VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[CarynClark]

Yeah, that's an oxymoron, like government organization (sorry, had to do it)!

No such thing in my book.

Just wanted to share my story in case this happens to anyone else.

About 3-4 weeks ago, I noticed that when I booted up my PC, I wasn't able to see anything on my monitor until the screen where I sign in appeared. As the days and weeks progressed, it was taking longer and longer (5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then 15 minutes) for this sign on area to appear on my monitor.

And, once in a while, I would just be on my computer working (I noticed it was generally when I had ProTools and Excel open at once), and suddenly the screen would go black, then come back up in Safe Mode with a message saying that I was having display driver issues, and that to get to the normal screen, I'd have to re-boot.

So, finally on Monday (b/c I generally avoid dealing with technical issues until it's too late), I called Sweetwater, where I bought my rig. Told them my issues... they said I should find another monitor and hook it up and see if it works. Then we'd know it was the monitor and they would deal with my issue. Also, I learned that my monitor has a three year warranty. I've had it for a year and a half.

Well, Thursday rolls around, and I've yet to do as they suggested. I don't have another monitor sitting around at my house, so this means I'd have to borrow a friend's, go get it, bring it home, etc.

So, yesterday (Thursday) I boot up... wait... and wait... and wait.... nothing on my screen. I pick up the phone and call Sweetwater at 9 am on the dot. I luckily got another technician named David. I very politely explained to him that while I understand the suggestion I received on Monday, I really didn't think it was appropriate for me to have to go beg, borrow or steal another monitor to test my system, and that I thought they should overnight me one to test it out. He of course started to say that the warranty was through the factory... they'd typically repair the monitor I have if that's the issue... they don't sell this monitor anymore (wonder why?), etc. I said I understood, but I didn't buy the monitor from the factory, I bought it from them. I suggested, again, very politely, that he ask his supervisor if overnighting me a loaner would be a possibility. I even offered to pay for the shipping to and fro (hubby has a really good deal with UPS).

He checked, and they agreed to send me a new monitor. We also did some troubleshooting tests (which the first tech I spoke with on Monday didn't do) to determine if it really could be my monitor, or maybe the video card. At one point, they were going to send me both a new video card and monitor. Then after a little checking, they determined that my video card is part of my motherboard, so they were going to send me a new motherboard and I could have it installed.

In the end, they determined that it likely was my monitor, and so that's what they sent. If it wasn't my monitor, I'd have to send the entire CPU back to them.

Luckily, I got the new monitor this am, and it works!!! I did shut down once already and get a very quick error message during shut down about PCA something or other... I couldn't read it b/c it disappeared. So, if anyone knows anything about that, let me know. And I'm going to call my friend David at Sweetwater and ask him.

My only annoyance is that this all could have happened Monday, and they could've sent me a monitor to arrive on Tuesday and I wouldn't have been out of business yesterday. That, or I shouldn't have been so lazy and borrowed a monitor. But, oh well.... I'm a happy camper now!!!
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Caryn Clark... The Hip Chick Voice!

"A positive mental attitude and having faith in your ability is quite different from being irresponsible and downright stupid." - Dave

[ccpetersen]

Hopefully this is all it takes, Caryn. Sounds like you hit the right spot with the sweetwater guy.

I bought a pair of samsung 17" monitors a few years ago. THey came with 3-year warranties and, for some reason, I'd bought the extended warranty. Well, one died... I called Samsung. They put me through to their "Executive Help desk"... they asked me to read these insanely tiny numbers off the back of the monitor, which I did. They did some checking and next thing I know, they're shipping out a new monitor, free. They then said, "you other one will likely die the same way, so we're making a note of your call and the date -- when the second one starts to flicker the same way, call us and we'll ship a replacement."

Sure enough, about six months later, the second one starts to act up -- i make the call, and two days later, a new monitor shows up. They sent return authorizations and shipping tags for both the old ones... and I'm up and running good as new.
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Charter Member: Threadjackers Local 420

[Yoda117]

Samsung & Dell (rebranded Samsung or Phillips depending on model) are the only ones I recommend to people.

BenQ isn't bad, but I've not dealt with their tech support yet.

/is working off of a 20.5" Dell while writing this
//trying to decide whether to grab a 30" or a second 20.5"
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Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones