So pretty much what the topic says - my monitor died earlier this evening and nothing I try seems to revive it. I leave my computer on all the time, and have never had any issues with it. I was gone at classes and when I came back my monitor was asleep, nothing new with that. I wiggled my mouse to bring it back up. The monitor started to load then just died. No green or red light, just nothing like it had no power getting to it. Thinking I may have somehow knocked a cable loose I unplugged and replugged in all the cable, restarted my comp, and still nothing.
Can monitors overheat? My computer was off for about 3 hours earlier and I just tried to get it to work again but to no avail (obviously).
I'm hoping someone here might have an idea of what may have happened or if it can be fixed without having to buy a whole new monitor. I was looking up prices for them, and holy shit Of course my computer got off warenty a few months ago.
Until then I'm stuck using a crappy monitor we've had in our garage for about 4 years X_x
First, it actually helps a lot if you let us know what kind of monitor you have. ^_~ But then again, it might not--because yes, monitors do just die sometimes. The screen on my laptop keeps going dead, so I had to give up on it entirely. At least with a separate screen, you can just buy a new one of those. You could try replacing the cable.
If it comes to buying a new one, I can tell you about one very good one, one very bad one, and one in between--and caution you against buying them over the internet without someone trustworthy telling you it's good (i.e., not random reviews on websites). You can usually get better deals via websites, but you can also get really screwed over. E.g., one company makes an LCD monitor that's pretty nice, as long as you get it via Factory A, not Factory B--and there's no way to tell whether it'll arrive from A or B until it arrives. Really slimy stuff.
Sucky. I feel your pain. I'm tiptoeing around my pc right now and making offering of tasty cookies to whatever gods will keep bringing it back on when I turn it off. All Huggles' money is gone. I had a chance to get my monitor replaced a couple Christmases back, but I looked at every flat panel lcd screen in the store and was not impressed. I took home the most expensive one and it made my eyes water and my head ache. Even after much fiddling I've discovered I just can't tolerate the things. The uber expensive apple cinema displays are the only ones that are somewhat okay with my brain. How nice. So, since I've not had to buy one in 7 years, I know nothing about them. Sorry.
Its an HP Svr17E I believe. I'm using a computer lab on campus right now and don't have the exact name. Its a 17" LCD screen.
I was looking around online and noticed that CRT monitors are a hell of a lot cheaper then LCD screens. What's the difference between CRT and LCD? I know that CRT monitors are bigger then LCD, but is that it?
Ty, any help about what is a good screen or not and where I can find one at a decent price is much appericated!
Huggles, I'll donate some cookis to the gods as well. I hope yours doesn't finally give out on you!
A CRT has an electron gun that shoots electrons at the screen to make it glow briefly, while an LCD (also known as a flat screen) uses polarization to turn individual pixels on and off. The CRT has to have room for the vacuum tube (it's basically the same as a TV) so it's a lot bigger, but, as you say, cheaper. LCDs often have a better-quality image.
Yeah, CRTS are massive. They're pretty cheap because most of them nowadays are refurbished/used. Also, for bigger screen sizes, you'll see two wires through the screen--they're holding it up. (It never bothered me, invisible except on full-white screens, but some people posted negative reviews because of it--dude, it's not the monitor's fault you didn't do your research, heh.) Also, because they're so huge, they are heeeeeavy. 95 pounds for a 24 inch screen. 65 pounds for 22 inch. We live on the third floor (for now!), and that's so freakin' awful to get up the stairs. Huge unwieldy heavy box. Also, CRTs fade with time and go blurry--that's why I had to get rid of my old CRT. They're cheaper, but they don't have as long a lifespan, although they do still work when they go blurry/faded--it just gave me a horrible headache. Good CRTs are treasured by gamers because of their high refresh rates at high resolutions, but LCDs are coming along pretty nicely.
BenQ has a 24" model (BenQ 241W) that's fantastic--perfectly wonderful. I adore it. It's not mine, it's Derek's. I steal his computer often. Max resolution 1920x1200.
