Re: Acer Aspire 5630 Laptop screen/display problem

[Paul]

Got the above laptop and it's just developed a problem with the
screen/display - there's a 65mm column at the right-hand side of the display
that's gone dark. Applications open up properly and you can see the whole
width of the app, but it doesn't go the whole width of the screen - sort of
full display but not full screen if you see what I mean. Also, don't know if
it's relevant or not but the taskbar at the bottom seems to be twice as tall
as normal and isn't drag-able back to it's usual size - cursor also distorts
in this area.

I'm not explaining it very well, so have a look at this photo:

http://s137.photobucket.com/albums/q235/darkdoo/?action=view&current=laptop1.jpg

At first I thought it may be a display driver issue but I've uninstalled and
reinstalled without success. I've also used a program called #1-TuffTest Pro
(http://www.tufftest.com/ttp01.htm) that is self-booting, operating system
independent and never goes anywhere near Windows, but shows the same
results, so I would say that that rules out any Windows driver issues.
Picture of that test here:

http://s137.photobucket.com/albums/q235/darkdoo/?action=view&current=laptop2.jpg

Any ideas what's wrong and how to fix it?

TIA,

Pete

Have you done a graphics driver update recently ?

It looks like a mismatch, between the actual LCD panel,
and what the software thinks it is driving.

Paul

 

[Fixer]

No - uninstalled and reinstalled driver to try to fix the problem, but not
updated.


Yeah, I'd agree with you there Paul - except for the fact that I've even
used the Recovery CD/Partition to restore the laptop to the state it was
in when it left the factory and the display is still faulty even then.

Ok the way to tell if its hardware or software causing the problem is when
the machine starts to boot drop into the BIOS whatever it is for your
laptop, F2 for Dells , Del for some others but anyway whatever it is for
your machine. If the problem is there in when you look in the BIOS its the
LCD panel or Cable or Motherboard port. IF it's not there then it's a
driver/application, error. Of course you could also connect it to an
external monitor and again if its there then its the grapghics card or
motherboard port or software/drivers and if its not there then it's the LCD
or cable

 

[Barry Watzman]

Can you post a screen shot of what the BIOS looks like?

Is there any chance that at some point someone replaced the LCD panel
with a different model?

 

[Barry Watzman]

Well, I take back what I said about it being a driver issue. It's
clearly a hardware issue. Any chance that it was flashed with the wrong
bios or that someone changed the LCD panel?

 

[Paul]

PS, just flashed BIOS from V2.90 to 3.60 and VGA BIOS from Intel V1264 to
V1377 - but no different.

If you run the monitor info program here, without the external monitor
connected, and with just the internal LCD panel, does it say the
panel is 1280 x 800 ? An EDID might be a way for the laptop
manufacturer, to provide plug and play info about the panel,
its native size and resolutions. Not having an EDID on some
I2C bus, is not the end of the world, and is not a defect.

http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/moninfo.shtm

This article mentions that the BIOS can declare some info
about the panel, using an ACPI entry. The BIOS passes ACPI tables
to the operating system. You can look in Device Manager, or
alternately, use Everest Free Edition, to dump a text file
with a lot of that stuff.

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/mobiledisplay.mspx

http://majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

I also noticed, when looking at the Intel driver on the
Acer 5630 download page (acer.co.uk), that it has an option
to define the resolution and refresh rate during installation.
Which is a pretty strange option to see. You'd think that
info would be fixed in some other way. Maybe it is for
development purposes or something, or used to override
some default ?

