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No user serviceable parts inside ...
5 years ago
General
Or so everything says these days in this throw-it-away-and-get-another-one-when-it-dies world we now live in.
And with all the on-a-chip computers/controllers, in some cases they're semi-right - but it does sometimes depend on the user.
In this case it was my ageing LG Flatron (E2351), that after many years of good service would now only give me a blank white screen (not even the on-screen control info.) So with a bit of rewiring and an A/B switch I had everything sharing the remaining monitor.
I'm saving up for a system upgrade (to help me make bad 3D art even faster!), so while I looked at all the pretty (and pricey) 4K monitors, I really didn't want to spend that kind of money right now, so after a week of staring at the wrong screen I picked up a screwdriver and got dangerous ...
The screws weren't the hardest part, that was wedging things into the edges/sides to pop the front cover from the back.
Inside there wasn't much I'd dare to play with - least I finish breaking the dang thing, but there were several connections I could reseat/wiggle in case it was just a bad connection.
Applied power with the panel balanced on my lap, and I now had the 'check your connections' warning I'd been hoping for. Reattached computers and I seem to be back in business - maybe it's got a few more years let in it after all.
Now if only nailing down my muse and getting my story moving was as 'easy' ...
(And I now notice extra bit still on my desk, just a cover that you can't see from the front - and will most likely be lost before I feel the need to see the back of the monitor ... )
And with all the on-a-chip computers/controllers, in some cases they're semi-right - but it does sometimes depend on the user.
In this case it was my ageing LG Flatron (E2351), that after many years of good service would now only give me a blank white screen (not even the on-screen control info.) So with a bit of rewiring and an A/B switch I had everything sharing the remaining monitor.
I'm saving up for a system upgrade (to help me make bad 3D art even faster!), so while I looked at all the pretty (and pricey) 4K monitors, I really didn't want to spend that kind of money right now, so after a week of staring at the wrong screen I picked up a screwdriver and got dangerous ...
The screws weren't the hardest part, that was wedging things into the edges/sides to pop the front cover from the back.
Inside there wasn't much I'd dare to play with - least I finish breaking the dang thing, but there were several connections I could reseat/wiggle in case it was just a bad connection.
Applied power with the panel balanced on my lap, and I now had the 'check your connections' warning I'd been hoping for. Reattached computers and I seem to be back in business - maybe it's got a few more years let in it after all.
Now if only nailing down my muse and getting my story moving was as 'easy' ...
(And I now notice extra bit still on my desk, just a cover that you can't see from the front - and will most likely be lost before I feel the need to see the back of the monitor ... )
anyway i'd recommend a 1440p screen. looks damn good, not as pricey as a 4k monitor with good colors(anything other than tn)
Makes me wish I'd held on to my '67 Dodge, drank a lot of gas, but I could work on the dang thing!
There are good reasons to stick as many components as possible to the same board. It makes production cheaper (these connectors are stupid expensive), reduces production overhead (less testing is required to verify the product on the assembly line) and increases robustness (routing high speed signals is an art; routing high speed signals through connectors in a way that's mass manufacturable is pure wizardry).
Of course it has the "benefit" of making the product more disposable... but frankly, we are still living on the "vertical" part of the S curve, where each next generation of a product shows enough improvement to make any significant repair on mass scale not economically viable.
And my TRS-80 computer had several upgrades the shack never thought of ...
Modern computers are six to eight orders of magnitude more complex and powerful than your old TRS-80. They are probably something like eleven orders of magnitude above the tube TV by the element count alone.
While I would love everything to come with service manuals comparable to old HP lab gear, it's simply not feasible.
https://youtu.be/XQA8lowEKOo
I hear you on the surface mount stuff.
I'll give them a gander, though I haven't been impressed with some of the stories I've heard about how dumb some of those 'smart' TVs act (no monitor of mine needs to talk to the dang internet! )
As to old systems, there's one sitting here that still runs W2000 (and has a Raspberry Pi and a car stereo tucked into it!)
Contrasted with the old Viewsonic monitors (~8) that I have service manuals and parts for.. (and am using right now) Sadly they are just shy of 4K resolution (DVI and VGA inputs) and yes I've had to replace power supply capacitors in almost all of them.
Hmm, I was able to find a data port to VGA adapter to use my current netbook on my old monitor - I'll have to see if they have one going the other way.
Maybe this weekend ...