Pismo w/lines on screen

[sacmac]

I am not very checked out on laptops so any help would be appreciated!

I was given a Pismo which has no harddrive,but my first problem is that when I turn on the laptop the screen is covered with about 50 horizontal lines about a 1/4" wide. When i first got the laptop it would start up with a clear screen showing the ? mark folder (no hard drive), but after I openned it up to check the boot problem, it began having the lines on it.

I sincerely would appreciate any help given!

 

[bluekatt]

it could be the inverter having problems or a bad lcd screen

reset the pram to be sure

also the G3 is ona daughter card and if it is not properly seated it can cause this kind of interference

your logicboar dmight be shot ( graphics chip and or v ram )

hook it up to an external modem to see what that does

or ti might be as simple as the ribbon cable being damaged or unseated

 

[tomlee59]

Because the inverter's only function is to generate a high voltage for the CCFL backlight, it cannot produce the line artifact that the OP described. So that's one thing you don't need to check.

What you are seeing is also not the result of "interference."

What you do want to check for is a loose or damaged cable, or a poorly seated daughter card, as bluekatt mentioned. If the symptoms first appeared after you pulled the unit apart, then the most likely explanation is that something didn't get reassembled quite right, or the delicate flex cable that connects the LCD to the logic board got damaged. Do a careful visual inspection, and you'll likely spot the problem. The CPU daughter card is frequently a source of trouble because it needs to be firmly seated; a little bumping during disassembly, and things get disconnected. Symptoms can range all over the place, including the "no boot" condition with funny display patterns.

 

[Bunsen]

One other check you could perform before dismantling is to apply pressure around the screen bezel. Squeeze the front and back of the bezel together with one hand at the edges, outside the LCD viewing area. Move around the bezel and squeeze different areas. My friend had a 1400 with this problem and the squeeze test worked. This indicated poor connections somewhere inside the screen casing, possibly between the LCD cable and the LCD board. He "fixed" it with gaffer tape.