2 Bit Hacker

Okay, LG is going on my personal vendor blacklist, at least for LCD TVs. I bought this LG 37LB5D LCD television back in December to replace my Sony WEGA CRT, and initially I was very happy with it. Then it started having audio issues, which I worked around. Then it started having video issues, where the screen would blank out randomly. I called a repair place, and the guy came out and swapped in a new power supply and control board, and everything was happy once again.

And so it went till today. The audio issue just resurfaced. I’m sitting here watching History HD off my TiVo, with no audio. First it was quick cut outs, now it’s just totally silent.

I suspect it’s something with the HDMI audio decoder. My suspicion is that it overheated and did some permanent damage to itself. I should probably contact the repair guy again and find out if the replacement parts were also under warranty, as it’s probably going to take another set of replacements to make this thing work again.

At this point though, I’m tempted to chuck this one off the balcony and go buy a Sharp AQUOS. We’ve got three of those at work and they’re running great. I suppose this is what I get for trying to save a buck and going with the cheap brand.

Geek Stuff broken, hardware, lg, tv

After a couple months of being offline due to a bad power supply, my home PC is operational again, so hopefully I’ll finally get to play some Supreme Commander and whatever happens to be on GameTap. The old power supply was causing weird problems for a while until it finally got to the point where the system wouldn’t boot. Shipped the defective back to Antec and got my replacement yesterday.

I think I need a new naming scheme for 2bithacker.net though. Final Fantasy enemies is getting kindof old, and I just don’t feel like it fits anymore. I like jtn’s scheme of disasters (hindenburg, titanic, etc) and work’s scheme of elements (titanium, chlorine, and so on) but I can’t seem to think of a decent non-overused system for 2bithacker.net. Any suggestions? (Don’t suggest anything Tolkien related, that’s done to death.)

Geek Stuff broken, naming

Today started out well enough, got up nice and early, got showered, went to my physical therapy appointment, didn’t pass out, got a corn muffin and some OJ on my way to work. Then I sat in my car eating my corn muffin talking to the just waking up karnil. Finished my muffin, said goodbye, gathered up my laptop and remaining OJ, got out of my car, closed the door. Oh wait, I left my keys inside. Crap. And my wallet.

Fast forward to after work. Time to figure out what to do about my car. Checked the phone book, no locksmith places in Milford that do car stuff. Couldn’t call Ford Roadside Assistance because my card with the number for it is in my wallet, which is locked in the car. So I call JLC, get anuttycoffee to ask John if he knows anyone. He gets John Wilde on the line, who doesn’t want to try it on a newer car, but suggests a towing company or AAA. I don’t have AAA, but Dan does, so he comes over and we give them a call.

Time passes. Tow truck from Kent’s in Milford shows up, guy hops out gets a wedge thingy, an air bladder and a long hook thingy, and attempts to wedge my door open so he can get the air bladder in, which I assume he would have inflated and then slid the hooky thing in to unlock the door. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work, he can’t get it wedges open enough. So he tries plan B, which involves a weird metal device that he slips in under the windows. It’s not a slim jim by the way. This also doesn’t work, and he has trouble getting it out of the window cavity, so he forces it. Crack. My driver’s side window shatters. Joy.

So, he calls his boss, explains what he did, gives me the boss’s card and flees the scene. Dan and I are left standing there with a shattered window (big hole in it at the bottom and completely shattered glass left for the rest of it). So I decide it’s best to get the rest of the glass out of there. Send Dan into the building to get a broom, and start poking the glass out with some of Delia’s stuff that’s left in my trunk. I got most of it out, but there are still some shards left in the window frame, and there’s a bunch left in the car. I’ll have to vacuum really well in the near future.

So I guess tomorrow I’ll be looking around for a place to get that replaced. I hope it doesn’t take too long. I’d like to get it replaced ASAP, as I’m kindof paranoid about it being wide open in the parking lot here. In the mean time I get to drive around freezing and being careful not to lacerate my arm. Yay!

Car broken, focus

Just as I’m starting to feel better with my spine and all, my laptop decided to take a turn for the worst. The left hinge between the base and the LCD panel had started breaking a few months back, part of the plastic casing had cracked and fallen off. Today the remaining piece broke, so the panel is no longer attached to the hinge on that side. And, of course, that’s the side were the power and data connection to the LCD are.

So, I’ve got 3 options with my laptop now. Do nothing, and keep using it until the the remaining hinge breaks or the cables in the broken hinge get messed up to the point of the laptop being unusable. Or, I can send it off to Sony for repairs, which will most likely cost $800 (not including shipping), since they’ll most likely want to replace the LCD panel. Or, I can buy a new laptop. This last option has a certain appeal to it, as I’ve been kicking around the idea of a new laptop for a while now.

Specifically, I’ve been looking at the Dell Inspiron 9100. It’s a “desktop replacement” laptop, which means it’s big and heavy, but it’s got a fast CPU and a better graphics card than my current desktop. With the configuration I want it comes out to $1,875.10 after their 15% off special. But I don’t really have that kind of money just lying around at the moment. But it also seems kindof silly to pay almost half that to repair a 2+ year old laptop.

What to do?

Geek Stuff broken, laptop