They're fruity! They're delicious! They're delicious! They're fruity! GOOD LORD, THEY'RE FRUITY!

[dolari]

Whenever I talk to some of my more money conscious friends, they often ask me why I prefer buying new over used when used can be so much cheaper. The problem with buying used, is that you never really know how much "time is left" in the thing.

Case in point today is the monitor I just got from my sister. I bought this monitor from her for $20 to replace the TV I was using as a second monitor. It was third hand, she'd gotten it from a pawn shop before that. It was crystal clear, had good resolution, and was digital, which means no knobs to really wear out.

Three months later (aka today) I sat down after a long early day at work to read my email when I heard "click!" smelled the burning smell of electronics, and watched as my screens brightness nova'd all across my room.

Same with the iMac that never really was used till I got it in February, and it went poofy just when I needed it when the PC system died a few weeks ago.

On the other hand of that spectrum is the monitor Dean bought, made in 1996, that's chugging along just fine, and shows no signs of slowing down.

And again...one Pop! and it's working again.

::looks at it suspiciously::

Comments

[kisai.livejournal.com]

Not being a CRT repair person I can't tell you how to fix it, but the "gone supernova", aka brightline across the middle is caused by a fault in the power supply for some aspect of it. The best you can do is turn it off or literately hit it to make it come back. It's apparently a really cheap repair if you are very confident in repairing stuff like this, but I can't really say how to do it. Suffice it to say, I've NEVER had a CRT do that to me, but I've had people with TV's have that happen to them. I've also taken apart CRT's before and was pretty much told point blank NOT TO ever do that because of the x-ray emissions. One of those "if I can't feel it, it ain't harming me" things.

You can get new LCD panels for like 140$ CAD. http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/Category/category_tlc.asp?CatId=12&CMP=ILC-FPM-LCD
It's silly, but one of the really common things about equipment that burns out quickly is that they tend to not be name brand (sony/toshiba/viewsonic/etc) but rather cheap korean/chinese brands. How to tell? If you never heard of it before, it's probably because they went bankrupt and created a new company to do it again.

That's why I'm wary of Samsung/LG stuff, we all know the brand name, but LG only puts their name on things, they don't really make things, but LOTS of stuff put out under their brand names doesn't last very long.

[emilydm.livejournal.com]

I thought the reason not to open CRT monitors was the lethally high voltage that remains on the electron gun at the back for a very long time even if the monitor has been turned off and unplugged, the same as TVs?

I'll confess I've opened a CRT, but only to blow out a bunch of built-up dust with compressed air. I kept well away from any inner workings and slapped the case back on the second I was done.

[kisai.livejournal.com]

Well High Voltage is the reason you never open the power supply... of anything. LCD panels also have a HV power supply. Photo/digital photo Cameras have a high voltage in the flash unit. Pretty much you can be killed by these things, but you have to be nucking futs to poke stuff you don't know with a screw driver.

The x-rays though are harmful and removing the shielding from the CRT exposes you to excessive amounts, and if you don't put it back properly, you are constantly irradiationg yourself. That's why there is 20 pounds of lead in them or something.

The voltage, stay away from the big red wire, that's the one that will kill you. In newer CRT's (ones with microprocessors instead of dials) the microprocessor board is easily identified and played with... just they are pretty much solidstate, unless you are replacing the board, there is nothing you can fix. Which goes back to the supernova effect, the electricity driving the magnets is not from the microprocessor board, it's from the power supply, the microprocessor only tells some relay somewhere else to make adjustments, and if once of those relays goes BANG, or something, then you lose the ability use that frequency range. I think I'm remembering this right.

LCD's on the other hand are like 2 or 3 PCB's, panel and backlight, of which only the backlight/powersupply can kill you if you poke around.

[fragment00.livejournal.com]

it's the x-ray reason I ditched my olde CRT monitors in favor of LCD screens.
I've heard they put out quite a bit while in operation.