Laptop screen problem

Spike Morton · #1 (**permalink**) 28-01-2006, 10:26 AM

Hello all,we have a Toshiba L20 which we purchased at Christamas which has been fine until now.
When powered up the screen has a 2" wide vertical 'band' almost like a 'ghosting' effect and is always to the left of the screen in the same position,can anyone throw any suggestions as to what is causing this (or cure it) before i take it back to Dixon's.
Many thanks for any help,Spike.

jephree · #2 (**permalink**) 29-01-2006, 04:41 AM

I find no precedent at Toshiba's site:

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/t...Model&x=16&y=2

You might try changing the screen resolution via Control Panel | Display | Settings

Other than this I would return it.

I don't find any help in the manual:

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/t...ceghdgngdgmm.0

To verify your screen as the problem you can try an external monitor.

Spike Morton · #3 (**permalink**) 29-01-2006, 09:24 PM

Thanks Jephree,i was asked to post a screen shot to another pc help site but when i had taken the shot and had a look i could not see the vertical 'band'.On starting up before the windows image loads the usual black screen shows and the 'band' shows up as a solid white area.When the windows main desktop screen has loaded you can actually see text from previous sites.
When another window is open and minimised and i drag this to the right of the screen it is ok but when i drag it over to the left where the 'band' is it shows on there,so i guess it's the actual screen that is faulty,but i would like to know what has caused it.
Thanks for the help.

DJNafey · #4 (**permalink**) 30-01-2006, 12:44 AM

I've got conflicting views on this. It seems that it's not actually a manufacturing fault with the screen, e.g. a load of dead pixels, because it has been OK until now and the problem has just started. So that suggests it's a driver problem. However, that should only become apparent once you're into Windows, not when it's showing you the black 'loading' screen because, at that point, I think that it's just using a generic driver, not the driver that was written specifically for your graphics chip and/or LCD screen.

Please, someone, tell me I'm wrong because even I'm confused by what I just said!

Personally, I'd try re-installing the graphics card driver and seeing if that helped. If you don't know how to do that, the easiest way should be to right-click on My Computer, select Properties from the menu, click on the Hardware tab and then the Device Manager button. Delete all entries listed in the Display Adaptors folder and also any entries listed within the Monitors folder. Then reboot and Windows should automatically detect them and install the drivers again the next time that it starts up (it may ask you to insert one of the CDs that came with the laptop).

Hope that helps

brain_damage · #5 (**permalink**) 30-01-2006, 12:51 AM

could it be caused by something electrical close by.. ie speakers

DJNafey · #6 (**permalink**) 30-01-2006, 12:57 AM

Ah, top answer Brain_Damage! This is exactly the kind of problem that could be caused by magnetic fields such as speakers close to the screen

If you can't spot anything with a magnet in it nearby, Spike, take the laptop to a different room of the house for a few minutes and see if it cures itself, just to be sure.

Spike Morton · #7 (**permalink**) 30-01-2006, 12:57 PM

Some interesting replies there - thanks.
The laptop is not in use near any speakers or any other magnetic field for that matter,so that should rule that out. The laptop came with only 2 cd's,Works 8 and a Toshiba Additional Software cd (which is 'touch & launch').
If i started messing with the graphics card and re-installing it,is there a possibility that i could 'lose' anything or cause some damage ? I must say i am not too pc minded to start these things !!
I thank you for your help,but if you could reassure me about messing with the graphics card that would be great.

DJNafey · #8 (**permalink**) 30-01-2006, 02:55 PM

If you completely mess up your graphics driver settings, there's the potential that you won't be able to see anything on the screen at all. But you won't lose any of your data off of your hard disk. So the worst case is that you'd have to take it into a repair shop and get them to copy the data off of your hard disk so that you can use it on another PC ...... or for them to fix whatever is wrong with the display.

The alternative is that you could take it into a repair shop now, as it is, and let them replace whatever is faulty or re-install the drivers for you to sort it out. It would be a little easier for them to do it when they can at least see something on the screen and what the problem is.

So, the bottom line is that you won't lose any data .... but there's a slim chance that you could get yourself into a position where you can't see it .... and you'd have to pay someone to get it back for you. If you re-install the drivers, that might resolve the problem and cost you nothing at all. But, if it goes horribly wrong (which isn't very likely), it might cost you more in a repair shop for them to fix it.

If you're feeling brave, we'll be glad to help!

Spike Morton · #9 (**permalink**) 30-01-2006, 09:57 PM

Well big thanks to you all again ! As it's still under warranty i'm not going to mess with it,so back to the shop it goes. I just hope it's sorted and no other problems crop up.

DJNafey · #10 (**permalink**) 30-01-2006, 11:06 PM

Good plan Spike. If you've saved any data onto the laptop since you got it, make sure you save it onto a floppy disk, CD or USB drive as Dixons are likely either to give you a replacement laptop or to run a Restore CD, which could wipe everything off of your hard disk and restore it back to it's "factory install".

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