U.S. Campus Life Blighted monitors By Masako Yamada	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
パソコンモニターの不調 筆者の研究室。

It is important for the members of my research group to haveconstant access to a computer. Computers are the major tools we use for our research; Our labs don't have test tubes, lasers or detectors. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I work on a supercomputer. I control the supercomputer from a computer in my lab, even though the supercomputer itself is located in a completely different part of campus.

My research group has two large computer labs and the lab that I work in has about 20 computers. Several months ago, the group purchased 11 new computers that run on an operating system called Red Hat Linux. We threw away most of the old machines.

Not very long after the new computers arrived, the monitors started breaking. We've had them for less than a year and already 10 out of the 11 monitors are broken. One of the monitors started releasing fumes that smelled strongly of burnt plastic when we tried to turn it on. Some of the other monitors occasionally show signs of life (bleeping or glowing) but have never recovered fully.

We haven't been able to figure out why the monitors have been breaking, but we think it may have something to do with the power supply. I once turned off a computer at the end of a day's work, and the monitor never came back on again. In a separate incident, a monitor died after one of my colleagues — I won't name names — accidentally kicked out the extension cord.

I know that the inside of a computer is complicated and fragile, but I've always considered the monitor to be as durable as a television. You never hear of televisions suddenly going blank after being turned on and off a few times. Several of my labmates, who have come from developing countries, have told me that although their countries suffer from unsteady power supplies, they've never experienced any trouble with computer monitors. They can even run monitors on car batteries.

The monitors are still under warranty, so the logical solution is to either send them to the manufacturer to have them repaired for free, or ask the computer store to give us free replacements. However, it's not such an easy issue. First of all, we've thrown away the boxes and the manufacturer requires that we use the original shipping material to return the computers. We've had to buy boxes at $40 (¥4,920) a pop just to send the monitors back.

Next, we haven't figured out who will pay the cost of shipping the computers to California. Neither the computer store nor the manufacturer are volunteering to pick up the cost. It's hard to know who is to blame for the broken monitors. Obviously, the people in my lab are extremely angry that the seemingly luxurious monitors that we bought have been breaking so easily, but the companies seems to think that we are at fault, perhaps because of an unsteady power supply or installation mistake. They claim that other customers have not had this problem.

There has been a lot of talking and speculating over why the monitors have been breaking, how we can get them fixed for free and what we can do before they are fixed. In the meantime, months have gone by and the researchers in my lab have not been able to do all their work.

I've written several letters of complaint to my adviser, but he has already turned around and asked me: "OK, what should we do?" There is no easy solution. I suppose one can't complain loudly without being expected to propose a solution, since I suddenly found myself on an informal committee to discuss our options. I think my other labmates have kept quiet so they wouldn't have to attend such meetings. I don't like meetings, but I'm glad that we finally decided to rent several monitors while we figure out what to do with the broken ones. It's a sign of progress.

This has proven to be a good interim solution, since renting five monitors for a month costs only a couple hundred dollars total and it satisfies the group members who haven't been able to do their work. However, it does not address the question of who will fix our monitors. And it doesn't address the ultimate question of why the monitors broke in the first place.

Shukan ST: July 5, 2002

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