Complicated Toshiba Display Problem

[yem]

Hi everyone

I have Toshiba Qosmio G20 laptop which i have had no serious problems with since purchase about 3 years ago and this morning it went crazy on me.

Before i start explaining my problem i apologies if i dont make sence, its quite complecated to explain, anyway so here i go.

The problem that i am having is that when i boot up my laptop the Qosmio logo appers fine and then it goes into the password screen (this is the hard drive password NOT the windows login screen.) The password screen normal is a black screen asking for the password but now the whole screen is full of white pixles and about 3 M letters where it ask's you for the password. When i enter the password it then goes into the windows load up screen and on this screen there are various green/blue virtical lines on it. When it finally loads the screen just goes black and nothing happens but i can see the hard drive working. I then have to do a hard shutdown since there is nothing else i can do.

What i then decided to do was login using safe mode. Once i had entered the hard drive password i pressed F8 and was presented with the screen where you pick how you would like to start windows. This screen was again filled with white pixles all over the screen and the letter M was all over the place as well. I could not make out which one was safe mode but i knew it was the first one so i selected it had loged in. It went to the windows load up screen again with green/blue virtical lines and then it went into the login screen. It seemed to work in safe mode but there were still green/blue vertical and horizontal lines which can be seen. I then restarted the laptop again and pressed F8 but this time i decided to login using the Enable VGA mode.

When i done this upto the windows login screen it was the same but when i loged into windows there was no green/blue lines and it seemed to be working fine but the max resolution i could go to was 800x600 and if i did select this the screen would blink every 5 seconds or so.
After a bit of googling i updated my BIOS, display drivers, scanned for viruies but nothing, i just dont know what it could be. I initally thought it would be the screen but it works fine in VGA mode so now im thinking that its the video card but im not sure. And also when i rub the back of my screen it feels weird like its vibrating or something but thats only when i have the AC adapter in, any ideas?

If it is the video card can i replace it? if so how much would it cost?

Thanks so much in advance for any help.

 

[Ididmyc600]

Hi

Sounds like the video card isnt working correctly, not sure if they are replaceable in that model of laptop you may have to contact the manufacturer or do an ebay search.

regards

 

[raybay]

When you updated the drivers, did you remove or disable the old driver?
I agree that the video graphics card is the likely cause, if it has one. Some models have an integrated video graphics port, which means the system board is bad.
Do you get the same problem when you plug in an external monitor into the port in the back. That would affirm that the problem is in the video graphics.
Those Toshiba's have trouble with the inverter. Your symptoms are not exactly typical of an inverter problem, but a defective one could still create this problem.
The inverter is about the size of Sharpie pen, and rests at the bottom in back of the screen. It costs about $15 - $30 on ebay to get a replacement, but you must use an exact replacement. You can also get them for $60 or so at the National Parts Depot.
Replacement is easy. You carefully remove the rubberized screw hole covers, and take out 18 screws with a #1 philips screwdriver (use a high quality, hard steel model). Then the inverter just plugs in.
Reassembly is tricky because the screw hole covers can be unsightly if you don't handle them just right with new adhesive.

 

[yem]

Hi guys

No i didnt disable or remove the old drivers, should i?

I just tried it on an external monitor and its the same so im gussing the video card is bust. Will contact Toshiba and check if they are replaceable or not, hope they are and aint too expensive.

Thanks for the reply guys, appreciate it.

 

[raybay]

In many situations, new drivers cannot install, or cannot install properly if the old drivers remain in the device manager. In these cases, you should remove or disable the old drivers, or install the new drivers while in <SAFE MODE>

 

[raybay]

A driver failure could also give you the same result in an external monitor. So you might first want to explore your driver possibilities thoroughly. A new copy of the driver, or reverting to and install of the previous driver might resolve the problem.

 

[yem]

Wil try that out and also try to do a system restore see if that makes any differance.

Ah and i contacted Toshiba and asked if the video card is replacable and apparently the model that i have isnt so i would have to order a new motherboard which they sell for £530 and thats not including VAT or P+P :dead: and i aint going to pay that.
Im just going to buy a new laptop instead but i dont know what to do with the old one, any suggestions?

 

[Ididmyc600]

Im just going to buy a new laptop instead but i dont know what to do with the old one, any suggestions?

They make great paperweights, no seriously make sure you recycle it correctly following the latest regulations regarding the disposal of electronic equipment, or Ebay it as a faulty unit you may get some of the money back for it, just make sure you remove theh HDD if you can, especially if it contains any data that may be of value, never just format it most people buying laptops now run data recovery programs on them to see what they can find out about the old owner.

Regards