Odd display issue...

[MLCS]

HP G60 Laptop and the Display is all funky. I tested it on a monitor and it does display fine out externally.

Obviously I thought the display itself or the inverter. But there's a really odd little thing I ran into that has me a bit confused. Anyone ever seen this?

If I start the computer the display powers up and and display faint and blurred lighting around the monitor, but no actual image of any kind, it fades in and out as it loads, but never comes through on the laptop display itself. BUT if I hit the power button and close the lid, wait for when the BIOS screen should power up and open the lid, the display works fine. I can close the lid and open it back up, I can move it all the way back and forward with no distortion.

The display just can't seem to power up with the original power sequence... it has to be opened AFTER it's supposed to already be on. It's a bit confusing to me. Most the time it works or it doesn't, with no "in between" or it scrambles in and out as you move the display lid around.

Any suggestions or previous experience with this and info as to a valid fix would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Shawn Matheson

 

[Gunz]

That is really wierd. I just did an lcd replacement on a g60235dx. The wires coming out of the hinge were really tight. You've probably already checked, but make sure everything is wired correctly and no wires are pinched or bent wrong

 

[PC Problems]

Hi,

If the laptop has onboard graphics then try memtest or similar.
If it has a dedicated graphics then it may need re-balling.

Thanks.

 

[IncrediblePCSolutions]

Sleep switch getting stuck?

 

[xxsilk109xx]

have you checked the lcd cable itself? I have seen really wierd issues where the cord has been crimped or is all together bad, or just might have a loose connection to the back of the monitor|inverter|motherboard. I would try to disconnect it and reseat it at all places and then try again...Also try taking the cable from around the gears of the monitor and see if it works that way, maybe the gear is pinching it or something.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

I have seen on at least a couple of occasions where the LVDS cable connects to the diplay would be the problem. Usually the LVDS cable connects to the display just underneath the clamshell on any laptop. So folks get in the habit of stuffing their laptop at the bottom of a carrying case and then decide to stuff books on top and zip the bag with all this stuff crammed on top of the laptop. On one occasion the tape the secures the LVDS cable into the back of the display got stuck to the clamshell also and was tugging the LVDS cable away from the display connection. The other time it wasn't tape causing it, but same situation where the guy liked to cram stuff on top of his laptop. So that's always worth checking.

 

[MLCS]

So, I did do a MemTest from my boot CD and everything there came out fine. I also updated the System BIOS and the Display Drivers as well. It shouldn't be anything to do with the sleep switch since I can put the machine to sleep after I boot up with the lid closed and it will flip in/out without a problem. It's more like the first initial push of power that gets sent to the display is wrong, and once it is powered up this way I can't get it to work. But if I have the lid closed when that first push of power is sent it's regulated and works if accessed after that second of failure...

Unfortunately I'm not going to get the full answer to this unless I just spend the time pulling the laptop apart for my own knowledge. (Which I'm tempted to do)

I can't rightfully charge the customer to open up the laptop and examine the wiring if that's not the issue. Dear Cust, cannot determine cause without opening laptop, which will bring your $xx diagnostic fee to $xx. If it's not the cables it could be the display/inverter, which would then be $xxx, if it's not that it would be a system board issue, which wouldn't be worth fixing. It's one of those walls where I don't want to go down the list replacing items and spending hours doing so only to have none of them fix the issue in the end.

If I was more confident it was just the wires I would do it in a heartbeat. But with it not showing any images at all, even wiggling and moving the display all over. Then suddenly working fine no matter how much fiddling you do as long as you open it after the initial power up... It's seriously so strange to me... and I'm sure many of you are like me and it bothers you when you don't get an answer to a problem.

The customer has a work around by keeping the lid closed while booting, so she won't pay extra now to fix it... But I'm dieing to figure it out!

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

I can't rightfully charge the customer to open up the laptop and examine the wiring if that's not the issue. Dear Cust, cannot determine cause without opening laptop, which will bring your $xx diagnostic fee to $xx.

Maybe that's just how you do things, but when I charge a diag I expect I will be taking a machine apart. I can understand if you would have to order parts, but what's the point of charging a diag if its not implied that its going to be disassembled? this is just an off the cuff estimate, but at least 50% of the hardware diags I do I have to take the machines apart, especially in a situation like this. Be a shame this customer goes to someone who has no fear of shelling a laptop to find it actually was a pinched cable. In this business your either all in or not.

 

[MLCS]

Possibly I need to adjust my diagnostic fees then. One for desktops and one for laptops. I'm not going to charge an in-house diagnostic of $35 to shell a laptop. $35 to open a desktop and run diagnostic tests are a different matter.

Hence why I would give the customer an option at this point. To further diagnose the issue, since it is a Laptop and would take a considerably longer amount of time to open up, would be $xx instead.

I try to keep the fees lower to begin with if it's a simple process. It's very possible I need to revisit my pricing, but I don't want to charge a higher diag fee and then have it be a simple issue.