HELP: Laptop Graphic/Screen Problem

[Walowiz]

Hi

Long shot - but there may be a very teccy guy somehwere here...

Friend of mine has an Acer Ferrari 4005 WLMi laptop, where the screen is displaying almost uniform coloured patterns (blotches ?) all over the screen.

(See pics attached.)

These patterns are evident when the image is output to an external monitor. From this I am assuming the LCD panel in the laptop is ok.

The uniform blotches, are also evident from laptop boot up, not just Windows start up.

I have looked all over the web, to try and find exactly what it is, I remember seeing this one on our development PC's ages ago, and I remember swapping out the graphics card, easy on a desktop PC.

The laptop is out of warranty, and so far the best I can come up with is a problem with any, or all of the following :

Motherboard
Graphics Card
Overheating
Dust

Anyone seen this before - and got a more definitive answer ?
I do not want to go fishing around inside this nicely carbon fibre clad laptop, just on a hunch.

thanks
Aaron

 

[Gas'd Off]

Driver?

 

[Loiq]

looks like compression artifacts?

it's your picture or stock library image and was it okay before? what the native resolution on the laptop and can you reset it a standard screen solid colour

see what happens then

 

[Walowiz]

Thanks for the replies chaps.

Drivers all ok. Checked that first.

Stock lib pic and I am assured it all looked very nice indeed until about a couple of weeks ago.

With a std colour, you get the same effect.

When the laptop boots up, the blotchy effect is visible from the very instant the laptop starts, even before drivers are loaded in Windows.

 

[Womble]

If it's visible in the BIOS and on an external screen, it's not a good sign - it means that the problem is with the video controller itself. You might be lucky and it's a connector problem, but there generally aren't many connectors inside a laptop.

If you leave the laptop for a while and it still behaves like this, it's unlikely to be heat that is causing it, but it could have been heat that caused the problem in the first place.

A quick Google search threw up several hits that might be worth investigating. I'd give a couple of them a call and see what they think. At least one of the companies does board-level repairs and will replace components, so you might well be able to get the graphics controller replaced after all.

 

[Walowiz]

Thanks Toby

a few calls and it does seem that the grahics controller can be replaced. I had a sneaking suspicion that this was likely to be the issue with the laptop.

Have relayed the prognosis, thanks chaps.

Aaron