# I dropped my monitor! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 10, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-monitor/218197 "2003-12-10T20:59:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-monitor/218197/1 "2003-12-10T20:59:10Z")
One of the old CRT kinds (like your TV!). After it dropped (while it was on) there was a huge purple iris covering the edges. It dissappeared after I turned it back on again, but the back is cracked up. There’s not really a chance of this thing suddenly exploding, is there (the screen isn’t cracked)? ---
**Author:** ![skeptic\_ev](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@skeptic\_ev](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skeptic_ev)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-monitor/218197/2 "2003-12-10T21:19:54Z")
Hmm … I’m not sure about that. My guess is that it probably won’t blow up, but IANA TV/monitor fixer-upper. I doubt you’d do this, but just in case (and as a public service announcement to the world), it’s not a good idea to work on monitors or TVs unless you absolutely, _completely_ know what you’re doing. (And even then, it can be dangerous.) Those things have capacitors that hold quite a bit of juice and can emit a deadly shock even when not plugged in. ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-monitor/218197/3 "2003-12-10T22:16:26Z")
No. CRTs never explode. They _im_plode. Seriously… go ahead and run it. You probably just dislodged an aperture stop or something. Adjust the H and V size settings if it gets in the way of the image. And count yourself lucky. CRTs don’t like being dropped. They tend to go on strike when their users drop them. ---
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-monitor/218197/4 "2003-12-11T01:15:11Z")
CAUTION!!! They call those capacadiditators “flyback” because when you touch them you flyback across the room, just unplugging the monitor IS NOT enough!. Use the monitor until it dies and DO NOT attempt to fix it unless you ARE SURE you know what you are doing!. unclviny (who learned about flyback capacitors the hard way) ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-monitor/218197/5 "2003-12-11T02:20:33Z")
I’m not trying to fix anything. It works fine, it just has huge cracks on the back of the unit. I realize I’m extremely lucky that there’s no lasting performance damage. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dropped-my-monitor/218197/6 "2003-12-11T02:41:01Z")
My old Commodore monitor fell off its shelf once but still continued working for a few more years. I hooked it up to a VCR and used it as a TV when I moved into my first apartment.