Scrolling lines on laptop screen

[KennyC]

Howdy.
I have an old Compaq Armada E500 laptop, and it has worked well since I bought it second hand about a year ago. However, it now has short, horizontal lines scrolling vertically down the screen. Each line is about 1 to 2 inches long, and they can get quite bad sometimes (as in lots of lines). These lines do not appear all the time, sometimes they are there from boot, other times they appear after using the laptop for a bit. Does anyone know what could be causing this problem? I know the laptop is a bit past it, but I was wondering if it is something that can be fixed, like driver issues or something.
Thanks.

 

[Shylock]

horizontal lines scrolling vertically down the screen? are they in motion like a raster? I would say offhand that this could be a over heating of the gpu, which you wont be able to help, and it'll probably get worse if you use your lappy a lot. however they could also be a problem with the ribbon cable. A lot of lappy's have lines going vertically down the screen, this is their problem. I would probably first take off my screen (which is actually quite a project as your hinges are very secured into the frame of the base.) and make sure that main ribbon cable is in straight and securely. This will no doubt trash any warranty you had unless your a legit certified repair person.

 

[KennyC]

Thanks for the reply Shylock.
I have removed the screen, and almost everything else in the laptop =P Once I put it all back together, I had the same problem for a bit, but it hasn't turned up for a bit now. What is the ribbon cable? I saw two cables running from either side of the screen, they were covered in some kind of protective sleeve. Is there nothing that can be done to help prevent an overheating gpu, if that is the case?

 

[Shylock]

well ya, better circulation of course always helps. putting it on a laptop cooling pad does too, although its not usually necessary, honestly, I have known some people who are just silly stupid when it comes to their laptops, using them in ultra high heat situations, blocking the cooling fans, literally putting them on fuzzy blankets on their laps, and using them for massively long periods of times. todays lappy's are better of course and cooling is always a first priority when they design them now, but still you just have to be careful. plus the thing to realize is manufacturing processes are tight, but they always have variance. Sometimes you get a super laptop that just by a quirk works better then 100%, sometimes you get one that doesn't. you could theoretically just have one that doesn't. no one can tell.
the protective sleeve one is the ribbon cables. they're usually flat in a brown plastic data cables. often it's in the middle of the screen, to avoid the hinges, but different manufacturers do it different ways. I'm glad it hasn't turned up for awhile and the problem seems to be fixed though. hopefully it wont come back. See though, you could of ended up sending it in and having a tech do the exact same thing for $100