Thin blue line on LCD screne

This weekend, a thin blue line started to show up on my laptop (Toshiba Satellite) monitor. The line runs stright up & down through the center of the screen. It looks like a guide line you would use in photoshop, only it there all the time, no mater what program you are using. At first, it would blink on and off, but now it's there pretty much all the time.

Any idea what caused this or if there is an easy fix?

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Originally Posted by mjs1973

This weekend, a thin blue line started to show up on my laptop (Toshiba Satellite) monitor. The line runs stright up & down through the center of the screen. It looks like a guide line you would use in photoshop, only it there all the time, no mater what program you are using. At first, it would blink on and off, but now it's there pretty much all the time.

Any idea what caused this or if there is an easy fix?

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Sounds like a failing computer screen. Have you called Toshiba tech support?

Sort of. I called them, but I didn't have the serial # from the bottom of my computer, and since I was using it at the time, I didn't want to turn it over and look at it. :) That and the $35 charge were enough to make me hang up. I'll call them back this week and see what they say.

I just got off the phone with Toshiba. Their suggestion was to take it to Circuit City or Office Depot to have someone look at it...:mad2:

Looks like my thin blue line was lonely and now has company. A thin bright green line has now joined the party on my monitor...

Could be one of two things - it could be a failing screen or it could be a bad graphics chip.

The party on my screen has now turned into a threesome. I will take it in when I get a chance. Things are pretty crazy right now, but hopefully next week or the week after I will have the time to get it looked at.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mjs1973

The party on my screen has now turned into a threesome. I will take it in when I get a chance. Things are pretty crazy right now, but hopefully next week or the week after I will have the time to get it looked at.

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Definitely sounds like a problem with the video chip on the motherboard. Did your computer come with PC Doctor installed on it? If so, run the video tests and see what comes up. You could have some bad video memory or a problem with the GPU.

Thanks for the advice Sean. I'm not sure if I have PC Doctor or not. I will look for it when I get home tonight.

Did you find out what the culprit was?

No, I haven't had time to have it looked at yet... I may just plug my CRT monitor into the laptop to see if they lines show up on there. Just not enough hours in the day to get everything done. I'll post my findings here when I find out anything new. Thanks for asking.

Update: A 4th line has joined the anoying horizontal party on my monitor. :mad2:

I still have not had time to get this thing looked at, but I did plug my CRT monitor into my laptop. I expanded my display across both screens, and the lines didn't move. they stayed right were there were on my laptops LCD screen.

What does that mean? I don't know... but I bet it's not going to be cheap.

And then there were 5...

I finally had time to take my laptop in to have it looked at by the Geek Squad. The Geek I talked to said that it's a hardware problem, and that they don't open them up. They will have to send it into their service center to get an estimate, and to do the repair. He said the turn around time will be about 3 weeks. I have a big project I'm working on right now, so I can't be without my laptop, but as soon as I'm done with that, and have everything on my computer is backed up, I will send it in.

I now have 7 lines on my monitor, and it's getting VERY distracting.

Still holding strong with 7 lines.

I finally got everything backed up to the point where I felt comfortable sending in my laptop to have it fixed. I showed it to a one of the guys at the Geek Squad, and he said that they will have to replace the LCD screen, and it could cost as much as $500 or even more. I asked him if it could be the video card, and he said that it was possible, but since the video card is built into the mother board, he figured it would be about the same price to fix as replacing the LCD screen. His advice was to take it home and keep using it, and to put the money towards a new computer.

So, I guess I will just have to live with the rainbow on my monitor for now. I could plug another monitor into the laptop and use that, but I don't feel like spending the money on one of those right now either.

I guess I'll just start saving my pennies.

Chipset issues tend to show up in less regular ways. Most likely this is a failing cable. The data cable driving the screen is a very thin ribbon and they do wear out and start cracking wit age, Once a rack develops, it can spread through the ribbon, affecting trace after trace.

Not sure if you can replace the cable alone or not, but the Geek Squad employee was realistic in the quote for the screen. A laptop's screen typically accounts for half of the cost of the machine, give or take. By far, they are the most expensive single component in the entire unit.

Good luck, I hope you get it straightened out.

Thanks for the info Sebastian. I think I'm just going to live with it for the time being...