Me: "Greetings, and thank you for calling BlahBlah today, can I get your telephone number?"
Customer: "Ohhhh! Uhhh.... What's a telephone number?"
I have to pause here and try to remember what century I live in and whether or not I've heard any news of an alternate universe that exists where the telephone hasn't been invented. At this point during the day I'm not 100% sure anymore (it had been a long day) so I roll with it and answer her question.
Me: "A telephone number is a series of numeric digits that you give out to people so that they can call you if they need to. In this case, we use it to look up your account information."
Customer: "Ohhhhh!"
She proceeded to giggle quite a bit, but by and large she was so boring and mundanely stupid for the rest of the call that I won't make you suffer any further.
Repair Tip
Samsung LCD HDTV's dating back to 2007 with capacitor issues
This issue has been going on for a while now. Several Models of Samsung HDTVs over the course of 2+ years have capacitor issues. You may see the symptoms as this: Pressing the Power Button on the Samsung TV produces clicking noises that can last from a minute up to 30 minutes before the TV will power on. The problem starts with just a few clicks and then grows worse over a period of days or weeks until the TV will at last no longer power on at all. A great example can be found HERE.
The root of the problem is that Samsung went cheap with 4 or so capacitors on the power board inside the TV (Power board also known as power supply). They used 10 volt capacitors when it called for 25 volt capacitors. So over the course of 2 years or so, the 10 volt capacitors would eventually expand, leak electrolyte fluid, and die, one by one. As it so happens, my Samsung TV purchased in 2008 had this issue occur recently.
So what's the solution? Well, there are a couple actually.
The first is to call Samsung even if you are out of warranty. There have been numerous reports recently of Samsung offering to do repairs to fix the issue even if the HDTV is no longer under warranty (They don't really want you to know about this, so it hasn't been widely published). This means that the problem has become widespread enough that Samsung is worried it will lose repeat business from a great deal of customers, but at the same time, they don't want to officially admit that there is an issue with their HDTVs.
Now the bad news. You can be without your HDTV for 2 weeks or even a month while they fix it, and the official fix is to replace the power board with an exact replacement. What I mean by this is that you can look forward to having the same issue AGAIN in another year or two, and by that time you will probably not be getting your HDTV repaired a second time out of warranty.
The second solution involves a screw driver, soldering iron, approximately five to ten dollars worth of capacitors, about 30 minutes of your time (an hour if you are really careful) and someone who has actually used a soldering iron before and has enough common sense to unplug the television SEVERAL DAYS in advance of doing the repair. If you don't know how a capacitor works, then you aren't technically inclined enough to do this repair. So DON'T DO IT.
Disclaimer: I cannot be held responsible for your stupidity if you undertake this repair and cause yourself or others to be electrocuted or otherwise hurt. I am also not responsible if you burn down your house, blow up your favorite pet, or if you stick your finger in a light socket because you wonder what will happen.
Now that we've covered that, you will need to verify this but the capacitors listed HERE, & Sold by Radioshack will work for most of the Samsung HDTVs with this issue. You can also find a somewhat entertaining YouTube video HERE.
I went the route of fixing this issue myself, quite simply because my HDTV was about two months outside of their quiet "we'll fix it for you" production time frame. (I have since found out that this has been expanded to cover units as far back as early 2008 or even 2007) but your mileage may vary.
Quick Buy Tip
The Asus UL30VT-X1 is a 13.3 inch laptop with long battery life without sacrificing power. While it is not as stylish as the HP Envy line, it can be had for under $700.00 (find another 13.3 inch sub 4 pound notebook for under 1000.00 with these specs if you can) and is well worth the money. Real life battery usage pegs this laptop at 7-8 hours of unplugged time which is quite amazing for a notebook with this kind of power. The only downside to this product is the LED backlit screen is not one of the best out there, but it does the job and isn't a deal breaker unless you have double the money to blow on a notebook.
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