Response from Jonathan: Big Ed,

Flybacks can short out for a number of reasons. If the Horizontal Output Transistor (or HOT) goes bad, it can cause the flyback to short out. The flyback can develop cracks over time that can cause it to stop working. Cold solder joints that attach the flyback to the monitor chassis can cause shorts as well. These are just some of the many of the reasons you may find a bad flyback.

Based on your issues, we highly recommend checking out our post on Troubleshooting Games That Are Playing Blind for some tips. While the post does a good job of discussing some common problems with monitors, by no means does it cover everything. Every monitor chassis model has it’s own problems and issues that are unique to it. Wells Gardner has some great troubleshooting guides for their monitors on their web site which might be worth a look. Some monitors, such as the Hantarex MTC9000 series, have flow charts available that can help you out with your troubleshooting as well. Hopefully with these resources you can get your monitors back up and running quickly. Of course, please let us know if you have any specific questions about these issues and we’ll try to help you out further.

Hope that helps. Thank you for your question and good luck with your repairs.