait
up. You can plug into the RGB stream from the connector inside the screen
housing and have a fully enclosed panel that externally looks OEM. It's all
off the shelf components as well, though if more ppl have this problem a
PCB can be easily built.

I've also tried resurrecting dead screens by replacing caps, and no dice.
Voyagers on the whole are unreliable though, I've had every single
component fail on me - the regulator, the graphics card, Ethernet, you name
it.

Dan

On Wed, May 6, 2026, 12:48 Todd Vernon via rescue <rescue at sunhelp.org>
wrote:

> Yeah, I replaced the caps.  I ultimately went with the new option as you
> simply never see old voyagers with screens that work.  Went with the
> slightly
> Less elegant but more future proof option.
>
> I was actually surprised the problem wasn’t pixel streaks problem, but
> there way go.
>
> -t
>
>
> Todd Vernon
> Entrepreneur | Investor
> Email: todd at toddvernon.com
> LinkedIn: toddvernon <https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddvernon/>
>
>
> On May 6, 2026 at 12:42:05 PM, Andy Piercy <andy.piercy at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On the Voyager, have you checked the inverter module and its output, as
>> the surface mount caps go bad.
>>
>> On Wed, 6 May 2026, 15:42 Todd Vernon via rescue, <rescue at sunhelp.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> I tried and failed.  I’n my opinion all the color screens eventually
>>> die.  Here is how I fixed mine with a new screen:
>>>
>>> https://www.oldsilicon.com/workstations/sparcstation-voyager/
>>>
>>> If you ever want to get rid of the B/w one let me know.
>>>
>>> T
>>>
>>> ---
>>> Todd Vernon
>>> Entrepreneur | Investor
>>> Email: todd at toddvernon.com
>>> LinkedIn: toddvernon <https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddvernon/>
>>> On May 6, 2026 at 8:36 AM -0600, Walter Belgers via rescue <
>>> rescue at sunhelp.org>, wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> Continuing the testing of all my systems, I have found that I have 3
>>> Voyagers, one with bwtwo that works; two with cgsix, both of which do not
>>> display anything on the screen (but do work on external monitors). Does
>>> anybody have tips for repair/problem finding? Originally I had one that I
>>> thought the backlight was broken and I tried swapping screens to determine
>>> the defect but now I have two that are not working.
>>>
>>> Meanwhile I have gotten my SSA100 working with the SS1000. I printed
>>> some hinges (see earlier mail of Steve Hattle) and have ordered batteries
>>> to replace in the SSA100.
>>>
>>> I also powered up the T-SPARCstation 2 (4/75T) again. I got this from
>>> Whitfield Diffie, whom I got to do the keynote at the 25-year anniversary
>>> congress of the Dutch UNIX Users Group I was leading at the time (2007). It
>>> took until 2010 until Joep Vesseur of Sun Netherlands could physically
>>> fetch it and bring it back to me in his hand luggage. I always thought the
>>> casing was riveted shut (I was expecting this due to it being tempest
>>> proof). But now when I looked I saw the rivets were actually T8 torx screws
>>> (duh)! So after 16 years in my posession I finally was able to open it and
>>> fix the NVRAM. The system works fine but is missing disk trays. It uses a
>>> 29-pin Hypertronics milspec "KA type" connector for the disks. Slim chance
>>> of finding trays.. After opening up I now understand that the hole in the
>>> front has nothing behind it. And the weird power cable setup is to route
>>> mains to the power switch on the front and then back to the normal PSU.
>>>
>>> I put some pictures online at
>>> https://cloud.giga.nl/apps/photos/public/1RpIilmfnAgqfDEiSen1QgGhgRww0gYq
>>>
>>> Walter.
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> rescue list - http://sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue_sunhelp.org
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>> _______________________________________________
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