Seeking the WISDOM of ATS, Graphic Pictures of Destruction.

What is this?



A cool wallpaper? No.

A fractured LCD display on a laptop? Yes.

Pause.

I contemplated putting this in Rant, but I'll be asking for help later on in this OP, both with a punishment, and for ideas with replacement parts.

Now that you are thoroughly confused, let me clarify a few points:

The above picture shows the current display on my 6 month old laptop.

My son was playing Diablo 3 today while I was at work, got frustrated, logged out, and closed the lid, smacking his fist on the top of it. The next re-boot, a half hour later, produced the above picture.

My son, who is 8, hid in his room as soon as he heard me pull in the driveway. I usually get home at 5:30 EST, but tonight, I had to extract honey at my parent's house, 3 supers which yielded 80 pounds of raw honey. I didn't get home till nine, and after I talked with his mother, he was asleep.



It's an Acer laptop, Aspire, model 5733z-4851. I need a new screen. Here's my first request, best price for replacement.....Here's my first invocation of the Power of the ATS community. I haven't had the time to look, nor call Acer for a price, nor search E-bay. Nada.

It's out of warranty. I got it from Wally-world in late January, and got it with Starcraft 2, (which I have proudly solved!) but I got it with 4 GB of RAM, knowing it should play Diablo 3 that was coming out in March of 2012.

It does play Diablo 3. I have a Wizard level 20, and a Demon Hunter level 23. I don't play much, (LOL) but the 8 year old has high level characters. (Over level 40!)

WIth a 650 GB HD, I have been dumping ROMS for my smart phone on it.

I compiled a rough draft of a new ATS video on it. The software runs on that machine. I was getting ready for a release of "Lunatic Fringe" with ATS avatars.

I had been using it for a repository of data, due to the size of the hard drive. My bad.



Before I ask my second request from the WISDOM pool of ATS, I'll admit I am a computer geek. I have a home network, and that was not my only computer, (obviously) but it was the fastest. I CAN hook it to a flat panel TV, and still use it, sans screen, but video hooked through the VGA out port. Tomorrow I am going to hook it up as such, and offload all the info I have on it to a network storage tower. (In the very rare case Acer may accept it back.) It does boot up and makes the windows 7 ding a ling noise, so I know it gets to the login screen. It's a perfectly working laptop, without a display, currently.



Now, down to the nubbin of the matter.

My son got frustrated over a game. He broke the machine he plays on. Preliminary costs range from 44 USD to 127 USD for a new screen.

I've played many multiplayer games with him over the home network, and I know how he is. He's not violent, but when he loses, it's a temporary situation, and he recovers, and tries harder. I'm sure he didn't damage it on purpose. I read online there may be a class action lawsuit against Acer for broken screens on their Aspire series. Yes, it's cheap, a flimsy screen, but if you don't close the lid, and smack it with your fist, it won't break.

BUT.

He did that. He didn't expect that.



For an 8 year old child destroying a 400 USD computer's screen, there is a lesson to be learned.

I have come up with the following four punishments:

1. 3 swats. (Old school! See below.)

2. 1 swat + he has to delete all his characters on Diablo 3.

3. 1 swat + he has to write 100 times, "I will learn to control my temper."

4. 2 week ban from Diablo 3 + he has to write 200 times "I am sorry Dad, and I promise to not break your laptop again."

Suggestions? This is my formal second request for Wisdom. What sort of punishment would you recommend?

Honestly, if we had today's technology when I was a kid, and I did the same thing, my dad would have BEAT my butt. I got my butt blistered for much less. I'm 44 now, and I don't dwell in the past.

To me the matter of fixing it is trivial, but I do think he (my son) could benefit from some sort of repercussion for his sightless actions.

So there you go, ATS, I'm interested n what you think.

Maybe explain to him that it will cost a lot of money to fix. Have him sit with you as you look over parts on the net, order them, wait for them and install it. This will show him the time and effort that has to be put into fixing the problem. My nephew and I are the same way with me I can turn them off but he gets mad for 20+ minutes. I believe his dad has fixed the issue by removing ALL violent video games, setting a time limit, and making him earn and purchase his electronics. No I am not a father yet(but my wife is two months pregnant) good luck!

Originally posted by Druid42

Suggestions? So there you go, ATS, I'm interested n what you think

Parenthood not your strong suit?

The age limit, or rating for Diablo III is a "M" for mature in the USA[1] and a 15 in the UK

why is a 8 year old playing such games?

Maybe skip the swatting and just don't let an 8 year old use your laptop in the future


You let a young child use expensive equipment - the lesson is yours as much as his

I previously owned an aspire, and sadly know that replacing the screen is a pain in the u know what. So unless Acer is going to replace it you might be better off backing up the info recycling it and buying a new one. Or if you just use it for storage and use VGA to hook it up to your tv.

Secondly I am a proponent of corporal punishment when necessary. In this case, if it were my 8 year old (my son is only 4) I would spank once, But the main punishment I would employ would be to have him take on some menial jobs from neighbours to earn money to replace it. Teach him toys are not free.

Tell him he will have to pay back the cost of fixing the screen. Have him do chores for which you will "pay" him until he's saved up enough to pay you back. Keep a record of how much he's earned and review it with him each time he completes a chore. Long term reinforcement of the principle that actions have consequences.

reply to post by gunmetal


Excellent idea!

