Laptop Woes

Recently, my screen is 'flickering' while I type, reposition the screen or just sit the screen there. The screen flickers from whatever I'm doing to horizontal lines of varying shades (It's hard to explain) for varying lengths of time. Anywhere from less than a second to no more than 3 seconds so far, but it's been getting progressively worse since it started a few days ago.'

Someone I know said that it's probably the wire that connects the LCD screen and the actual computer that's either being shifted out of place or is being worn down (it's almost 2 years old now, and it's had HEAVY use in that time).

Anyone have any idea what's causing it and how to fix it? If it needs to go to a shop to be repaired, how much am I looking at paying for the repairs?

I always understood anything with the screen to be expensive ... I could be wrong, but I'd guess that it'll go into at least the low 100s... (unless, of course, one of your buddies is uber-awesome at laptop repair...)

It definitely sounds like the screen, the connecting wire, or the video chip. Or a combination. Sorry I can't be more definite, but basically it takes diagnostics to find the issue.

If you look up your laptop model online in YouTube, there may be videos on how to replace the screen. Screens aren't cheap (even the cheaper ones are usually $75 used, and they can go up to $200+). The reason I suggest this if you are interested is because if there is a video, it may show you how to take the screen apart in order to check the connecting wire. It may be as simple as the connector being loose. Push it back in snug, and that may correct the issue.

Failing that, you will want to get pricing from a repair shop for diagnostics and see how much a replacement screen would be from ebay (make sure you exactly match up the screen model info- it's usually not the same as the laptop model, if not listed in the laptop itself look it up on the manufacturer's website).

Unless its a loose wire you are probably looking at a pricatag around $150 or more (possibly a lot more depening on local repair shops).

And just to be sure I mentioned it, before you do anything, you may wish to investigate the manufacturer's warranty. If you got a 3-year warranty, it may be covered and they might fix it for free... the downside being you have to ship it out and wait to get it back... and well... the manufacturers usually don't care about the data on your hard drive so back up your important stuff. That way if they send you a refurbished machine, at least you wont lose critical data.

If you know how to make a Ghost image to an external drive, I would even recommend doing that, if possible.

For those that are wondering about my absence, my laptop (the only available computer with NwN on it) has gotten so bad with the above that I've not been able to use it...

So until I get the money to get it looked at and fixed properly, I'm MIA except for forum stuffs



(UPDATE)

Will be having it looked at around Thanksgiving, so hopefully I can be back around then. YAY!