Dell XPS Laptop screen problem?

[Edge Tech NY]

Hello, has anyone ever seen a laptop screen go from a normal view, to black and grey lines in random areas, then goes black until you restart.. I haven't got to troubleshoot it yet, I had to leave the state for a few days to visit someone.. Im just curious what it could be and its bothering me.

My plan so far is to connect the laptop to an external monitor to see if its the vid card or the actual monitor..

Thanks

 

[abe]

to connect it to an external monitor is the first step, you should also check out the drivers in dvice manager, and go from there.

Abe

 

[Edge Tech NY]

Just got to plug it into a external monitor and the screen got all messed up and went black until I restart it.. So my guess is the on board graphics card? Its still under Dell warranty so I'm guessing they'll replace it with a new laptop?

 

[usacvlr]

They will probably change out the motherboard. The xps are another example of trying to put desktop performance into a laptop form factor. It just doesn't work. Not enough cooling.

 

[NYJimbo]

I wouldn't be suprised if its a GPU that's gone bad from heat. Stupid ROHS solder balls.

If you rip it apart and find out let us know.

 

[Edge Tech NY]

I'm going to take it apart tomorrow. What exactly am I looking for? Basically just signs of overheating?
Its still under warranty to Dell is sending a tech to replace mobo and heat sink assembly..

 

[Edge Tech NY]

When it comes to hardware problems with laptops - do you find that most of the time its going to cost too much to fix if the client doesn't have a warranty anymore (besides dc repairs and lcd)

 

[nj_computer_repair]

I had a similar issue with a Latitude. Re-installing the OS fixed the issue.

The funny thing is that the problem started after they plugged in an external monitor. That's Vista for you. They do not plug in external monitors to the laptop any more!

Computer Repair in New Jersey
For the best computer repair rates in NJ - Use DKNJ Networks

 

[usacvlr]

We will repair or replace a motherboard for generally 199.95 or less. We never recommend spending more than 249.95 to repair a laptop.

When it comes to hardware problems with laptops - do you find that most of the time its going to cost too much to fix if the client doesn't have a warranty anymore (besides dc repairs and lcd)

 

[Edge Tech NY]

Just got another laptop in that wont power on.. Greaaaaaaaat :\