Yellow lines on laptop screen

Vex Willems

It’s an Inspiron 9400 running XP and this is the third time that this has happened.

See screenshot attached

First time it happened was over 12 months ago and I got a guy to look at it and he said he updated the bios and that seemed to fix it. It ran grand then until feb/mar last year when they appeared again.

As I had another laptop I used that for most of last year and it was only before Christmas that I decided to try and get it going again. I ran a few tests by hitting one of the f buttons on start up (I know very little about this area) and after a few hours the screen was back to normal and was fine until about an hour ago.

The computer seems to work fine, I’m still on it, but usually when I reboot the login screen is black and so can’t log in, although it will work in safe mode.

I will try what I did before Christmas again but I want to get to the bottom of this.

Any ideas as to what is wrong?

ps i've no idea how that screenshot looks like due to said line on my screen

Deano12345

Vex Willems wrote: »

It’s an Inspiron 9400 running XP and this is the third time that this has happened.

See screenshot attached

First time it happened was over 12 months ago and I got a guy to look at it and he said he updated the bios and that seemed to fix it. It ran grand then until feb/mar last year when they appeared again.

As I had another laptop I used that for most of last year and it was only before Christmas that I decided to try and get it going again. I ran a few tests by hitting one of the f buttons on start up (I know very little about this area) and after a few hours the screen was back to normal and was fine until about an hour ago.

The computer seems to work fine, I’m still on it, but usually when I reboot the login screen is black and so can’t log in, although it will work in safe mode.

I will try what I did before Christmas again but I want to get to the bottom of this.

Any ideas as to what is wrong?

ps i've no idea how that screenshot looks like due to said line on my screen

I'd say its your graphics card/chip on the way out,however it could be the screen.Do you have any video output so you could connect it to an external screen to eliminate the laptops screen as the problem

Cuddlesworth

Good old Nvida chip in a laptop. Bios update would have ramped up the fan speed, but that was only introduced by the manufacturers to delay the chip dying until after extended warranty periods.

So basically, your gfx chip is dying.

Vex Willems

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

So basically, your gfx chip is dying.

thats what I was thinking. Can it be replaced or is time for a new laptop?

Cuddlesworth

Vex Willems wrote: »

thats what I was thinking. Can it be replaced or is time for a new laptop?

I would say realistic repair cost would be 200-250 with a a new motherboard and Intel onboard graphics(150 for board, 50 to fit). Getting a actual replacement nvidia chip is hard because of the huge demand for them, plus its only going to die at some early stage down the road.

Your choice as to whether its worth fixing.

Deano12345

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

I would say realistic repair cost would be 200-250 with a a new motherboard and Intel onboard graphics(150 for board, 50 to fit). Getting a actual replacement nvidia chip is hard because of the huge demand for them, plus its only going to die at some early stage down the road.

Your choice as to whether its worth fixing.

Yep,that sounds about right money wise...just beware,the repair will probably cost more than the laptop's worth

Vex Willems

thanks guys, think I will be investing in a new machine