Latop screen or cable?

myhooose

I have an Advent QT5500 laptop which has seen better days. Vertical lines have started to appear on the screen which from searching on the Internet is either the screen at fault or the cable to the screen.

I there an easy way to determine which is at fault? If it is the screen I'm not sure a new screen at £74 is worth replacing due to the age of the laptop.

sharkie

the ones i have seen, the cable is an integral part of the screen with only one loose end, rather than a cable that can be unplugged at both ends. So you can not buy separate cables.

pledgeX

I'm slightly confused what you mean by the cable. Are you using another screen in addition to your 'built in' laptop screen? If not, have you taken the laptop apart so you are looking at the cable?

I think the problem is either the screen itself or the graphics card/processor inside the laptop. A test you could do is get a normal screen and plug that into your laptop so you have 2 screens (if your laptop has the right connection). If the second screen is broken as well then it's the innards of the laptop that are broken, if not, then it's the laptop screen itself.

I'm afraid I don't know much about laptops so not sure how you would go about fixing/replacing it.

BlastRedeye

I havn't replaced a laptop screen where the cable wasn't integral, I have only ever replaced a dozen or so. However searching the net reveals that you can buy and replace the cable seperately, and at a fiver is probably what I would do.

Might be worth clearing your graphics drivers and reinstalling ( use a cleaner program) and see if that clears it. Might also be worth opening her up and removing dust and debris.

myhooose

Its the cable from the mother board (or wherever) to the screen. I haven't opened it up yet but have seen the cables for sale. I think the problem is definably physical as the lines disappear when the screen is rotated or twisted very slightly.

I guess the next step is to open it up and give the cable a wiggle.

Mista_C

The cable can usually be replaced (contrary to other posters I've never seen a cable that couldn't be replaced in the 15 years or so I've been a engineer). There is usually a snap-in clip type connector going to the mother board passing via the hinge to the lid section. In the lid section this usually splits with a small white clip going to the invertor and the remainder heading off into a thin ribbon to the top rear of the screen held secure by an adhesive tab or tape.

Gently pull back the tab/tape and pull the ribbon down along the back of the screen to remove. It could be as simple as the lid movement causing the cable to gradually loosen over time, meaning you just need to resecure both ends.

Of course it could still be the screen, or even a break in the cable near it's passage through the hinge but if you get a new cable for a couple of pound it's easy enough to rule that out.

Hopefully these may help..

Cable - Invertor & Motherboard end.

Connector Screen End (with cable).

Connector Screen End (without cable).