dark screen

[martinjoyce]

my screen keeps flickering and goes dark so i can barely read it. I push the screen back and forward and it sometimes flickers back to full brightness.:smileycry:

[kee-lo_]

Sweet :smileygrin:

[jammold]

Hehehe Nice one Rob!

If I didn't have the three year warranty on this laptop, I would do exactly that and just try unplugging the inverter, and plugging it back in again...

However, so far touch wood, the screen has been absolutely fine. My problems start when I close the lid, then open the lid especially if the laptop has been in a cool place (+3 degrees!).

[kee-lo_]

God you'd think they'd put a decent cable in....

[Ice9]

Built-in obsolescence

The flickering and no display started soon after the two year
warranty from John Lewis expired. After a year, I smelled burnt plastic,
and the bottom right of the screen was turning black.
I configured it to output to CRT only, and let guests use it for browsing.

Cheap is my Middle Name
____________________

Recently, there's some talk of replacing inverters and back light,
which I thought would be expensive, and IT IS. Techno-Mart in Harrow
wanted £149, part and labour. Considering you can get a FS315E for £545+VAT,
from MAKRO this week, I decided to DIY.

No Torx screws, surprisingly enough. Just the most fiedishly microsopic
Philips head screws that only Swiss watch makers with tweezers can love.
I destroyed two precision screw drivers to open them up. The tip of the bit
actually snapped off because they were so tight.

The LCD panel was branded ACER! A sticker that says 1500V was
also edifying. The light tube is about 2mm in diameter, and ten inches long.
The slender wires from the inverter were soldered directly onto the two ends,
delivering 1,500 volts, and keeping the screen bright and colourful. The right
hand solder joint was broken, and the loose wire had been sparking
the immediate vicinity into carbon. After fiddling with the whole thing,
the solder joint on the other end broke off as well. Disaster or opportunity?
Seppuku or life affirmation?

To cut a long story short, resoldered and insulated the ends,
screwed it back together, and the LCD is now working flicker free.
I left a smidgeon of carbon residue on the inside of the LCD panel, which
will probably drive me crazy eventually.

Also, what about the fact that my SONY has an ACER LCD?
Why don't I just buy an ACER TravelMate, for two hundred pounds less?
That Skoda Octavia is looking good to me, too.

So the moral of the story is: Life is too short, just buy another one.
The £149 I saved will not pay for the anti-perfectionist therapy for the next two years.

[kee-lo_]

Also, what about the fact that my SONY has an ACER LCD

OMG is this true?

[Ice9]

Oh, yes, and the DVD drive is Hitachi.

Just to clarify, my SONY is a PCG-FX401,
with a 14" LCD, which I bought back in November 2001.
Worked fine for two years. As soon as the warranty expires,
a miniature Ninja that had lain patiently inside the LCD leapt into action,
cut the wire, gripped the 1,500 volt wires to carbonise himself,
destroying all evidence of the activities of that sinister secret society called
the SONY Marketing Department.

Funny thing a salesman in Shanghai said to me (in July):
"Don't buy from the other shops, their SONYs are made in China.
We source ours from Japan."

What's the difference between Cantonese and Shanghaiese?
If you do business with a Cantonese, he will take your money and sleep with your wife.
If you do business with a Shanghaiese, he will take your money and sleep with your wife:
and you'll thank him for it!

[kee-lo_]

Yeah I remember Eugene telling me about that, I'd love to go to Japan and get one while I'm there; but the infelxability of the VAIO means I'd need to learn Japanese fast!