Lots of folks seem to have successfully used his suggestions.

The capacitors themselves? Easy to find for free in spare parts, less than $.50 if you really have to buy them, and it takes someone who knows how to solder about half an hour to take their time and test it afterward. I’m a little surprised the tech you took it to wouldn’t do it, but on the other hand, he could have been right to do so. Even if the part is replaced, you can’t move it, so it’s still sitting next to the heat sink, so it’s only a matter of time until it breaks again. He was right to try and order a new circuit board, but honestly, NO monitor manufacturer will replace them. It’s too costly and they know it’ll just break again in the same way because they won’t fix the defective design (people just love their compact, thin monitors too much).

If you’re looking for long-term LCD operation, I can personally recommend Dell. Their computer/laptop rep might be hazy but their monitors are top-notch; I only ever see them broken by user error, say someone scratched their initials into it. The shop I work at doesn’t see them come in very much at all. Good luck with your monitor; if you know someone who can solder, then a quick fix is to simply replace the capacitor and that will last you several months to a year or two, but honestly, you’re better off getting a new one when price and time permit. Good luck.

Hugs and best wishes

Lara
http://www.fotolog.com/laritizish

So they lose ALL of my future business and I go out of my way to dis-recommend them to family and friends.

On a side note, HP has gone consistently downhill since they ditched their successful calculator division and decided to be like Compaq. Their stocks are decreasing in value while their machines decrease in quality. Sadly, it’s not surprising to see a poor attitude like “no spare parts!” from a company as it desperately tries to reclaim success.

Sorry to see they have blown your weekly tally so badly. Take heart that it’s not your fault and you’re doing a lot of good to hopefully balance out their stupidity!

Sometimes that’s all you got…

My computer nerd partner responded to your plight, which I read aloud, by saying that you and/or your technician would probably find the needed part on eBay or Craig’s List. Millions of people, including computer nerds, are pissed off at having to buy entire new pieces of equipment when only a replacement part is needed. Therefor, if you can name the part, you can buy it cheaply, from someone who takes apart broken things to make them repairable. Failing that, strip it and sell the working parts of your monitor! What comes around, goes around…

Repair is a financially losing proposition for most companies.

Years ago, Sony was supreme in high tech maintenance for professional (broadcast) electronics. Their repair manuals were jewels containing two color images of all circuit boards, detailed explanations of how every circuit worked, location diagrams for all components, state diagrams showing mechanical and electronic modes. It made it a joy to have a Sony product break for those of us who had the pleasure to repair them and we all enjoyed the multi-day tech schools that were offered.

Those days are gone, Sony tech support gradually degraded and is now a part of the “send it back to us” scheme. It was killing them financially to produce that support.

With the cost of having a person check out the problem, the cost of keeping an inventory of parts and prices for them to sell to those who want to fix something, maintaining a parts dept. ready to take orders on things with tiny prices (and profits), the rapid rate of replacement by the “next generation” part (not planned obsolescence, simply an extremely high rate of tech improvements), it just isn’t worth it to support repair – beyond the “send it back to us” line that usually results in the inop unit being dumped and replaced by another. Though stuff does fail, the rate of failure on modern electronics is a small fraction of what it was years ago, particularly because the industry has been able to replace mechanical functions with “solid state” electronics.

I don’t think we will ever see a return to the repair shops that were so common in the old tube TV days. Environmentally, the flat screen is a huge advance over the CRT of yore and should last far far longer.

I second the positive comments about Dell flat screen reliability, even though the Sony 21″ CRT I use just refuses to quit, though occasionally it gives out a loud high voltage snap.

And last but not least, think of how cheap a flat screen is even as it is superior in so many ways to what came before.

My current printer HP G85 I purchased refurbished 7+ years ago and the thing keeps going strong. I need a new one though – I need a CD image burner and this unit is so heavy that it is ruining my CADO wall unit that it is sitting on. I fear that a new unit will never last as long as this wonderful thing has. This I feel slightly less guilty about since the G85 will find a good home.

Perhaps the answer lies in “working with” captitalism and “the system”. Maybe technology companies could be encouraged to sell/give parts to charities that fix electronics for profit and job skills. Good PR, tax write-offs, green and happy customers to boot!

Also, I have a Dell laptop and it’s been good to me for the past 4 years. No problems what so ever (knock on wood!).