BenQ has a 22" model that is utter shit. Pixel crawl, horrible color depth, really looked like crap, and I have no idea what kind of morons left it positive reviews online. (We sent the first one back and got a second one, with identical problems. It's just bad.) There's this thing with some 22" LCD screens where they just... suck. I would recommend only buying a 22" model in store, but even then, stores usually split one signal to so many screens that you just can't tell what's going on, really. But stores usually also let you return it with no charge (within a timespan--just check before buying; Best Buy is nice, if you have those).
LG has a 22" monitor that doesn't suck, however; it's what I have, and we bought it at the store after my own BenQ fiasco. (LG L226W--max resolution 1680x1050.) I have only detected one minor problem, of white text on dark backgrounds acquiring a kind of green-ish haze around the letters, but it's very easy to ignore, and I hate white text on dark backgrounds so I don't usually run into it anyway.
Another thing to check for on LCDs is the warranty/guarantee; how many dead pixels do you need to see before the company will take it back and give you a new one? If it's 5, okay, if it's 25, geeeeez that's a crappy deal. But that only applies to buying online; in a store, just make sure you can return it if there are dead pixels out of box.
Oh, and one more thing about LCDs--don't judge it by what it does the instant you plug it in. Make sure you mess with the settings. LCDs have factory settings that are too bright, too high contrast, because gee, that looks better and more attractive in a store, under fluorescent lights, with all the other distractions going on. At home, you don't need it so bright that you can get a tan, heh.
I'd hazard a guess your failure was something to do with electrolytic capacitors - they're the bane of my life and in my experience one of the main causes of unreliability/failure in electronic equipment, especially in stressful applications like power supplies. The power supply in my (relatively cheap when bought) unbranded LCD monitor failed recently - the monitor was working OK but caused interference on a computer monitor on the other side of the room, on every radio in the house, and interfered with the graphics tablet to the extent that the mouse pointer used to wander randomly across the screen. When I picked up the PSU it was so hot I could push my fingernails into the plastic case. Cause of failure = exploded electrolytic capacitor
Anyhow... what can you do? If you're lucky and your monitor has an external plug-in power supply (like mine did) and you think this has failed you may be able to source a replacement. I picked up an equivalent power supply from a trade supplier for less than £30. Otherwise it's a potentially expensive repair (if that's even possible) or obtain a 'new' one.
What Ty says about CRT vs. LCD tallies with my experience - CRTs are really cheap because nobody buys them anymore, but also heavy, large, not very environmentally-friendly and quality varies. A good CRT (e.g. Sony, iiyama) will still compare favourably to modern LCD panels. But those are not as cheap. I wouldn't recommend buying a new one, though a good-quality secondhand one is an option - might be able to find for cheap/free?
LCDs also vary wildly in quality - I still prefer my aforementioned el-cheapo LCD screen to most that I use from day-to-day despite it having two dead pixels. The current trend seems to be for highly-reflective screens, I don't know why because all the ones of this type I've seen seem to have very limited viewing angles and reflect *everything*. LCDs do have a limited lifespan (the backlight will eventually fail).
Kantark wrote:CRTs are really cheap because nobody buys them anymore, but also heavy, large, not very environmentally-friendly and quality varies. ... might be able to find for cheap/free?
That's a good point that I forgot to bring up--because CRTs are so environmentally-unfriendly, you're not legally allowed to dump them in the trash (of course, that just applies to "places I know," but I don't imagine this varies by much). But the "plus" side is that people don't want to pay to dispose of them safely, so they give them away for free, especially on websites such as craigslist.
I was hoping it was my power cord as well, as those are much much cheaper to fix. However since my current monitor is running using said cord, it's not that.
Thanks for the tips all I wasn't aware that CRTs couldn't just be tossed out. Wondered why we had two ancient ones stored in my garage
I went out to Best Buy and Circuit City a bit ago and it seems all they sell now is the 22" or larger wide screen monitors. I liked my 17" normal sized monitor but there was only one (pretty crappy) in the store.
I think BenQ is probably out as I really don't want a 24" monitor, however I'll have to take a look at the LGs.
Of course my computer got off warenty a few months ago. 
I wasn't aware that CRTs couldn't just be tossed out. Wondered why we had two ancient ones stored in my garage 