electronics « Sediverse Studios

21May/102

Of Computer Repairs

So a few months ago, I was heading to work, steppedout the front door and onto the first step. Then blam! I was on my ass and I smashed my back into the bottom stair. I was in severe pain as I had injured my back only a week previously. I went back inside and called in, then settle into a less painful position to relax for the duration of my shift.

I whipped out my laptop very slowly, and noticed the screen was dead. So I was out a laptop, right?

Wrong.

I did some shopping around for a a new screen and found it, ranging in price from $50 to $500, which was more than twice the price of the laptop to begin with. So I said "Screw it," for a while until my brother offered to get me a new laptop screen. That arrived today, but the installation was hell.

In order to replace a 10.1" laptop screen you have remove 10 tiny screws from random places throughout the back of the screen. Which isn't a problem if you are doing computer repair in a proper place. But in a dark basement with very little in the way of light makes thing difficult. But I managed, through sheer frustration, to install the screen. Which was a massive pain. And irritating. But my laptop is functional again. So hooray.

Tagged as: computer repair, electronics, personal life 2 Comments

12Feb/101

The Myth about Monitor Refresh Rates and Fatigue | random neuron misfires

I had actually typed up another big rant earlier about some advice column I saw at Yahoo, but then it never got sent to the website and was lost in the depths of the Web. *Spookymusic*

More's the pity. But oh well, here's something new to talk about!

The Myth about Monitor Refresh Rates and Fatigue | random neuron misfires.

Awesome. Although... not entirely accurate from what I can tell. From what I know of the situation, there's still a 5-7% of the population that get the same eye fatigue from LCDs. (It's a specific type of LCD... I have a lack of information on the subject though.)

So, the only thing I can really say about this is: Nay! Not all LCDs are purfektly okee dokee!! I, for one, can still get migraines from poor refresh rates on LCDs. Of the aforementioned certain types anyways. I had this old BENQ thing... any time it was set to 60hz my head started pounding, the same way it did when my old, giantass, 22" Dell CRT was set too low. Crank up the refresh a bit, and bam problem solved.

But, on the flip side, that was a really old LCD, back from when LCDs cost about $500 for a 14".

That monitor was the only LCD I've ever encountered that could give me screen-induced migraines, so yeah, LCDs in general don't have the same problems as CRTS because of the difference in technology, and I agree with bulk of the blogticle, but meeehhhhhhhhh.

(Plasma monitors, I have no clue about!)

Anybody that reads this know why that old LCD could cause headaches? I'm sort of curious...

Bah. This whole thing is a rambling mess. So, time for a recap!
1. I saw the article and went: Meh, but my old monitor could give headaches.
2. I do understand why LCD's don't give fatigue in general.
3. Now I'm just randomly curious as to why my old monitor did. Never really thought about it before. I just sort of shrugged my shoulders and got a new monitor.
4. Completely not covered in this entry except in this recap that's not really a recap:

Operating at 60Hz, they may cause a stroboscopic effect with any machinery which has parts, such as pulleys or gears, running at speeds that are a multiple of 60Hz. The stroboscopic effect will cause the machine to appear motionless, which could be a deadly hazard.

If you've never seen this in real life: That visual effect is awesome. It will drive you bonkers and bend your brain, but it is undeniably cool. Unfortunately, you can't capture it on film.

(As a side note here: Now that I think about it, remembering the old days and such, the monitor was also marketed as a power saver... It makes me curious... Maybe their power saver was throttling the power and ending up with the same effect as a CRT's Nuker Gun.)