Vaio TX5XN damaged screen

Hello everyone, new user here! I've been lurking for sometime now (I mostly use NBR for it's great reviews) but I could not find the answer anywhere in the forum or google.

I've had a Vaio TX5XN, 2gb Ram (actually 2.5...), for a bit less than a year. About a month and a half ago, after a car trip to the city where I study (the laptop was carried inside a leather bag on my lap) I opened the Vaio and noticed a 3 cm irregular vertical line on the screen, near the Startup button. I turned it off normally, and the next day the line went from bottom to top.

Now, the tricky part is, I didn't drop it, I didn't toss it around, and I was convinced that the problem was a hardware one. So, 26 days after sending it for repair, I receive a phone call informing me that I have to pay up 800€ to repair the laptop's screen.

My question is, have you ever seen anything like it? The line was vertical but it was irregular in that there were wider "blocks", which occasionally would recede back into the "main" line. And I think some parts were black, others red, etc. but this is not a cracked screen, nor does the back of the laptop show any proof of damage, nor the sides of the laptop. Vaio Tech support is sending the laptop back and I'm taking it to a technician, but I wanted to know if anyone else had experienced the same kind of problems.

Thanks!

 

It's definitely a broken screen, very common problem. I dropped mine from 2 feet and it broke (because it hit something very hard in my bag). You can find LCDs much cheaper on ebay.

 

Thanks for your reply! I'll try to post some pics of the screen when I get the Vaio back, but the odd thing is, I didn't drop it nor it was subject to any kind of pressure. I didn't even put the bag down hard. The only things inside the bag were the power source, which I always store horizontally (so let's rule that one out) and lots of a4 papers for my major (which I doubt would have applied enough pressure).

I'm positive I (or anyone else for that matter) dropped the laptop, so I'm sure this was a hardware failure.

Another thing, I contacted Vaio before because I had some white spots on the screen, though I didn't send it to repair because I still needed it for my classes. On a previous LG I owned, these white spots (exactly the same kind) were enough for the LCD to be changed - twice - with no extra costs for me. Could I send the laptop for repair because of the white dots - and thus they'd have to repair it anyway - rather than because of the other problem? I'd prefer this than having to give money to a tech to prove I'm right, and then some more to a lawyer, etc.

I'm just tired of waiting for this case to settle itself. Anyway, thanks for any comments!