Laptop Display Issue

[Legend]

There are horizontal black lines, like polarizing lines, covering about 2/3 of the LCD screen on a Compaq (yeah, I know). I took a screen capture since I don't have VGA cables and the lines did not appear in the capture. The lines just appeared as I was typing a document. I had a user-made graphics driver installed and went to the last Intel version. I did a system restore to earlier this day without effect. I think it's my graphics processor (integrated). I don't think a connection or software problem would cause this but is there anything I can do before having parts replaced?

[MunkeyQ]

I'd agree that it's hardware since it doesn't show up in screenshots. Still, plugging it into a monitor would be a good idea just to make sure.

It's very likely that the GPU as you said - newer consumer grade HP/Compaqs are notorious for that. The BGA chip's solder joints gradually break due to the temperature extremes inside causing the thing to expand and contract. Unfortunately the only way around it is a new motherboard, although some people have had limited success reflowing it at home using a hot air gun.

Either that or the flexible cable which feeds the LCD through the hinges has died. Waggling the screen around will cause it to flicker if this is the case.

[Zok Jr.]

Most likely your gpu but i think it could be an lcd inverter. If its your gpu you can try baking it in the oven for a bit to try to reseat the chip but it depends

[MunkeyQ]

Doubt it's the inverter...if that goes, only the backlight is affected, and the whole screen goes dark or a funny tint. If its a really fucking massive screen with two backlights and inverters, half the screen goes dark but you can still see the picture up close with a torch.

[Zok Jr.]

Originally Posted by MunkeyQ

Doubt it's the inverter...if that goes, only the backlight is affected, and the whole screen goes dark or a funny tint. If its a really fucking massive screen with two backlights and inverters, half the screen goes dark but you can still see the picture up close with a torch.

Yes youre right it would be flickering and stuff, just an idea because i cant see what exactly the problem is

[Legend]

I left my PC off overnight and the issue has resolved itself. Odd that the previous troubleshooting didn't work. I don't know what the cause was but I'll be sure to try clearing the CMOS before making a thread about it if it happens again. Thank you all for your consideration.

[Zok Jr.]

It still probably has bad solder joints and you jiggled into making contact by accident. Good luck, thankfully laptops are dirt cheap these days

[Legend]

It happened again.

[-SpectraL]

Have you tried using a higher or lower resolution?

[Zok Jr.]

Originally Posted by -SpectraL

Have you tried using a higher or lower resolution?

Oh yeah i forgot! This should work, also you cannot really replace your integrated gpu chips w/o having anything short of an electrical engineering degree

[-SpectraL]

Probably when he's typing away in a text document he accidentally hits a hot key combination which changes the low-level settings in some way on the video device. In that case resetting the resolution lower or higher, then back again, should resolve the issue.

[Legend]

The lines appear gray on the first images after powering on and change to nearly match the pixels they cover after some time. I'm almost certain that it's the LCD cable. I unscrewed part of the screen bezel and wiggled it a bit and found the display to be free of aberration. Most people I've read of with similar problems on Compaq laptops can get a normal picture when the lid is at a certain angle. Next step is to disassemble and see if it's simply out of place. There seems some chance of it being software related, I'll try the resolution thing next time.