I bought my first LCD panel sometime in mid 2003 for about $400 or so. The model is MacroView MV 590. It has a nice black rim and the stand is good and firm and an overall good monitor. Sometime in the middle of last year, the screen just went blank. Switch it on and there is a slight flicker and then it blanks out. It was out of warranty and instead of lugging it to a repair shop, I just put it aside.

Today, I finally found a reason to go to Sim Lim Square – to fix another device for a friend – and I decided to bring along the monitor. Actually, the monitor has been in the back of the car for a few months now! I did on previous visits to Funan and Sim Lim ask about monitor repair and the standard answer was “no”.

The visit to Sim Lim today was no different in that the answer was still no. But I did get one store to consider repairing it for $150. Well, does it make sense to fix a monitor for $150 when a new 17″ can be got for about $400? I figured that I will skip this and keep the monitor with a view to dispose it in the thrash.

Walking around Sim Lim, I came across a store at #02-68 – which is your typical electronic DIY store (atypical for Sim Lim Square), and I asked the store owner if he would fix monitors. His first remark was that, it is probably the power supply that is faulty. Out of skepticism, I said, I don’t think so and that other stores have told me that some LCD related brightness control is busted. He was so sure that the fault was in the power supply and before anything else, he whipped out the old meter and tested the output. Lo and behold, the output was 7V and the monitor needs 12V! Bingo. He then took a new 12V power supply and plugged it into the monitor and viola, all’s well!

For all of $30, I got the monitor fixed – and the monitor was not the one at fault.

Indeed, simple solutions are all one needs. It did not occur to me to check the power supply for the right amount of voltage. I am now wondering what the store who offered to fix the monitor for $150 would have actually done?