Retiring a monitor..

Well, it looks to me that my 6+ years old 19" CRT Sony monitor (which costed me a small fortune might I add) is reaching the end of its reasonably long life.
The screen randomly flickers into teal/turquoise (everything is still visible, just tainted) so I guess its time to let it go.

So whats the most environmental friendly way to dispose it?
I could just leave it outside for the bin men to pick it up as they empty the trash.. But from what I've heard, a monitor is full of environment unfriendly materials. So if there is a way around it, I'd like to hear it..

(And no, I am not smashing it with a sledge hammer.. This monitor did serve me faithfully for all those years so don't even ask ;))

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Originally Posted by TooNice

So whats the most environmental friendly way to dispose it?
I could just leave it outside for the bin men to pick it up as they empty the trash.. But from what I've heard, a monitor is full of environment unfriendly materials. So if there is a way around it, I'd like to hear it..

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Round here, North London, Enfield Council have regular pickups for anything that can be recycled or is classified as 'non household' rubbish. They turn up each week just before the binmen arrive. Worth popping out and having a chat to them, just to make sure they'll take it. You can also just pop down to you local councils 'tip and recycling' site; mine have a special section for old electrical goods; address should be in the phonebook/Thompson Local. Failing that lot, just phone the local council and they will tell you were to take it, or will send one of their collectors round for it.

Nomadd

I'd suggest just doing his last suggestion and phoning the council ... they'll know immediately how to dispose of it ;)

Before you chuck it out, check the video cable. My old Dell monitor does that, but waggling the cable just near the graphics card sorts it out. I use it as my 2nd monitor now so it's not as important. :)

Its not the cable, as the same PC with the same cable works with my other monitor..

Though I suppose the connector on the monitor side could be it.. Hard to tell really, but I am pretty sure this is pretty much as long as a monitor would last with all the heavy usage (not to mention all the moving)..

I meant the VGA cable that's fixed to the back of the monitor which you plug into your graphics card. Give it a wiggle, sometimes the wires inside break up with lots of movement. Worth a try at least!

Or a solder joint has worked loose from years of expansion/contraction - of course fixing that requires that you go inside... which isn't advised if you don't know what you're doing.

Put it in a neighbours garden in the dead of night :p :devilish:

More than likely the vga connector, if wiggling it makes the problem occur then it probably has aeither a dry joint or one of the pins is weakened.

As previously stated, you could get rid of it at the council dump/recycling centre or by phoning the council if they do free bulky item pickups. It's worth getting rid of properly, as well as all the solder/pcbs/plastic casing etc., CRT monitor/tv glass contains a LOT of lead to shield you from X-Rays etc., that's why they're so heavy.

It seems a shame to chuck away a good monitor with a minor fault that's more than likely caused by a simple dry joint somewhere. If you can find a place that'll give you a free estimate it could well be worth fixing (£50 or less). Alternatively, see if there's a Freecycle ( www.freecycle.org )set up near you and you may well find someone wants to come and pick it up. I recently found a 17" CRT on the kerb near my office. It seemed a shame to let it go to waste, and in any case the council didn't seem to want to pick it up, so I grabbed it, stuffed it under my desk, and put it on Freecycle. I had eight people wanting it! In the end (after verifying that it worked) I gave it to a guy who claimed that he sends IT gear out to a charity in Rio De Janiero- which if it's true is pretty cool:cool:.

Rich :¬)

The PC Format here in South Africa recently had an article on just this - e-waste. But what happens to that monitor in Rio De Janiero when it breaks? Being a 3rd-world country, they're not likely to have the facilities to recycle the monitor correctly. It's a nice idea, shipping old stuff off to charities in 3rd-world countries (Which, by the way, costs companies up to half what it would to recycle the bit properly), but unfortunately, it isn't far-sighted enough to forsee what happens after the device has reached its final expirey date.

True. Still, if we applied that reasoning to everything then we really shouldn't ship them any technology at all, and what good would that be?

Rich :¬)

It's either the cable which is fixable, a solder joint has run dry like Kez said, or one of the electron guns in the Cathode Ray tube is knackered. Probably the only other explanation if the cable/connections are fine

Poke the de-gauss button for a laugh ;)