[X Newbies] monitor hiccup

[Randy B. Singer]

John Park said:

>My monitor has just started to act up after many many years of use.  It 
>does this thing where the screen picture starts to contract as though 
>it were about to change resolution.  And then goes back to normal.  
>It's been doing it about once an hour since it started.  Any thoughts?


I had that happen to me fairly recently.  I have an Apple 21-inch CRT 
monitor.
It exhibited those symptoms for months, and then one day it just stopped 
working.

I took the monitor to an Apple authorized dealer, and they held on to it 
for three weeks before getting back to me with a quote.  They said that 
they would have to ship it back to Apple to have it repaired, and that it 
would take another several weeks, and it would cost, get this...$1,000.

$1,000 is more than I would have to pay for a good, brand-new, 21-inch 
CRT monitor.  So, I told them to forget it and I picked up the monitor.

I found a local place that specializes in repairing monitors and which 
advertises that they do "component level repairs" and they charge a flat 
rate based on the size of your monitor.  Except for picture tubes, they 
don't even charge extra for parts.

They replaced two transistors, charged me only $125, and got the monitor 
back to me in one day!

So, I recommend that you start looking for a place to have the monitor 
repaired now, before it dies completely, and that you shop carefully for 
a repair place.

On the other hand, you may want to have a look at:

$100 for a Sony Trinitron-tubed refurbished 20-inch monitor
http://www.softwareandstuff.com/h_mon_sony20.html



Randy B. Singer
Co-Author of: The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th and 6th editions)

How To Deal With Common OS X 10.3 Panther Problems
http://www.macattorney.com/panther.html