AAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!! B@$%&@D F'ING MONITORS!!!!

[Mark Smith]

My 3rd 1084s just blew up!

:-(

Fine see if I care!  I'll just junk you and get that stupid RGBI converter finished!

Bah!

[naI]

What happened?  Just out of the blue like that?

[Mark Smith]

I dared to press the "RGB -> Composite" select button :-(

POP! SQWEEEEEEeeeeeemmmmmm ..... was the noise basically.

Think the LOPT has gone on this one as well ... makes 3 in a year now!  And there are pitifully few repair places around anymore.

Mark

[Hydrophilic]

That's terrible news.

I would say bad luck, but I don't think luck is a factor.

For example, I bought a 1902 "clone" back in the day.  I'm pretty confident it was the exact same monitor without the Commodore brand on it.  It was Magavox.  It had power button, RGBI, composite, and seperate chroma / luma plugs in the back.  It had 2 switches in the back for composite / seperate (40 column) and for analog / digital RGB(I) (Amiga or 80 column c128).  And it had 1 speaker so not stereo.

Anyway, I bought it in like 88 probably and got an extended warranty.

Then in like 92 or 93 I got a warranty renewal.  It was like $20 or something so I purchased it.  This was important because Commodore products were not being sold locally by then (and of course shipping cost is crazy).

Several years later, like in 98 or 99, I was sitting around playing a game on my PlayStation.  Great picture, even if the screen is a little small.

And for no appearant reason, *pop* *sizzle* and the screen collapsed into a single raster.  I turned it off as quick as possible, but that single raster faded away before I could reach the power switch.

So I dug out my extended warranty card, and it had expired the previous month of the same year!  (They had never offered another extended warranty.)

I think the manufacturer knows VERY well how long these are going to last.  And the expected lifetime has long since past.  I think any that any working today are annomolies, and if you buy one, you should expect it to die very shortly.

3 dead 1084s in one year is pretty good evidence for my theory.  (of course not exactly the same as 1902 they are very similar.  I wonder if they were also made by Phillips / Magnavox)

Maybe you should consider one of those RGB(I) to VGA or S-Video gadgets. Umm, Mark already has looked, so I'm talking to everyone else with monitor woes.  I get an excellent picture with mine.  Plus a huge screen!  Costing between $50 to $150 (plus minimal shipping), I think they're awesome.

[RobertB]

And the expected lifetime has long since past.  I think any that any working today are annomolies, and if you buy one, you should expect it to die very shortly.

3 dead 1084s in one year is pretty good evidence for my theory.  (of course not exactly the same as 1902 they are very similar.  I wonder if they were also made by Phillips / Magnavox)

In FCUG we have several, working 1084s which have never given us trouble after all these years (the most heavily used one is losing picture tube focus, though).
     Even if we have a monitor breakdown, we can haul the broken unit to Ray Carlsen who will try to fix it.

                          Truly,
                          Robert Bernardo
                          Fresno Commodore User Group
                          http://videocam.net.au/fcug

[Hydrophilic]

So maybe the 1084s weren't made by Phillips / Magnavox?  Or they used higher quality components or a more robust design?

Ray Carlsen sounds too good to be true.  I've noticed you've mentioned him several times over the years.  Can he fix those *#*%*$* 1571 drive heads!!??

[RobertB]

Can he fix those *#*%*$* 1571 drive heads!!??

Fix is a very general term.    Replace the heads... yes.  Replace the drive motor... yes.  Align the drive... yes.  Clean the heads and lube the rails... yes.  Diagnose and repair drive board components... yes.

               In fact, I'm bringing several 1571s
               when I next meet him,
               Robert Bernardo
               Fresno Commodore User Group
               http://videocam.net.au/fcug
               The Other Group of Amigoids
               http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
               Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
               http://www.sccaners.org