A cracked laptop LCD screen. Just a photo taken for archival purposes prior to me dismantling it. I had ordered a replacement screen from eBay and after that I just took the laptop apart, removing screws and other bits, yanking out cables, before throwing out the cracked screen and replacing it with a spanking new one. The entire process took me about an hour and after putting everything back together, held my breath as I turned on the laptop, and after what seemed like a very long wait, the laptop was back to its old self again.

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Maybe it’s that feeling of needing control sometimes, that I go and figure things out. I still remember my very first laptop from 1998, which I inadvertently broke installing some software. Lost some data in the reformat after sending my laptop to the shop for repairs. Heh, can’t remember how much it cost back then to fix it, but I wasn’t quite happy that I was helpless and couldn’t do anything about it.

I guess that’s how I taught myself to format hard drives and reinstall Windows on it. I subsequently learned how to do so many other things, install different operating systems like Linux, and trialling everything as I learned how to work around my laptop. Every now and then I’d do something silly and mess up the entire computer, but I’d always be able to fix it somehow. Perhaps it’s just a feeling of control, as I grew more proficient at tinkering with my computer, I was more comfortable ‘breaking’ it, as I knew how I’d be able to ‘unbreak’ it later.

Four years later, I assembled my first computer. It worked for about a month of two before one day it stopped booting altogether. The signs were already there when I first assembled it with a help of a friend, as the computer never could run at it’s default speed, and always running much slower than it should have. When the computer died, it was a painful lesson in getting some parts to replace the ones that got fried. Was still struggling with it until I found that ONE screw that wasn’t supposed to be on the plate that held the motherboard onto the case. After removing that ONE screw, the new parts ran flawlessly. This was after I thought I had received a dud of a motherboard and went to all that trouble trying to get it replaced as quickly as possible.

Heh, that lesson cost me some cash, but ultimately, I subsequently learned how to assemble computers properly, differentiating between parts and troubleshooting all manner of problems. In between I’m pretty sure I’ve broken more stuff as well as seen other people break their computers, and fixing it for them. All of that has given me the confidence to tear apart my laptop, and replace the LCD screen on my own. That’s something that would have cost half a grand to ring up Dell Support to send someone over to replace the screen for me. I did it at a fraction of that cost.

* * *

I haven’t had that feeling for a long while now, being out of control. I’m just wanting to get my car fixed as soon as possible, and I hate having to rely on other parties just so that I can get something done. Heh, unfortunately, the tools and knowledge required to fix my car isn’t that simple. It’s not something I ‘break’ very often, neither do I want to do that, and it is cost prohibitive to learn it through trial and error (wrangling with auto repair companies to sort it out isn’t one of the things I’d like to spend my time on).

Used to only worry about the financial side of replacing/repairing things, but these days, time is also a luxury I no longer have as when I was a student back then. Heh, it’s just frustration, but I really hope that I learn something from this and not have to go through the hassle again.