Paul wrote:
Pete Zahut wrote:
BillW50 wrote:
In ,
Pete Zahut typed on Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:01:12 +0100:
BillW50 wrote:
In ,
Pete Zahut typed on Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:22:24 +0100:
Pete Zahut wrote:
BillW50 wrote:
In ,
Pete Zahut typed on Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:42:46 +0100:
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,
Hi Pete! Wow that is weird. An external monitor I can see this
happening. Internal monitor, I never saw this. Any chance you
can hook it up to an external? I suspect the same result.
Although you may adjust it to display correctly. In either
case, I believe you have to take it in for service. It is
still under warrantee, right?
I haven't as yet hooked it up to an external monitor, but will
do later today when I have chance, and let you know what I find.
Unfortunately, it's not in warranty so whatever it is, I'll have
to pay for the repair if it's a hardware fault 
(
Thanks Bill
Bill (and anyone else who's interested, of course), further to
the above I've now hooked it up to an external monitor and the
display on the external monitor is perfect.
Photo at
http://s137.photobucket.com/albums/q...t=laptop2a.jpg
Don't know what that means though (
Hi Pete! Well now we know. I doubt this laptop has a separate
video card and it is all on the motherboard. If somebody knows
differently, please let us know. Wait... I found a picture of the
motherboard...
http://www.notebooksolutions.ca/zc/i...oducts_id=2775
Nope, it looks like it is on the motherboard to me. Well after the
external video jack (which is analog video), it gets converted to
digital and fed to the LCD display. So we are talking about the
motherboard, ribbon cable, and the LCD display itself. And I don't
think it could be the last two, but I could be wrong. So that is
what I think anyway.
Thanks for that Bill, looks like a very expensive repair that isn't
really worth it - not yet anyway.
Cheers my friend,
Pete
Hi Pete! Well another ribbon cable should be cheap enough to try. I
don't think it is that though. If it were me, I would find one on
eBay working or with some other problem. Best if the other problem
wasn't something wrong with the motherboard. That way you could
swap parts until you find out which one of the three it was. I
really think it is the motherboard though.
I don't know what you want to do with it. But if you are not
interested in it, I would sell it or something. As somebody can use
it as is or with an external monitor. Or even fix it. grin
Oh I'll keep it, it's quite useable as it is, just annoying )
When you bought the laptop, the panel may have been declared as
"1440x900" or the like. What does the control panel currently claim for
the
resolution setting ?
Actually the laptop belongs to my niece (or it did until recently when she
decided to get a new one and gave this one to me
)) so I don't know what
it was declared as when new. When I look in Control Panel, there's a choice
of only two resolutions, 800x600 and 1024x768. There's a tick-box with the
words "Hide resolutions that this panel cannot display" (or something to
that effect) and there is currently a tick in that box. When I deselect that
choice, other resolutions become available, but selecting any of them makes
no change to the width of the display - that 65mm strip of "darkness" is
still there.
Do you see any "tearing" in the screen, as if
there is resampling of the image, in order to squish it into a
smaller area on the screen ?
No
Do the resolution numbers add up ?
Another test you can try, is to boot a Linux LiveCD and do some
testing there. If the same weird effect is present, then the problem
is hardware (panel doing something it shouldn't). If the machine
appears to work normally, running something like Knoppix Linux, then
that would suggest the driver is doing something strange in Windows.
I tried a Linux LiveCD as you suggested Paul and there's no change, the
problem is still there - so it's hardware then. Oh dear
(
Cheers mate,
Pete