problems with screen / video card.

Hi,

This is for an Acer Aspire 4315 laptop. The isssue is that sometimes when the laptop is turned on the screen is all white, but the rest of the laptop is OK. When the screen is white I can still hear Windows loading. Turning the laptop OFF and back ON solves usually the problem. Also sometimes after using the laptop for one or two hours the picture on the screen start flicking. Opening the screen a little more usually stops the flicking.

The graphics on this laptop is the Intel GMA3100.

I've already reset the display cable and I've replaced the inverter, and the above issues persist.

Questions:
1- Is it the screen?
2- Is it the GPU?
3- Is it the wire between the display cable?

 

I think this is the key. It's probably a problem with the screen itself or the display cable. I'd be almost certain it isn't the X3100; I don't think I've ever heard of one of those failing.

I'd say try re-seating your display cable and see if that does the trick.

 

Me neither but I wanted to double check since I know that intel used to have a problem with their GMA915.

I tried that few times, I've even used a new tape to secure the wire at the back of the screen but this didn't fix the problem.

 

I think it's actually the video cable.

My own laptop with 9600m GT had a tendency of doing this.
After opening up the plastic cover where the power button is, I jingled the video cable a bit (not too much ... only enough to try and reduce bending) and the screen hasn't turned white in a long time after that.

If it happened again I merely reproduced the procedure.

The reason it's happening most likely is because the lid is constantly being opened and closed, which loosens up the video cable connection.

 

Another possibility is a worn, kinked, or pinched display cable. The fact that opening up the screen a little more stops the flickering seems to support the idea that the cable is getting pinched at certain angles, and opening up the screen further unpinches it. As usual, if you want to test if the problem is your screen/cable or GPU, you should probably try hooking up an external monitor to test. If the external monitor always comes up fine, it won't be the GPU, and you're limited to the screen or display cable.

 

Get the latest video driver for your video chip.

 

Guys,

Thanks for confirming my assumption regarding the diplay cable. I'll get one from ebay in the next few day and fix this diplay problem once for all

The graphics is from intel and intel doen not use a generic driver like Nvidia or ATI. The latest driver for my card is about a year old.

 

It doesn't hurt to update to the latest version, Intel fixed a lot of issues for xp, vista and 7 for this chip. Here's the link if you're curious:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=eng&ProductFamily=Graphics&ProductLine=Laptop+graphics+controllers&ProductProduct=Mobile+Intel%c2%ae+965+Express+Chipset+Family

It does sound like an internal hardware problem specially if this never happened while you're connected to an external monitor. There's also a way to test the cable for continuity if you have a multimeter when in doubt. Turn off all screensavers, turn off all power saving options for your display, disable all hot keys that adjust screen brightness, check the opened/closed lid switch. Best of luck!

 

Me again,

I replaced the display cable 6 weeks ago and the flicking and the white screen have disappeared until about two days ago. I thought I saw the screen flicking for a second but I was not sure. Less than an hour ago I left my laptop in standby, and when I brought back to live the screen was white. I had to put it back into standby, open the screen a bit wider and bring it back to live to fix it.

I think that my replacement cable is dodgy?!

what do you think?