Display problem

[mjan]

Hello all, my name is Marc and it is my first time here.

 

I've got a problem with my wife's laptop and would like some advice if possible:).

 

The machine is a HP Pavillion ZD8369ea about 5 years old running XP home SP3. It has had the screen replaced once by myself due to loads of dead pixelated lines. also, the ATI radeon X600 256mb graphics card died about 5 months ago and we have been using it with the on board standard graphics which have been sufficient for my wife to surf the internet, email, etc.

 

Has you can see by now I'm not at all an expert on computers but I try to get myself up to date and try to learn how to fix things.

 

Now back to topic, yesterday when we turned the laptop on, the display went all funny. The screen got full of colourful squares, lines and rectangles and the display settings are set to basic/lowest and can't be changed back. I took a prt sc and emailed it to another computer but it comes out clean. I dont have an external monitor to try and tried to connect the laptot to my tv but can't see any picture.

 

I took a few pictures of the problem (a picture is worth a thousand words:)):

 

DSC00154.jpg picture by mjan2 - Photobucket

DSC00153.jpg picture by mjan2 - Photobucket

DSC00152.jpg picture by mjan2 - Photobucket

 

Has anyone come across a problem like this and do you have any advice, please?

 

Thank you for your time:)

 

 

Edit: I tried to start windows in safe mode also but it makes no difference.

Edited November 12, 2010 by mjan

[PseFrank]

Hi Marc, welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help

 

Although I cannot be sure at this time, I believe that your problem lies with the laptop screen, or its connections.

You've told us that you replaced the screen on this laptop. Was this recently?...and was the inverter renewed at the same time?

 

When replacing a laptop screen there are areas that you should not touch with your bare hands, did you observe this rule? (Top inner edge)

 

My advice would be to go to a neighbour or friends house and briefly borrow their external monitor so as to establish for certain if the problem lies with the laptop screen.

 

When you plug the external monitor into your laptop, you may have to hit a keyboard combination to get it to show...This is often the Fn key plus F5 or F8. Try them all if you have to.

 

Please get back to us, to let us know how you get on...:-)

[mjan]

Hi Frank, thanks for your reply.

 

Yes, I replaced the screen about 6/7 months ago but not the inverter. I studied a few guides on the net until I was confident I could do it myself and I'm sure I didn't touch any areas I wasn't supposed to as I followed everything to the letter:)

I've tried again to connect it to an external monitor but no picture comes on whatsoever (I need to press fn+f4 on this laptop to change the picture). It seems I got no video out. I got another laptop exactly the same model and I tried it on the same monitor and it works fine.

I've also checked if the connections to the screen had come loose but it all seems OK.

 

Any other ideas, please?

 

Thanks

[mikeybumps]

try uninstalling your display drivers and reinstalling user the ones from the manufacturer website then update with the latest from ati

 

and your fn-keys are linked to a driver you shoulb be able to find on the manufacturer website also.

Edited November 12, 2010 by mikeybumps