artifacts on my IBM A30p display...

[Jesse Guardiani]

Jesse Guardiani wrote:

> Jesse Guardiani wrote:
> 
>> Hello,
>> 
>> A few days ago I started noticing that my LCD display
>> was showing strange characters in text mode. Jiggling
>> the display makes the characters change. Now it's
>> happening in graphics mode too.
>> 
>> Has this happened to anyone with a Thinkpad before?
>> I assume it's a bad connection (and hopefully not a
>> failing video chipset) because I can make the characters
>> change by moving the screen. Does anyone know how to
>> fix this?
> 
> I tried reseating the connector on the motherboard, but
> it didn't help. The artifacts are even showing up on my
> CRT external monitor.
> 
> The fan still comes on under load though, some I'm not
> likely to suspect an overheating issue...
> 
> Has anyone ever seen a bad LCD ribbon cable do this to
> an LCD and CRT?

Update: This machine has been usable since this happened
in Win32 (dual boot) as long as I don't do graphics work
or play DVDs or games or anything.

Today, I booted back into FreeBSD to sync some files with
my Gentoo machine (which I have been using as my primary
desktop since this happened to my FreeBSD laptop) and on
a whim I pushed VERY firmly on the space of plastic between
the power button and my display.

Miraculously, the screen garble ceased! About 5 minutes
later it came back, so I repeated the proceedure and it's
fine again.

Gee, if my video chip was toast, I don't think pushing on
the plastic would help. It looks like I've got a loose connector
somewhere. Anyone have any ideas on what to check? I already
tried reseating the LCD connector... and the garbled output
appears on external CRTs too...


-- 
Jesse Guardiani, Systems Administrator
WingNET Internet Services,
P.O. Box 2605 // Cleveland, TN 37320-2605
423-559-LINK (v)  423-559-5145 (f)
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