It's Dead, Jim
Well, it seems I'm in a bit of a pickle. My computer monitor is, I believe, dead.
Here's the story. I was sitting at my desk minding my own business, then all of a sudden my monitor went all fuzzy and started making this weird buzzing noise. I turned it off, unplugged it, and let it sit in front of my fan for a few minutes, then hooked it back up and tried it again. "Tried" is the key word there. It doesn't make the buzzing noise anymore, but when I try turning the monitor on, the little green/amber light on it blinks off and on, and the screen stays blank. My guess is that the monitor simply overheated and decided to die, which is a real bummer.
I guess my options are that I'll either have to go buy a new one or take it to a computer shop and pay to have it repaired, neither I think I can really afford. So unless one of you tech-savvy readers knows some troubleshooting tips or somewhere I can get a monitor for cheap as free, I'm stuck borrowing my mom's computer until I can scrounge up a few hundred bucks to get a new monitor. I really should have seen this coming, though. The monitor is nearly ten years old and put out a whole lot of heat as it was, and my desk was a haven for giant dust bunnies no matter how much I cleaned.
Sigh, this sucks.
Here's the story. I was sitting at my desk minding my own business, then all of a sudden my monitor went all fuzzy and started making this weird buzzing noise. I turned it off, unplugged it, and let it sit in front of my fan for a few minutes, then hooked it back up and tried it again. "Tried" is the key word there. It doesn't make the buzzing noise anymore, but when I try turning the monitor on, the little green/amber light on it blinks off and on, and the screen stays blank. My guess is that the monitor simply overheated and decided to die, which is a real bummer.
I guess my options are that I'll either have to go buy a new one or take it to a computer shop and pay to have it repaired, neither I think I can really afford. So unless one of you tech-savvy readers knows some troubleshooting tips or somewhere I can get a monitor for cheap as free, I'm stuck borrowing my mom's computer until I can scrounge up a few hundred bucks to get a new monitor. I really should have seen this coming, though. The monitor is nearly ten years old and put out a whole lot of heat as it was, and my desk was a haven for giant dust bunnies no matter how much I cleaned.
Sigh, this sucks.
posted by Matt Sutton at
10:18 PM
2 Comments:
Tigerdirect has a brand new 17" CRT monitor for $99.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=615107&CatId=2772
And refurbished 17" and 19" CRT monitors for between $50-$80. Here's a good one for $60:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=714263&CatId=2772
Ebay has a bunch of old CRT monitors you can buy for cheaper than that.
If you have any pawnshops that take computers in the local area, check them. Small computer stores will sell old monitors, too.
Also: look for Salvation Army or other thrift stores in your area. I always see a shelf full of old monitors at the ones in Fort Worth, usually they sell them for $20 or so.
If you drop a couple hundred, I'm going to hope it'd be for a big fancy flatscreen. Because there are lots of places to find used but still perfectly usable LCD monitors for less than $100.
I'm not really looking to spend a whole lot, since I only have 50 bucks or so to my name and I had plans for most of those dead presidents. (That Heroes DVD is calling my name come August.) One of those big fancy flatscreens would be nice, but you gotta get what you can afford.
I think I might hit up a few Goodwills when I get the chance, just to see what I can come across. And if I'm not mistaken, a computer store opened up next door to the local supermarket recently. So I'm not without a few options.
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