I got this old used vga monitor at a thrift store for $5. It worked great in the store. I got it home & hooked it up to my old ps/2 & it worked great. What the salesman forgot to tell me was to turn it off & on by unplugging/plugging the cord in & out & not by the button on the monitor. I pressed the button on the monitor to turn it off. It turned off but now I can't get it to turn back on because the button is stuck. I press it & it just stays in & the monitor wont come on. I guess because it is so old & has been used alot, I believe it has 1994 on the back of it. Other than that I know it shows a beautiful picture. How do I get the button unstuck?

You got it for $5, so you can't complain too much. I don't know many thrift stores that offer warranties on things like that... You could carefully mess around with a screwdriver, try and get underneath the button (I wouldn't have a clue what type it was) and push it up. If that doesn't work, see if you can find anything long and thin enough, maybe like a needle or something, to push it up. Maybe heat something thin up enough to melt the plastic and push it in at an angle right into the button, let it cool, and try that. It should give you a direct way to apply pressure directly upward. If you can find a way to take off the front panel (unplug it!) and get to the button that way, it's probably just a broken spring or something. Or there might be 2 wires that are conected only when the switch is on... you can strip both ends and twist them together. At the thrift store, they must have had some way to figure out that the button was stuck, and figured out a way to get it unstuck. Maybe ask them that.

If you can get it unstuck, and if your computer's power supply has 2 sockets at the back, you could use a monitor power cord plugged in to the other socket. That way, you could leave the monitor switched to 'on', but it would start up and shut down with the computer's power switch. Be careful inside the monitor - they can store up quite a bit of electricity, even unplugged.

you fool! do not open your monitor! shoot - those capacitors store 30000 volts. even if you unplug it, the charge still stays in the capacitors!dont be a fool!

... what's this? the voice of experience? lol

I got it to work. I did it with a needle as you suggested. I will now use a monitor power cord so I wont have to touch the button to turn it on. Thanks for the help.