3 replies to this topic

[Data]

I am having some display issues with my Dell Laptop Inspiron 8500.
OS: Windows XP Home sp3
Display Adapter: Mobility Radeon 9000
The screen is flickering and has a yellowish color, very distracting.

Here’s the thing, I have discovered that when I “Flex” the base of the computer (not the screen) the screen is clear as a bell.
I do it like this…
I can put my knee under the bottom of the computer and press down on the upper right and the lower left edges and the screen clears up.
Obviously with one knee and two hands being used to clear the screen, I can’t us the computer.

I have tried to reseat the video card and blow the dust out with “computer air”. No help. I plugged my desktop monitor and it shows the same screen display. Sounds like there could be a short circuit somewhere. Can someone offer some things I can try to fix this problem?

[exile360]

Does the yellowing issue occur on the desktop monitor as well? If not, then it's likely an issue with the ribbon cable that connects the laptop's motherboard to the laptop screen. They can sometimes wear loose or even become damaged from opening and closing the laptop over time as it creates wear on the hinges that connect the screen to the base. If you're adept at doing so you can take the laptop apart and secure the connectors, however, if you're not sure that you know what you're doing I'd highly advise you to take it to a good tech shop to have it done. It is a fairly simply procedure if you know what you're doing, but disassembling a notebook is no simple task if you're unfamiliar with it.

[Data]

Thanks for the reply-
Yes, the flickering and yellowish color also shows with the desktop monitor-
I have taken the laptop down as far as the video card-
I removed the connections and the card, cleaned off the dust with canned air and then reinstalled- (no changed)-
I did not attempt to remove the motherboard-
Because the monitor clearns when the base is "bent", it does appear to be some connection problem but not sure where to look-
Are there any grounding cables connected to the motherboard that could effect the video card?

[exile360]

I don't think there would be, just the standard PCI-e or AGP interface for the graphics card to the motherboard (although slightly different from desktops, still fairly standard for notebooks). It could be the connection of the video card to the motherboard itself that has issues. Possibly some of the connectors aren't making a good contact causing it to miss some of the graphics output data which would explain why bending it slightly would correct it, as it may cause the contacts to touch as they should.