As Simple As Black & White: Who's Got A New Monitor?...

Some of you already know that my trusty laptop's monitor decided to crap out on me not long ago. I'm not sure how... but I seem to have a gift for destroying electronics (that I own). When I was in the British Columbia Institue of Technology (BCIT) I was in the laptop program. This required that we lease an IBM Thinkpad from the school. Apparently, we all got a bad bunch of laptops so there were 10/13 (if memory serves me correctly) that were sent back for servicing... as if that's not bad enough. My laptop happened to be the LEMON of the whole bunch... hehe, I just remembered that I wrote about it earlier... read about it here.

So anyway... I was came into my room one day and had the laptop on my bed when I accidentally knocked the screen forward. Those of you who have owned a Toshiba Satellite can attest that the monitor's hinges are pretty flimsy. If you get the monitor at a 90 degree angle you can rock it back-and-forth. My hinge (over 3 years old now) is loose as hell so when I bumped it and caused it to shift more than 35-40 degrees it slammed shut :( I opened up the laptop thinking all was well. No... all was not well. The screen was flickering and occassionally it would jump. fek.

I rode it out hoping that this was just some freak thing and that it would go away... surprise, surprise... nope. Eventually, the next day, I got to witness the screen flicker out. I wasn't even using the laptop at that time, I was using my dad's as he's out of town for the week.

I figured that the rest of the laptop was in perfect order cuz I pressed the cPad button to light it up... and the power button to light up the top console, they both worked. Then I plugged the Toshiba into my TV and switched it. It came on with no issue. No flickering, no jumping. So it appears that the back lighting for the screen has decided to give out. Upon closer inspection I confirmed my suspicions. You can see the crystals changing to draw the screen, but there is no lighting from behind. I just looks like a ghost of an image.

Now I use this laptop as my primary computer so it looks like I'll have to purchase a new one. This time I think I'll go for my first PC. Suggestions anyone? It's as if I have a PC but no monitor, wtf. Seeing as I'm going to need a monitor for my fancy new PC I went online and researched as well as got some advice from AS then headed out with AK in search of a new monitor. Futureshop was useless, they had one 20" monitor on display and the one time that I wanted a rep to help me, they were nowhere to be found. NCIX had what I was looking for... but not in stock at the location that we were at. grrr. I paid for the product at that location and AK taxied us over to their other location, in rush hour, none-the-less. Here's the route we took: gmaps. If you're wondering, gmaps lies... it took far more than 23 minutes to get there :P

After finally acquiring the package I went home but didn't have a chance to get it working until after I came back from my jog w/ my cousin.

Even while trying to get things working between the laptop and the monitor, the laptop put up a fight :@. I tried plugging the monitor in and switching the output. No luck. I tried installing the driver and switching the output. No luck. Then I tested it with my dad's laptop... wth, that was fine. I tried again and again until I finally got fed up and rammed the connector into the socket as far as it could go... OMG!!! The angels in Heav'n did sing! The monitor flickered to life... and with the image from my laptop :'( *sniff*. I felt like an addict suffering from withdrawal about to take a dose... wooo, liberation!