Mac SE can use an external Monitor??

One way would be to find a graphics card that would work in the PDS slot. I believe I remember that there were a couple available, but I can't remember who made them. Aura Systems made ScuzzyGraph II, a SCSI peripheral that provided color video, if you could find one of those. You might try asking in a forum such as the Vintage Macs Group:

http://groups.google.com/group/vintage-macs

Someone there might have a card or ScyzzyGraph, or be able to provide tips on how to repair the problem.

Regards.

I think the problem is not the CRT but the motherboard so basically your SE is dead.

There was a company that made a PDS slot video card that will only work with their external monitor which could be flipped from landscape to tabloid and for the life of me I can't think of the name of the company. They made a lot of peripheral bits for those old Macs back in the day.

Perhaps you're thinking of the Radius Pivot? If memory serves, SuperMac also make cards and monitors for the SE, but I could be misremembering; it's been a long time.

I think the problem is actually a failed vertical sweep circuit on the analog board. That's not an uncommon problem with those early Macs after a few years. It's usually due to cracks in the soldering of the connector on the board or a failure of the IC chip. The system may stil work with an external monitor, but finding a replacement for the analog board may be easier than finding a PDS card and compatible monitor.

Regards.

Thanks for putting me out of my misery! Yup that is the one!

True I remember resoldiering a lot of SE's, and Pluses back in the day. It was that white plastic connector that had the soldier joints fail on the board side. On the bad one's you could see burning and melting on the plugs.