Is my screen buggered? - G73JH

Just turned this old machine on for the first time in awhile because I was gonna set it up for my friend, when I noticed that a good third of the monitor is buggered up. Photos below.

Everything else seems to be fine, far as I can tell. Does this look like a hardware problem or something I can fix? I opened up the back but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Not really dusty, nothing burnt, nothing missing.

What's weird is, aside from the startup screen, it only seems to affect the desktop? I've opened a few things full screen like Firefox, Solitaire and such, none have any graphical problems.

 

I could be wrong but I am suspecting that your system's VRAM has been damaged. They do look like VRAM artifacts to me. What are the specs on this machine.

Barring that, the only other thing I can think of is a loose LVDS connector.

 

Try reseating the cable but it does look like the GPU is having issues.

 

It's just odd it only really affects the desktop, in a small space. Anyways, specs are as such:

Intel Core i7-720QM 1.6-2.8GHZ
6GB 1066Mhz DDR3 RAM
Windows 7 Professional
500gb 7200rpm Drive (X2)
17.3" 16:9 HD+ (1600x900)
ATI Mobility™ Radeon® HD5870 with 1GB GDDR5 VRAM
Intel Wireless-N Advanced 6200 (Can't seem to hold a connection longer than 5 minutes.)

Nothing should be loose though. I used it a few months ago with no problems. It's been sitting on a shelf ever since.

I wanted to check the GPU, but getting to it seems ridiculously difficult. I got to everything else I could get to and gave it a good clean. Made it run a bit quieter, but that's it

Thing is, it would still be usable if not for that Internet issue. Whether I use the built-in card or a USB one, it just can't hold a connection long enough to do anything. Even to Activate Windows. Annoying.

 

Make sure you untick the option to turn off the wifi to save power in the device manager properties.

 

Hmm. yeah, that actually made a difference. Cheers.

 

It's more often an issue with bluetooth devices but sometimes it does not manage wifi devices properly either for some reason.

 

How annoying.

Also, is there any way that connecting the G73 to the home wifi would make it bugger up for all other devices?

Just wondering if I'm just having extremely unrelated, extremely annoying Internet problems at the same bloody time.

 

An IP address conflict can cause issues with other devices.

 

Not sure. But as soon as the G73 connects basically, every device loses its connection and won't get it back until I disconnect the G73.

 

Try manually setting the IP to .200 and you can rule it out.

 

It seemed to work with a manual IP. But a few minutes later the same problem arose.

It's like it kills my modem. My wireless router keeps pushing out a signal, but no connection. When I disconnect the G73, things get back to normal.

EDIT: After suffering slow download speeds foreverrrrr I managed to download Puppy Linux and loaded that via USB on the G73. Internet is slow, but otherwise works. And isn't breaking the connection for anything else.

So...Windows is the culprit? Perhaps I should reinstall. Bleh. Means I need to grab all the ASUS drivers again. On this Internet. Dang~

Screen is still a little odd, but not consistently. But this machine ain't quite dead yet....

EDIT2: Well, went through all that and made a System Restore point after every install. Everything has been fine, so goodness knows what the problem was.

The screen still has the same issue, only the first third and only on the colour black. And not always.

 

Those wifi problems can happen if you have mixed security settings active on your router. Check that only WPA2 with AES encryption is active. If it's an 802.11n or 802.11ac capable router, also check that WMM is enabled.
If you had any other settings active, you will probably have to reconnect the old devices to the changed wifi.
Regarding the screen, I also tend to a broken screen or maybe GPU, nothing you can fix. If your new owner will use it as a stationary device, simply connect a Display to the HDMI port and use it like that

 

Or it could have been a rogue program too or even a virus making tons of outside connections in a botnet swamping your router.

 

Well I doubt it was anything like that. It was a brand new install of Windows. All I'd installed was Windows, the ASUS drivers and Avira.

But who knows what went wrong there. Starting from scratch again seem to fix it up.

Thanks for the help anyways, guys. At the very least, it works now and only true black seems buggered in that bit of the screen. Still perfectly usable.

 

That could be the panel itself then.

 

A couple days later I booted it up and it has the Internet problem again. Killing the connection for all devices. I don't get it.

WMM is enabled and it has WPA with AES. (WPA because I set it at a time when one device I had couldn't use it.)

 

Can you switch to WPA2? WPA is considered unsecure and can be fairly easy cracked.
Which router do you have?
Oh and do you have Intel Wireless driver package 16.7 or newer installed? All older 16.x ones were crap and also several 15.x. Please note, device manager shows a different numbering.

 

Is the screen problem also caused with an external display?

 

For some reason I thought he said he checked that. OP thermal expansion and contraction can make cables creep out of thier plug.