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Why do monitors stop working?

J

JCE86

Senior member
My brother has gone through 4 monitors in the pass year, 1st one was a Futura one, second an Acer, third a NEC, and 4th another Samsung. All the monitors simply do not show a screen any more except for one that shows a screen for approximately 30 seconds before going blank.

My only problem with a monitor was when out of no where, a spark was seen and smoke started coming out and I had no choice but to unplug it. Plugging it back in only filled the room with more smoke.

What causes these problems? All the monitors were treated well, indoors at room temperature, and everything seemed to be normal. Is it worth fixing these monitors or just chucking them? Where do you guys get rid of your monitors, any place recycle them?
 


<< My only problem with a monitor was when out of no where, a spark was seen and smoke started coming out and I had no choice but to unplug it. Plugging it back in only filled the room with more smoke. >>



I'm sorry...but ROFLMAO
 
I would see if the manufactuer would replace them, but it sounds like you have some elictrical problem or something strange.
If you are on old house wiring or have some spikes, then it will keep happening, and once you let that magic smoke out the damn thing doesn't work anymore.

 
I would check the power supply in your house. I live in an older house (50 years old), and I was going through PC power supplies like water (one every three months) - turned out that it was the connection to the house that was loose / worn out / in need of an upgrade.
 
Well, running your refresh rate at higher hz than the monitor can handle is one way of killing your monitor. I've only had one monitor die on me and that was when we used a local moving company to help us and some idiot dropped it. :disgust:
 
what's ur room temprature?
I remember that my monitor always broke down during summer heat ( NO air con back then). When I opened them up--a few transistors have melted coz of the extreme heat.
 
I was always curious why monitors die. I have only had one die and the reason is the basis for my theory:

Stop buying cheap monitors: Futura, Acer, etc.

Yeah that's a general statement but I have had a Viewsonic that works flawlessly and it's like 5 years now. I just picked up a KDS for my main box, hopefully that fares as well.
 
House was built maybe 4 years ago and temperature is that equal to my local CVS. My brother now has a Optiquest and its lasted him for a year almost and no problems. I have another crappy Futura right now and its lasted me 6 months maybe with no troubles. I just wonder what causes monitors to fail.

I have a lot of monitors just sitting in my basement. No idea where to dispose of them. They should really make a recycling place for monitors, at least for me, hehe.

I'm looking for a 17" flat panel LCD monitor now. Any one of any suggestions? I don't plan on spending more then $600. I've found these... what do you think?

--
http://www.us.buy.com/retail/computers/product.asp?loc=15455&sku=10278532&PageFormat=1#product

AOC International - 17IN 26MM 1280X1024 75HHZ LM700 TFT LCD
$530
--
http://www.outpost.com/entry?site=linkshare:QwwmKliEDWo-603gnligtRq%2Aru5%2APWy29w&sku=3054149

GEM by Scanport GL-821A 17 inch LCD 1024x768 Flat Panel Monitor
$500
--
From Dell

Planar White Analog 17inch Multimedia LCD Panel
$510
--

Last one looks tempting because I usually don't associate Dell with cheap monitors. What do you guys think?
 
As far as KDS monitors being cheap, I don't think that is necessarily true, and even if it were true that still wouldn't mean that one would die in less than a year. I understand that many KDS monitors are "budget" monitors, but we have been running a KDS "budget" monitor for about three years now without a problem - and we run our computers 24/7 - let's see, that's about 26280 hours, and this monitor looks just as good as the day we got it. We also have two other KDS monitors in our house, as well as two Samtrons 7x-v (Samsung value series).

Most monitors come with a three year warranty. That's what the KDS and the Samtrons carry, and the KDS monitors have the KARES plan (don't remember what the acronym stands for, but, basically, they'll overnight you a replacement monitor if you give them a credit card number for security - then you send your defective monitor back to them).

If you have gone through four monitors in one year on the same system then I would do the following:

1) power down the computer immediately and disconnect your current monitor and don't use any monitor on that machine until you figure out what's going on

2) replace the video card - it may be somehow eating monitors

3) use a surge protector (a good one) for the ps supply to the monitor

Are you sure these monitors are bad? Have you tested them on other systems?

Either the computer (vid card) or the power in the house is damaging these monitors, because in most cases a monitor should last at least three years, and ususally much longer.
 
I tried all the bad monitors on other computers and nothing. The new Optiquest monitor seems to be holding up. My current monitor works fine but I plan on upgrading to a 17" LCD. Thanks everyone for your input.
 


<<
My only problem with a monitor was when out of no where, a spark was seen and smoke started coming out and I had no choice but to unplug it. Plugging it back in only filled the room with more smoke.
 >>



So lemme get this straight, big spark and smoke coming out of your moniter so you decide to unplug it, right? You then decide to PLUG IT BACK IT???

Did you think that somehow the moniter would be unaffected and it would work fine again?
 
What makes them wear out quicker than normal would be turning them off and on again during the day/night--either manually or using APM. This puts a big stress on them, thus, shortening their lifespan.
 
My only problem with a monitor was when out of no where, a spark was seen and smoke started coming out and I had no choice but to unplug it. Plugging it back in only filled the room with more smoke.

LOLOL

But i have no idea why you guys have gone through so many monitors. That's definitely not right. You could just have extremely bad luck, but like a previous poster said, check the power supply in your house. I've been using computers for about 12 years now, have gone through about 6 monitors, and not a single one has ever died. I had one where it was all green, but that was because of a bent pin.
 
The biggest cause of monitor failure is HEAT. The monitors get to hot inside and the solder begins to melt over time and then causes a short. Make sure that nothing blocks the vents above or below the monitor and don't place the monitor under a shelf or anything that will block the heat from going up.

Also a good idea is to add a monitor cooler to the top which will suck out the heat better.
 
Well if you have good ventilation, meaning the monitors heat vent aren't completely blocked, then I have three words for you....


Uninterruptible Power Supply. Since I put one on every system in my house, I have had 0 hardware failures. And it has
now been over 2 years.

I had a 3 year old monitor that would turn on and then switch off within a few minutes.

Turned out it was the solder joints on the power supply board. Resoldered all the joints and it is perfect again.
 
I had a video card that killed 2 monitors. Replaced it with an identical card, and the problem stopped.
 


<< What makes them wear out quicker than normal would be turning them off and on again during the day/night--either manually or using APM. This puts a big stress on them, thus, shortening their lifespan. >>



What is APM?
 
You guys should have seen my brother. He walked in when all the smoke was coming out and he instantly dived for cover as if he had saw an incoming bomb. Hehe.
 


<<

<< What makes them wear out quicker than normal would be turning them off and on again during the day/night--either manually or using APM. This puts a big stress on them, thus, shortening their lifespan. >>



What is APM? >>



Advanced Power Management. This basically shuts your monitor off automatically to your preferred settings. If you have it set to shut down the monitor after 15 minutes or so, then come back and use the computer again, then leave for 30 minutes and come back to it, then it would be wise not to use APM. I have my monitor set to shut off in an hour if I'm not using it. MrBurns2007 is right about the heat issue; keep your monitor cleared off and don't place a lot of stuff around it because it needs good ventilation.
 
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