Problem with laptop screen

[nevermind1534]

I got a laptop, and this is what the screen looks like:

Any ideas? The left few inches show up a second time on it.

[Stonerboy779]

That is something I have never seen before.

If you haven't already you may want to try and update your graphics drivers.

[nevermind1534]

That is something I have never seen before.

If you haven't already you may want to try and update your graphics drivers.

Not drivers. It does this in the BIOS splash screen, too.

[nevermind1534]

Bad news, I just got some magic smoke from it... I think the kind that needs to stay inside for it to work.

[AmEv]

Hey, it could be worse:
I once had a laptop screen spontaneously crack on me.

I'd say remove the LCD, hook it up to an external monitor, see if the laptop itself works.

[TLHarrell]

Video board fried. Common on laptops (not enough cooling). I had the video go out on my old HP laptop. Took forever to get them to replace the board. I would have suggested that you should open up the case and replug both ends of the screen cable, but as it's given up it's ghost there's not much point there.

Hope you didn't pay much for it, or it's returnable.

[nevermind1534]

nah, nothing for it. I was thinking it might be the video card. The person who had it said that there was originally a line down the screen when they got it, then this happened (It's almost two years old). I wanted to kill them for not sending it in for replacement under warranty.

edit: it still seems to power up and run with no problems, but nothing on the LCD now. I couldn't find the cable to connect it to my monitor. Otherwise, I would have already tried hooking it up to a monitor.

[Luke122]

If it works with the monitor (doubtful if smoke is escaping now), then it could just be a connection problem to/on the LCD.

I would open it up (since it's out of warranty), and check the gpu heatsink. Make sure the gpu is making solid contact with the heatsink/heatpipe, and that the heatsink and fan are clean.

If it's an Nvidia gpu (7 or 8000 series by any chance?), it might be the dreaded "black screen of death" issue, which requires a reflow. I've had about a 90% success rate with a reflow, but they dont tend to last unless you really crank the cooling up.

[Konrad]

Plug into an external display device; if the problem persists then you have a defective video chip.

If external display works fine then you've got an LCD electrical problem. Maybe the entire LCM (screen) needs to be replaced, but if you're really lucky it's just the LCD data ribbon being pinched/shorted on the hinge.

[Twigsoffury]

Have you tried hitting it?