Acer K242HYL Monitor Buttons No Longer Work

I got an Acer K242HYL about 2 years ago and it never gave me issues until today. It randomly started to toggle its menus (as if I were pressing the setting buttons), then it kept toggling itself between on an off every couple of minutes. I unplugged the monitor from the power source, tried holding the power button for 30 seconds to reset it, and plugged it back in. The power button was no longer the power button, I had to press a different button to power it on, and there was no longer a blue light indicator. Tried using my other monitor's power cord (KA241Y) to see if maybe that was the issue but it was the same outcome.

Left the monitor unplugged for about an hour, plugged it in and it turned itself on. Since no buttons worked, it could only be shut off by unplugging or waiting until it turned itself off. The blue light indicator did turn on for a few seconds, but faintly and then faded back out; then it happened again but with the orange light. Nothing seems to be working. Does anyone have any idea what I can do to fix my monitor?

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JackE

Unplug all cables including power. Then try to press and hold all buttons for about a minute. With the PC off, plug all the cables including power back in. Try to turn monitor on again by short pressing power button. If it seems to turn on, then turn the PC on..

Galleon

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1187858#Comment_1187858

Tried just now, but nothing happened. It's the same as when it messed up. No buttons work to turn the monitor on/off, but the PC still shows on it for a while, then it cycles to being back off and unable to turn on until I unplug and replug the power cable.

The light indicator was off until it detected the PC and turned orange (instead of blue like it used to) but that doesn't happen every time it's plugged back in.

JackE

Sounds like the ribbon cable from the button board to the mainboard connector needs to be re-seated to help clean the connector contacts. A real pain since the stand mount and back cover needs to come off to access the connector.

Galleon

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1187904#Comment_1187904

I thought it fixed it, I think that's partially what's wrong. Opened up the monitor, re-seated the cable, then reassembled it and held the buttons down for a minute. It turned on with the orange idle light, then I turned the PC on and it turned blue, but none of the buttons worked. After I unplugged it to turn it off and tried again after a few minutes, it reverted back to how it was before I opened it.

Thank you, by the way, for the help. I really appreciate it.

JackE

Did you try to re-seat a dozen or so times? That's often needed to clean them up. Also a little rubbing alcohol on a Q-tip can also help remove films that might be causing the problem. Very low voltage and currents go thru those contacts so it doesn't take much to mess them up.

Galleon

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1187928#Comment_1187928

I tried it again with cleaning it with a bit of alcohol and reseated it quite a few times, but it still wouldn't work. I think I'm about ready to give up on it. I have a new monitor coming. I might keep this one as a project and try to figure it out another time.

JackE

OK. Sorry. Sounds like it probably goes deeper into one of the other connectors to the mainboard. Which become increasingly more difficult to access without removing all the boards since some of the connectors are on their backsides. I just got done doing one on a TV set that wouldn't reliably boot. It was awful. These things aren't really made to be torn apart & repaired. Just replaced with a new one. 😒

speak2gejoe

I had the same issue as mentioned by Galleon, struggling with this issue for like 2 months.. Today looks like it solved by doing this:

i have connected DVI cable to the monitor and docking station, additionally i already had one HDMI cable connected to monitor and same docking station