Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.misc,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video (
More info?)
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.misc chrisv <chrisv@nospam.invalid> wrote:
> Arno Wagner <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>>In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.misc larrymoencurly <larrymoencurly@my-deja.com> wrote:
>>> Arno Wagner <me@privacy.net> wrote in message news:<2r5r44F16kn24U1@uni-berlin.de>...
>>
>>>> Likely thermal or capacitor problem. You can try all sorts of
>>>> things, but the only reliable approach is a circuit-level
>>>> diagnosis of the problem. Might require a degree in EE to
>>>> be done properly.
>>
>>> I have the opposite of an EE degree, a sociology degree. Not only
>>> that, but m degree came from AZ State instead of a real college. Yet
>>> I've fixed several monitors that were tossed by other people (the last
>>> monitor I bought cost negative $30, after rebates), and almost always
>>> the problem was minor, like a solder connection, capacitor, or shorted
>>> transistor. I think that if I can fix monitors, then almost anybody
>>> can.
>>
>>Depends on the problem. I am doing electronics as a hobby for
>>20 years now and I know that many problems can be diagnosed
>>without tools, because the component that is broken is obvious.
>>
>>I said "the only reliable approach". If you have the time
>>and are a bit lucky, many electronics faults can indeed be
>>fixed with common sense and some dexterity. Others are hard to
>>find with experience, special equipment and an EE degree.
>>
>>The case described by the OP sounds like such a hard case to me.
>>More like a subtle problem, e.g. a capacitor having lost some of
>>its capacity but not all or a circuit damaged parially by static
>>electricity.
> Or a part that you know is bad, but you can't find a replacement.
> Last time I tried to fix something of my own (an audio power amp), I
> traced it to an NEC transistor that was impossible to find information
> on or replacements for.
Yes, sometimes I think they do it on purpose. The last semiconductor
that failed on me was the chipset in my Sony Vaio. Sort of a
self-destruct mechanism, since it was inadequately cooled by
design. O.k., that is another issue.
One thing I seems to see a lot though is unmarked or insufficiently
marked chips and other components. Like they do not want these things
to be repairable.
On the other hand I had very little electronics failures in the
last years. The Vaio does not count, since that failure was obviously
engineered. I will never buy Sony computing equipment again, being
ripped off once is enough. Before that the las one I had were
fauly capacitors (in several instances). AFAIK this was a single
incident of industrial espionage gone wrong and was easy to
fix in all instances (except the one were I mismatched capacities
enough to get a resonance effect).
Arno
--
For email address: lastname AT tik DOT ee DOT ethz DOT ch
GnuPG: ID:1E25338F FP:0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws" - Tacitus