The screen flickers and dies shortly after start-up. Like 10-20 seconds. I have replaced the inverter and the screen cable. There are a few things that are making me suspect that the video card is borked.
1) When the screen flickers, it seems to jump up and down like an old skool TV, and horizontal lines and artefacts appear that are definitely lines of pixels - but they are not fixed, they move about.
2) When the screen flickers, the backlight stays on until the screen dies. The light is on for about 5 seconds whilst the screen is blank, and then that too goes off but after the backlight goes off the screen becomes active again because you can see the text in a bright light!
Bizarre behaviour. If the backlight was borked I surely would see a blank but illuminated screen, would I?
However - an external display works perfectly when plugged in. Is it likely to be possible to replace the whole mobo for perhaps a reclaimed one?
Bump.. come on Cougar where are you? 🙂
I believe he may be playing Mario Kart
Sorry, I missed this.
Can I assume it's a UMA graphics adapter rather than a discrete card?
If you power-cycle it, does it repeat the sequence, or does it die immediately? (Ie, could it be heat related?)
Can you maybe video it on your phone so I can see, that might give us a clue?
Tricky one, this. The symptoms sound like the GPU overheating, but then if that were the case I'd expect an external screen to fail too.
Are you in Cardiff ATM? There's a good chance I've got the right size screen here to try....
I would expect a borked GPU to effect the external display too.
I would expect a borked GPU to effect the external display too.
+1
Sounds like the back lighting on the LCD panel has died, if you can see the display in very bright light. Had a similar problem a while back and the general view was that its either the inverter (which you've changed) or the back lighting.
If it's not an LED screen it is possible to open up the panel and change the fluorescent tube, but to be honest just go onto ebay and find a replacement screen as its a lot easier. Double check the cable from the inverter to the LCD panel first mind in case this is loose etc.
As others have said, if the external display port is giving an ok picture then the graphics card is likely to be fine.
If you power-cycle it, does it repeat the sequence, or does it die immediately? (Ie, could it be heat related?)
My first thought was heat, cos it conked out in the middle of Mrs Grips using it. It seems to come on consistently now on power-on from cold, then goes after about 10 seconds. If I unplug and replug the back-light (from the inverter) it'll come back on again for a few seconds then go off... then each time it comes on for less time.
Which does suggest backlight, but two things are puzzling me. Why the lines, and why does the display go blank whilst the light is on, then the light goes off and the display comes back?
Schrick - I will be in Cardiff on Thursday and on Friday evening.. it's a 13.1" Toshiba laptop.. are you a repair place or something? Or do you just have a ton of laptop bits lying around? 🙂
Mail in profile, cheers.
What's the history of it? Ie, what was it doing before you replaced the inverter (and did it work for any length of time afterwards)?
I'm assuming that you've checked for obvious things like loose cables / wires nipped in the casing?
Why the lines, and why does the display go blank whilst the light is on, then the light goes off and the display comes back?
Shot in the dark but, insufficient power for the display, perhaps? I'm thinking, maybe there's a separate PSU board for the display and it's kicking out enough juice to power the backlight or the panel but not both? Or, I guess, the backlight is faulty and sapping too much power?
If an external monitor works ok then hopefully your gpu is ok.
You will have to check the ribbon (screen to mobo), the back light board and also the screen itself.
If you pay someone to do it and the laptop is old then buy a cheap laptop.
If the latop is within a year old then get it fixed.
A little from column A and a little from column B.
Probably 13.3" isn't it? Unfortunately I don't have one here. 🙁
If it's recent and LED I could get you one for pretty much smack on £50, I guess worst case you could sell it on for a small hit.
It's about.. ooh.. 3-4 years old? Definitely not LED.
I could buy a new screen £60 or so but I'm not entirely convinced it'll fix it. Don't really want to blow £4-500 on a new laptop, and I don't really want a bargain bin Tesco special either as I am suspicious of them.
Cougar - neither the new inverter or new ribbon cable made any difference - identical symptoms before and after.
I thought it might be the cable because prior to this (and for a long time) the lid had become loose so it would frequently fall flat when using it. I thought the shock and extra movement might've done for the cable.. but no joy.
The fan had been running a bit more than expected for a while (but not thrashing) so I still suspect heat had something to do with it.
Next step is to remove the mobo and examine it.. although I have no idea if that is likely to reveal anything.
I could video it tonight I suppose 🙂