"Pete Zahut" dont@bother wrote in message
...
Paul wrote:
Pete Zahut wrote:
Got the above laptop and it's just developed a problem with the
screen/display - there's a 65mm column at the right-hand side of the
display that's gone dark. Applications open up properly and you can
see the whole width of the app, but it doesn't go the whole width of
the screen - sort of full display but not full screen if you see
what I mean. Also, don't know if it's relevant or not but the
taskbar at the bottom seems to be twice as tall as normal and isn't
drag-able back to it's usual size - cursor also distorts in this
area. I'm not explaining it very well, so have a look at this photo:

http://s137.photobucket.com/albums/q...nt=laptop1.jpg

At first I thought it may be a display driver issue but I've
uninstalled and reinstalled without success. I've also used a
program called #1-TuffTest Pro (http://www.tufftest.com/ttp01.htm)
that is self-booting, operating system independent and never goes
anywhere near Windows, but shows the same results, so I would say
that that rules out any Windows driver issues. Picture of that test
he
http://s137.photobucket.com/albums/q...nt=laptop2.jpg

Any ideas what's wrong and how to fix it?

TIA,

Pete

Have you done a graphics driver update recently ?

No - uninstalled and reinstalled driver to try to fix the problem, but not
updated.

It looks like a mismatch, between the actual LCD panel,
and what the software thinks it is driving.

Paul

Yeah, I'd agree with you there Paul - except for the fact that I've even
used the Recovery CD/Partition to restore the laptop to the state it was
in when it left the factory and the display is still faulty even then.



Ok the way to tell if its hardware or software causing the problem is when
the machine starts to boot drop into the BIOS whatever it is for your
laptop, F2 for Dells , Del for some others but anyway whatever it is for
your machine. If the problem is there in when you look in the BIOS its the
LCD panel or Cable or Motherboard port. IF it's not there then it's a
driver/application, error. Of course you could also connect it to an
external monitor and again if its there then its the grapghics card or
motherboard port or software/drivers and if its not there then it's the LCD
or cable