Paul

 

[Fixer]

For christs sake stop trying to reinvent the wheel. The problem has been
solved he has the answer, its the panel or cable he knows what it is stop
confusing the guy

 

[Paul]

Right Paul, we're getting into major stuff that I know nothing about here
mate )

Having run the moninfo program you mention above, there seems to be varying
info (mentions Philips, NEC, Microsoft - can't all have manufactured it can
they?) so I'll apologise now for making this post so long but I thought
you'd need all the info. Here's a "cut and paste" from that program:

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

LPL0000 (registry)

Monitor
Windows description...... Plug and Play Monitor
Manufacturer............. LPL
Plug and Play ID......... LPL0000
Data string.............. LGPhilipsLCD LP154W01-TLA1

Screen size.............. 330 x 210 mm (15.4 in)
Preferred timing......... Yes
Native/preferred timing.. 1280x800p at 60Hz
Modeline............... "1280x800" 71.250 1280 1328 1360 1440 800 802
808 823 -hsync -vsync


Thanks again for your time mate,

Pete

The second entry (LPL0000) looks like the info for
the panel (LGPhilipsLCD LP154W01-TLA1 15.4") and it
looks OK, because it is 1280 x 800. So that doesn't explain
it.

Paul

 

[Barry Watzman]

I don't believe that it is either the cable or the panel (in the sense
that the panel is truly defective).

This is not a case where part of the panel is dark in the sense that
part of the image is missing; rather, this is a case where the entire
image is present but it's not filling the entire screen. That does not
suggest either cable or, in the sense that it's defective, the panel
itself either. Rather, it suggests some kind of configuration or
software (BIOS, DMI or ACPI) configuration problem.

 

[Larry]

Fixer, I owe you a pint - a œ12GBP secondhand LCD cable from Ebay
sorted the problem. Thanks very much mate, and to all who took the
time to try and help
)

Pete

Don't you just love the look on the other people's faces around you when
you've troubleshot some complex problem successfully on the other side of
the planet by remote control?......(c;]



I fixed a Russian TV set in Siberia for a guy who was stumped, from here in
South Carolina. One of my friends, here, was sitting in my little messy
computer room when the Skype call from Siberia came in thanking me for
fixing his TV.

The look on my friend's face was simply PRICELESS. He still thinks I'm
some kind of genius....hee hee...(c;]

 

[Larry]

One particular friend believes I'm in league with Satan and should be
burned at the stake as he sits there, 200 miles away, watching me move
his cursor and doing what needs to be done )

I run my boxes remotely from my little N800 Linux tablet using rdesktop to
WinXP's Remote Desktop quite a bit. The Winbox is always online, so why
not let it do all the heavy lifting and storage then access just one email
client, for example, instead of all this multiple email clients and the
troubles associated with "syncing" the remote computer to the main
computers. Because the tablet's rdesktop requires a separate keyboard, or
use the crappy virtual keyboard on the WinXP box over the net, I use a
rollup rubber keyboard stored in the car if I need it to type something.

Works great for me. No syncing, less wasted space on the remote box....you
just can hear the audio and the link's not near fast enough for any videos.

"Let me check that email from 1998 on my main computer.", I say popping up
the main email on the little tablet way off somewhere. They always look so
astonished I have such remote access. They really need to learn how to USE
Windows or Linux past the basic web browser and desktop....

 

[Conor]

Hi Pete,

I've got exactly the same fault with my beloved 5920g as you had... one
day the screen just seemed to be squeezed into part of the TFT. All of the
desktop is displayed but a fair portion of the screen is black down one
side. I was massively relieved to see you had found a solution, but having
looked for a cable in the UK and failed... I'm starting to lose hope.

Any suggestions for where I can track one down, and what the procedure is
to replace it?

Ebay. Just getting one in to do next week.

 

[hasilegend]

Hello guys,

I have exactly the same problem as the Thread Startet and the same laptop as well. The thing is that i dont think it can be a hardware problem since sometimes when i restart the laptop or install the Intel 945 graphics chipset again the screen turns back to normal resolution 1280x 800 i think. But when i shut it down and turn it on again suppose later the problem comes back again.

I have noticed that when the screen size is normal the display settings show the monitor as "Generic PnP Monitor" & when theres that black part on screen the monitor is "Digital Flat Panel (1024 x 768 60Hz)".

Can someone please pleaaaaaseee help me out here... its really driving me mad as its been a fair few months now.

Thank you

 

[hasilegend]

Any help at all? Please!