Is technology already self-healing?

[kolakube]

Going through some old things of mine and I found an old 27" Thunderbolt display from Apple that I had deemed broken some years ago. I hung onto it because I thought I might fix it someday, and this morning out of curiosity I decided to unbox it and plug my laptop in to see if it would work.

I was just joking about it in my mind, but to my absolute shock and thrill I saw the monitor fired right up and works perfectly! I'm even writing this thread on the monitor right now...

The reason I was so certain it was broken all those years ago is because there was one dead pixel, and that dead pixel eventually spread across the screen, making it unusable, and soon the monitor wouldn't show anything at all when I plugged a computer into it. This leads me to believe it was a software issue all those years ago?

Yet even now, the screen is 100% perfect and shows no issues whatsoever. I am still very shocked by this and part of my face is still red from all the facepalming I've done today (joking) at the thought of having such a beautiful monitor in storage for all those years. There have also been multiple opportunities for me to throw it out, but I never did for one reason or the other (laziness, let's be honest...).

This isn't the first time I've had a piece of tech that had seemingly fixed itself without any intervention, though this is the most significant by far. Maybe it was never truly broken, or it will be like that episode of House where they brought the coma patient back to life for a day before he would slip back into a coma, but I am just thrilled!

Do you have any similar stories about self-healing hardware? Share them here, and I hope my monitor survives long enough to give them a Like. 🙂

 

[zappaDPJ]

Dead pixels or unlit pixels are almost certainly the result of a monitor issue. A defective graphics card (GPU) is more likely to display artifacting or nothing at all across the entire screen.

I'm not entirely familiar with Apple's Thunderbolt display but I believe at some point they were redesigned to contain an integral GPU. If your model was one of these then it would seem some magic has indeed occurred that to be honest flies in the face of logic.

In general it's highly unlikely that any electronic component can rise from the dead but there are other issues e.g. overheating that can give the appearance of dying technology.

 

[Sharon]

That's amazing! I can't say that I've come across this myself. I'm sure there are many things I should have let go of years ago that I haven't yet.

 

[Page]

A dead pixel means that the pixel is permanently off. There will be a black dot on the screen. The best way to check is to make the screen be completely white.

 

[kolakube]

I'm not entirely familiar with Apple's Thunderbolt display but I believe at some point they were redesigned to contain an integral GPU. If your model was one of these then it would seem some magic has indeed occurred that to be honest flies in the face of logic.

In general it's highly unlikely that any electronic component can rise from the dead but there are other issues e.g. overheating that can give the appearance of dying technology.

Overuse could be a more likely explanation as the pixels are now clearly not dead. Can overheated pixels cool down? Lol...

That's amazing! I can't say that I've come across this myself. I'm sure there are many things I should have let go of years ago that I haven't yet.

Maybe there's still hope for them... 😀

A dead pixel means that the pixel is permanently off. There will be a black dot on the screen. The best way to check is to make the screen be completely white.

That would be a good test. I remember the monitor wouldn't even respond and would just be a black screen when I plugged a laptop into it. Truly not sure what to make of it and about a week in there have been no issues.

 

[kolakube]

Here's another short entry to the question of "Is technology already self-healing?"

Today I drove from Florida to Louisiana and for 80% of the drive my cruise control didn't work no matter what I did. I gave up on it for about 5-6 hours and like a miracle—when my legs needed a break the most—I flicked the switch and cruise control came right back on. This was definitely a huge morale boost for the trip.

Since there have been no other stories posted here I envision this thread will really just end up as a showcase of my embarrassing use of technology, but I'm entertained so far and totally fine with it.

😀

 

[Page]

That would be a good test. I remember the monitor wouldn't even respond and would just be a black screen when I plugged a laptop into it. Truly not sure what to make of it and about a week in there have been no issues.

Then it's just down to the GPU or even the cable that you maybe using at the time of pooping about the blackness of the screen Xd

what GPU was you using back then and what have you got now?

 

[kolakube]

Then it's just down to the GPU or even the cable that you maybe using at the time of pooping about the blackness of the screen Xd

what GPU was you using back then and what have you got now?

To my understanding there isn't a graphics card in the display as it relies on the computer you plug into it.

Funny thing is I use the same Macbook Air (2015) today as I did then, and the cable is attached to the monitor, so that is also the same.

 

[Page]

To my understanding there isn't a graphics card in the display as it relies on the computer you plug into it.

Funny thing is I use the same Macbook Air (2015) today as I did then, and the cable is attached to the monitor, so that is also the same.

every PC has a GPU that you plug and play into, it's mostly built into the motherboard