He will be helping me fix it.

He's shown an interest in working on computers before, and in fact, when he was 4, he could strip a tower in about 20 minutes. That is a good way to capitalize on the situation.

First and foremost; If you let him play on it bad on you. Second, If you did and he abused it there are consequences: Making these consequences center around getting swatted will condition him to react in a similar fashion. To many jerks in the world to make another one.

Instead of hitting him try this:
Have him do some extra chores to help earn the money to fix the computer.
Have him sit down and help fix the computer, or at least sit there bored.
Let him know those are the things that happen when you break something you are responsible for.
NO video games for a while or worse yet make him play the original Pong game.
If that does not work you can always follow WC fields advice.

1. Children should neither be seen nor heard from -- ever again.

2. I never met a kid I liked.

3. I like children. If they're properly cooked.

4. Madam, there's no such thing as a tough child -- if you parboil them first for seven hours, they always come out tender.

5. They are also very good with mustard.

6. Anyone who hates children and animals can't be all bad.

reply to post by TheRemoteViewer


You get a star for making me laugh out loud.

I have an 18 year old male going to college, a 15 year old girl as the defensive captain for her soccer team, and the laptop smashing miscreant. I've been around the block.

Regardless of the outcome, I was asking opinions, to weigh against my own.

Seriously.

I say punish him for that laptop by making him work off the cost of the monitor.
It would teach him the value of it -
and he would remember the effort it took to replace something he took for granted

As far as the bad temper goes - Diablo 3 can bring the worst out in people:




Hopefully he didn't end up burning a bunch of actual money - looks like this game is a trap for kids who find their parent's credit cards.

reply to post by Druid42


IF he has chores around the house? And an allowence?

Make him work it off... haha!

I understand though... my laptop Will die one day...

Originally posted by Fisherr
The age limit, or rating for Diablo III is a "M" for mature in the USA[1] and a 15 in the UK

why is a 8 year old playing such games?

Well, he watches "Fear Factor" on network television, and guesses the bloody things. Cow hearts out of a pool of 3000 gallons of cow's blood? Meh, kids are immune to gross.

Besides, I played Diablo 3 before him. The gore is lame. Seriously lame. He had my stamp of approval to play.

Nothing like Left 4 Dead on the 360.

Originally posted by Hawking
Maybe skip the swatting and just don't let an 8 year old use your laptop in the future


You let a young child use expensive equipment - the lesson is yours as much as his

edit on 25-7-2012 by Hawking because: (no reason given)

Well, the most modern cool games ONLY work on the newest expensive equipment. I do concede I shouldn't let him play on it, but he was doing really well.

No snacks, no drinks, wash your hands before touching it, etc.....Rules were in place.

You need to try to figure out why an 8 year old is so angry that he loses it and gets so violent - over a game. There is most likely more at "play" here. Talk to him - have his mom talk to him - gently, slowly, calmly. Mention it to his pediatrician.

That is not normal. Something is bothering him and I don't think it's the game.

Hey Druid, sorry to hear about the um malfunction. I wanted to jump on and let you know that you can go to a computer store and for about $10 buy a cable. This cable will connect from your Acer to a flat screen TV. Its the trapezoid shaped plug in with all the posts on the side of the laptop and a matching one on the TV. This will at least allow you to view what you are doing so you can extract you data to a memory stick just in case something goes wrong.

Edit to add: we use this(my wifes lappy is also an Acer) to watch movies as a family from time to time when we are streaming them online. We have Netflix running through the xbox but for the newer releases we use her lappy.

Originally posted by coven83
I previously owned an aspire, and sadly know that replacing the screen is a pain in the u know what. So unless Acer is going to replace it you might be better off backing up the info recycling it and buying a new one. Or if you just use it for storage and use VGA to hook it up to your tv.

Secondly I am a proponent of corporal punishment when necessary. In this case, if it were my 8 year old (my son is only 4) I would spank once, But the main punishment I would employ would be to have him take on some menial jobs from neighbours to earn money to replace it. Teach him toys are not free.

Ah, coven, good to see you drop by.

I'm not worried about replacing it, I've fixed hundreds (literally) of laptops. This one is no different.

Does your 4 year old play the 360 yet? Mine at 4 was playing the xbox, the tech at the time. And yes, I've modded several xboxes, and added in a 20 gb HD, so he's played darned near anything ever emulated. With me by his side!

8 year old on expensive laptop - FAIL
Think that's been established.

Now if you can't find a replacement screen for scrap, you can use an outside monitor, CRT or flat screen HD as a main monitor, just plug the cpu cord from the monitor into the laptop and your new screen can be your laptop's main display.

Right now I am using a tiny 11" notebook laptop but have an external 27" monitor plugged in to it, and we watch the movies/ TV /videos on the bigger screen from this tiny notebook.

Don't throw it away, use it as a desktop and use an external monitor as it's display.
Cheap solution to your issue.

reply to post by jahn369


Thanks for the input!

Yes, he does need to understand that as well as playing games, there are responsibilities to actions. He has chores, but they are rather menial. He is only 8. He does get good marks in school, which is most important, and also a reason why he gets so much slack.

reply to post by Mamatus


Very humorous. Thanks for posting.

But yeah, I am tossing around ideas.