Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site cvl.UUCP Path: utzoo!decvax!wivax!linus!allegra!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxi!mhuxa!houxm!hogpc!houti!ariel!vax135!floyd!cmcl2!philabs!seismo!rlgvax!cvl!andie From: andie@cvl.UUCP Newsgroups: net.micro.pc Subject: monochrome monitors Message-ID: <342@cvl.UUCP> Date: Thu, 2-Jun-83 15:42:56 EDT Article-I.D.: cvl.342 Posted: Thu Jun 2 15:42:56 1983 Date-Received: Thu, 9-Jun-83 01:43:11 EDT Organization: U. of Md. Computer Vision Lab Lines: 39 A warning to owners of IBM monochrome monitors: Recently my monitor, approximately 1 1/2 years old, began flickering and eventually went dead. I took it to ComputerLand, and was told that the flyback transformer had gone bad; this had caused the board in the monitor to go bad as well. According to them, it wasn't really worth fixing, as it would cost ~$200. Having seen a letter here from someone with the same problem, I checked around, and found still another victim of this defect. So, armed with this information, I called IBM in Boca Raton. The person I talked to had never heard of this happening before, and called it "an isolated incident". When I complained that it seemed strange that a defect in one part could cause the unit to effectively self-destruct, he replied "well, it worked for 18 months, didn't it?", to which I replied that I didn't want to buy a new monitor every 18 months. He then said I could have gotten a service contract. I did have a year warranty on it, but somehow I didn't expect it to totally die at so young an age. He finally said he would talk to the engineers, and that was that. Since it evidently takes a while for this to happen, I expect a significant number of monitors will fail in the next few months. I for one am not going to get another monochrome (I have a color monitor, fortunately) until this problem is fixed. If anyone else has had this problem, call IBM and tell them. Maybe we can get them to give us a rebate or to at least fix the problem in later monitors if enough people harass them. And, if your monitor starts flickering, get it fixed IMMEDIATELY! You may be able to save your monitor's board (and thus some money) that way. Diane Donaldson seismo!rlgvax!cvl!andie P.S. Although I don't have IBM's number with me now, I'll post it later. If you call them they take your number and call you back, so the long distance charges shouldn't be too outrageous.