A had a similar problem with a 20 year old amplifier that came for free when I got a pair of speakers at a yard sale. I ended up reusing half of the power supply and case to power a modern chip based amplifier that I built (PCB toner transfer and all):
There was another time when I fixed a big old CRT TV by just replacing a shorted capacitor (€1 part) on the high voltage transformer circuit.
The brand representative at the store where my parents took the TV said that it would be too costly to repair and to throw it into the trash, so they kept the TV until I went there for holidays break.
Last year a friend had her laptop showing just half of the screen image. I opened it, saw that it was a flat wire connection problem and installed ubuntu, replacing XP in the process. She would need to buy a new laptop, so instead she used the money "saved" and bought herself a nice digital camera.
And this goes on an on...My point is that some things are easier to fix than others and if you enjoy electronics and tinkering, it's a fun way of spending time, learn new things and to keep (working) stuff away from the dumpster.
http://aeminium.org/slug/hardware/gainclone/
Related to this article, I also fixed a TFT monitor I got from the trash, by following a similar approach, although without any schematics :)
http://aeminium.org/slug/hardware/lcdfix/
There was another time when I fixed a big old CRT TV by just replacing a shorted capacitor (€1 part) on the high voltage transformer circuit.
The brand representative at the store where my parents took the TV said that it would be too costly to repair and to throw it into the trash, so they kept the TV until I went there for holidays break.
Last year a friend had her laptop showing just half of the screen image. I opened it, saw that it was a flat wire connection problem and installed ubuntu, replacing XP in the process. She would need to buy a new laptop, so instead she used the money "saved" and bought herself a nice digital camera.
And this goes on an on...My point is that some things are easier to fix than others and if you enjoy electronics and tinkering, it's a fun way of spending time, learn new things and to keep (working) stuff away from the dumpster.