The “MARKUS” swivel chair is an Ikea classic Photo: IKEA
From the BZ editorial team
If you have a problem with your computer monitor, would you troubleshoot your chair?
Hardly likely. But it was not a defective cable or a broken connection that caused the German programmer Felix Häcker to have a black screen on his new 4K monitor – but the Ikea “MARKUS” office chair!
On the Social media platform Mastodon Häcker describes his computer problem: His brand new monitor regularly switched itself off, a few seconds later it started up again. Then Häcker noticed a curious connection: The monitor always said goodbye when he sat down on his Ikea office chair. With another chair: no problems!
Electrical charge is the cause of the monitor problem
Then it dawned on him: “It turned out that the seat fabric and/or gas springs generate such a high level of electrostatic discharge (ESD) that my screen turns off for a short time,” he writes on Mastodon.
In fact, Häcker is not the only one who has a problem with the 179-euro chair from Ikea: other users also describe problems with the chair in combination with their monitor in forums.