The Screen Went White With Stripes -- Why, and How Can I Know It's Not Serious?

I got really freaked out when this happened, by the way. I thought, no more lappy-top for old Brazen.

What happened was, I left the computer on hibernate or sleep (whatever it is that happens when you close the laptop). I reopened the laptop, and the screen was white with some gray horizontal stripes. There were also a few strategically placed vertical stripes, but many more gray horizontal stripes. I tried almost everything. I pressed ESC, I did Ctrl, Alt + Delete; nothing I tried last night work. I then thought, just force a shut down, and then revisit it tomorrow and see what's up. I opened it up today, and same thing. And then, for no particular reason, I started moving the cover up and down. When I did that, it normalized for a few seconds. So then I realized that that was helping, so I purposefully did this, that is moving the cover up and down, and since then it seems that it's back to normal.

But for those computer geeks out there, what happened to my laptop? I bought it 2011. It's Windows 7, so it's not that old. I'm curious to know if anybody has experienced this, and if it's serious. I've noticed that weird junk tends to happen when I leave the laptop on standby. I also had the laptop on ATS of all things when I did this, from what I remember. It actually just did it right now. I'm assuming that it happens when the top (or cover) is in a certain angle.

reply to post by brazenalderpadrescorpio


Sounds like a short in the wire going to the monitor or else not plugged in all the way into the laptop on the inside. That's where the wire has the most movement is at the hinged part if that makes any sense.

reply to post by AreUKiddingMe


I agree, maybe the monitor cable is a little loose at it's connection, or the switch that turns the monitor off when you close it is malfunctioning. Can you see the switch? It's usually a real small button so if you can take a toothpick or the like and trigger it that way and see if it replicates the problem. If it doesn't then look to the cable.

reply to post by brazenalderpadrescorpio


The hinge that connects the screen component with your lap top has a flex circuit cable inside that flexes along with the hinge when you open and close the laptop. That flex circuit cable in the hinge is failing. It has been weakened by repeatedly opening and closing the laptop over its life time and some signal trace or traces on/in the cable are near total failure. Like bending an aluminum can back and forth until it breaks if you keep lifting and lowering the screen it will become a permanent failure that will be somewhat costly to repair at a shop.

Find the "happy place" one more time and leave it there. Jar the unit as little as possible until you can get it repaired or replaced.

The sooner the better.

reply to post by TheLieWeLive


I don't see any switch. If you have a picture of the icon of the switch, that would help.

reply to post by intrptr


Thanks. I'll try to find out how the long the warranty was until.

reply to post by brazenalderpadrescorpio


Some laptops you can see them while others you don't. It may even be possible yours doesn't have one and it may rely on the Windows to turn it off.

First off, your laptop does not have a "cover", that's the display half of the unit. My best bet is the ribbon cable that connects the LCD display to the display adapter (video card) has cracked, like someone mentioned they break after repeated opening/closing of the laptop display (and are inside the hinge assembly). This is likely your problem. Hibernate/suspend problems are probably a coincidence, but I always tend to not use these functions as MS does not know how to implement them correctly, and when done improperly they damage hardware and corrupt data.

Good luck

reply to post by TheLieWeLive


I think so, because I don't see anything. I also don't want to be moving the laptop around too much per the poster before you.

Something as a tester I'd do is hook up the external DVI/HDMI connector to an appropriate cable and run it to a functioning LCD or HDMI tv, and then swicth outputs (usually a function key commend marked on your laptop keyboard on blue or orange). That will help determine if its the PC itself or just the ribbon cable.

reply to post by Aliquandro


Do you recommend not opening and closing?

reply to post by Aliquandro


I don't have that kind of TV. It's pretty low-tech around this house. It sounds like I'm being a smart-#ss, but it's true.

reply to post by brazenalderpadrescorpio

You KNOW you can adjust "whatever it does when you close the lid"? Seriously? YOU set that in the power settings. How do you not know that...unless you've got to be kidding?

You can have it shut down, hibernate, go into standby, stay ON for 5 minutes to never shutting off.....its always been in the CONTROL PANEL.

I find it difficult that you didn't set that when you bought it!!!

And you can adjust your mouse too, icons, fonts, speeds, rt and lt click settings. I mean....

Well, to prove the hinge theory, hook it up to an external monitor via VGA. TV, projector what have you. If it delivers a signal without stripes, the cable then becomes suspect.

reply to post by mysterioustranger


You ask me if I'm being serious. I'm serious! I don't know anything about computers. Seriously? Seriously!

reply to post by minkmouse


Maybe I should hook it up to you and see what that tells me.

Correction to everyone who has been posting.

If the white stripes we're uniformly (as in totally consistent in pixel distance between one another) spread out between the screen when you saw this happen, it is not a ribbon cable defect. It is a graphics card/memory error that happened. Seen it a more than a handful of times on my laptops, and company laptops.

What is the make and model of your laptop?

reply to post by b3l13v3


He said it changes as he opens/closes the laptop, that ruled out a graphics problem in my mind. It sounds like it really is a hinge/connector issue, in which case finding the "happy spot" like someone said until he can get it fixed or replaced would be my recommendation. If it was a graphics/memory issue opening and shutting the laptop wouldn't change a thing.

reply to post by brazenalderpadrescorpio


If it is the ribbon cable, then it is NOT a costly part to replace.

If you leave it too long before replacing it, it is possible (with the ridiculous version churn of product models of laptops) that the part will go out of manufacture and then out of stock as a spare.

My recommendation is to get it fixed sooner rather than later.

It is likely that regular horizontal lines indicate failure of the video memory in the display adapter, but with older backlit LCD displays (not active matrix) it could indicate LCD clock issues and therefore a cable problem can be the cause. Taken with the mechanical effects on the image, I'd say it is more likely to be cable related than deeper into the chipset.

brazenalderpadrescorpio
reply to post by Aliquandro

 

I don't have that kind of TV. It's pretty low-tech around this house. It sounds like I'm being a smart-#ss, but it's true.

No worries. Thats a good idea. Your laptop has a jack somewhere for an external video option. That might be a lot cheaper than paying for the labor to replace any parts or cables in the unit itself. If you don't have a friend with an old computer terminal, take the unit to a "shop" (if you can find one) and let them test that for you. That wouldn't take but a minute and then they can tell you what you're options are. Sometimes you can find local dudes that advertise for computer repair online, you might get lucky and find someone nearby.

At least then you'll know. If its the cable, buying an old SVGA monitor might be the cheapest option.