VPCZ1 intermittent vertical line on screen

Hi, there. I have a 2010 VPCZ1 with a small issue. Incidentally, I took a spill a while back on my bike with the laptop in my backpack, which damaged the body a bit, but at the time, didn't seem to affect its operation. Anyway, lately I randomly get a vertical line up and down the center of the screen, sometimes white and sometimes grey or black. I can often make it go away briefly by putting some pressure on parts of the screen casing or the laptop itself, but I also notice that it almost always goes away if I switch from Stamina to Speed (and sometimes back again). I've also plugged in the HDMI when I've seen it, but haven't been able to get it to reproduce on my TV (although doing that changes the screen resolution, too). All in all, the screen usually still works fine: the line appears intermittently and I can generally make it go away, though it eventually reappears.

My question is, based on these various factors, does it sound most like an issue with the LCD itself, the LVDS cable, or the graphics chip? Please let me know if you have ideas and think any more testing would really nail down the cause of the problem.

Thanks

 

Did you ever figure out the problem? I have the same computer and issue (VPCZ1 from 2010 and a single vertical line). Initially, adjusting the screen angle would cause the line to appear / disappear. Now it is a permanent feature of the display. I've had a good run (5 yrs) with this laptop, but if it is fixable I would keep it longer. It still holds up well against newer ultrabooks aside for being a little thicker.

My hunch is that the issue is wear-and-tear on the display cable, but I cannot be certain. Opening the laptop revealed some wear on the cable housing around the hinge area -- probably from 5 years of the cable flexing and rubbing against the inside the hinge. But it is not clear that this is really the problem or just minor cosmetic damage. From what I've read, display issues could be related to the cable, the traces in the connector that the cable attaches to, the LCD itself, or even other components related to the display.

Anyway, I'd be happy to hear if you found a fix and what your root cause ended up being. It seems like a new cable ($60?) might have a similar cost to replacing the entire display ($90?), at least in my searches so far. [Oh, and none of the display sellers I contacted sell the cables. Just the display assembly itself. So if it is the cable, buying a new display won't solve the issue.]

 

this is definitley an invertor problem. Buy a new lcd