(Almost) Black Screen of (Near) Death

November 13, 2006 9:18 PM

LCD Monitor Down (almost, sorta)...

When I turn on my less than a year old LCD for my desk compy, it flashes on in full quality color for one second then goes dark... not completely dark; I can see shadows of usually bright screens and find my mouse pointer if I really squint. None of the controls on the monitor itself seem to be working except the on-off switch and the compy works fine on other monitors. Never had a repairable monitor problem before (my previous CRTs just burned out)... is this likely fixable for less cost than buying a new one?

posted by wendell to computers & internet (4 comments total)

If it's less than a year old, is it not under warranty? Because it doesn't sound like a "wear and tear" issue, and it seems that the manufacturer should replace it.

Barring that, I'm not familiar with the specifics of your problem, but generally speaking, monitor repairs end up being just as costly as replacing them outright. You may be able to take it to a PC repair place, which could assess the problem for anywhere from $50 - $100 (in the US), maybe cheaper (that's just the price range of my limited experience).
posted by Brak at 9:33 PM on November 13, 2006

It will be a dodgy backlight, or maybe a backlight power supply. It shouldn't have failed in a year. Get it replaced under warranty.
posted by flabdablet at 9:52 PM on November 13, 2006

What they said. I had almost exactly the same thing happen with a Dell monitor and to their credit they didn't even bother trying to troubleshoot over the phone but arranged for a new one to be sent out at their cost within the week.
posted by Silentgoldfish at 2:58 AM on November 14, 2006

Yep, under one year = call the manufacturer. It should be covered.

As a side, don't bother calling any company you have a service plan though. They'll just tell you to call the manufacturer as most of those plans are extended warranty plans. They provide service beyond the warranty date.
posted by Imperfect at 8:39 AM on November 14, 2006