[silentgoldfish]

First some history is in order:
About 2 years ago I bought a 17 inch Dell flatscreen (1704FPT). Roughly a year after I bought it it started turning off randomly -- the light would still be on and the computer would still treat it as being connected properly but the screen would go black like it was turned off. If I turned it off and on again I'd get a picture back for a few seconds and then it'd turn off again. It was a pretty random thing that started happening with more and more frequency until I called Dell Support and they swapped it for a new monitor without even trying to troubleshoot (Which I was quite impressed by).

It's now a year after that and the new monitor they swapped it with is starting to do the same thing. In the meantime I've bought a new computer, so it's a different computer AND monitor from the one that was having trouble before, though it's the same model monitor. However, this time it's out of warranty and Dell won't help me without $$.

What sounds like the problem? Is it something fixable or would I be better off getting a new screen? Did I just have bad luck or is that model of monitor known to be faulty in this way?

Thanks in advance for any insights anyone has!

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When you go on dell site they have a huge listing of discount refurb monitors and tvs. My opinion is this large volume of refurbs is due to poor quality control of product(cheap components). I would look at viewsonic or one of many other name brand monitors if I was looking.

Edited by jtscustomcomputers, 22 October 2007 - 07:17 AM.

[jtscustomcomputers]

When you go on dell site they have a huge listing of discount refurb monitors and tvs. My opinion is this large volume of refurbs is due to poor quality control of product(cheap components). I would look at viewsonic or one of many other name brand monitors if I was looking.

Edited by jtscustomcomputers, 22 October 2007 - 07:17 AM.

[shard92]

I agree above I've been seeing a lot of dells with issues like that..... To clarify though you are talking an lcd as in flat pannel and not a flat screen crt? IF we are talking about LCD then my comments stand... Also you could try shining a flashlight into the screen when it goes black.... do you see anything? like your normal desktop? if you do either the invertor or the backlight is going... if you don't see anything then you lcd or the harness are the problem...

possiblely fixable but can be expensive....

[jtscustomcomputers]

Yeah was referring to LCD. I have myself had to deal with Dell LCD TV problem and to say least very frustrating experience two bad tvs in a row. I did little research back at time last year and many people were dealing with similiar problems multiple new ones shipped only to have problems. It is more a problem with suppliers to Dell who have been using inferior components.

Edited by jtscustomcomputers, 23 October 2007 - 11:06 AM.

[silentgoldfish]

Thanks for the replies. Guess I'm lucky it's a secondary monitor these days.