Random Pixelated Screen

[funnylookinhat]

I had the pleasure two weeks ago of having my screen randomly turn into a bunch of randomly colored pixels. See the following pictures:
Picture 1
Picture 2

This occured about 10 seconds after I adjusted the screen so I initially had a strong feeling that a wire was shorting out or being grounded in the connection from the motherboard to the LCD. Upon a hard reboot I got 4 beeps and nothing. Reboot again: It boots up but 5 minutes later I get the same pixelated screen. The laptop continued to randomly go into the mode (sometimes before I even get to my bootloader) making it quite unusable.

I called up IBM and explained the situation. My laptop is still under the 3 year warrantly so they shipped me a box and I sent it off to them. They returned it within 3 days saying they couldn't replicate the problem.

I called them up again, explained that the problem is still happening, and when I shipped it off this time I included this letter:
Letter

I figured that if I explained the problem thoroughly and included pictures that they could start to fix it.

No luck. I got a phone call and they explained that they couldn't replicate the problem so they would be sending it back. As soon as I got it back yesterday I booted it up and within 10 minutes I got the pixelated screen.

Does anyone here have any idea what the problem might be? My only two guesses are a wire shorting out or a heat issue, and I can't replicate either of them. I've tried shaking my laptop and opening and closing the lid repeatedly to see if that would loosen up a wire, but sure enough it will be just sitting there when the screen goes bad.

A friend of mine recommended writing a formal letter and sending it via fed-ex overnight (to make it more important) to a manager of the service center team, but I don't know who this would be. He did the same thing when he had an issue with his service plan through Best Buy (ugh!) and it worked very well.

Here are my machine stats:
IBM T-43 (Model 1871-C1U)
1.83 Ghz Centrino
1 GB Ram
Intel 915 Graphics (Onboard)

Any ideas? Thanks!

[MobileGuru]

Looks to me like ballsocket solder failure on the GPU. Do you have a tendancy to pick up and maybe sometimes carry your machine with one hand from a corner? When you send it in for service make sure you tell them to press down on one corner and let the unit run for 10 minutes prior to testing, OR bring it into a business partner for repairs instead.

The planar is toasty.

MG.

[funnylookinhat]

I can't seem to replicate the problem by pushing down on one of the front corners of the computer. You are referring to the corners that are on the IBM logo on the keyboard and where they generally place the CPU identification sticker, right?

I'll try to send it back with a different letter to the tech explaining what you suggested. Anything else I could add that may help them diagnose & fix the issue?

[ciorbarece]

Like Mobileguru already asked, do you carry your thinkpad with one hand especially from a corner ?

Well I did, and I've had pretty much the same problems you have now, picking my thinkpad up with one hand caused the case to flex and damaged my motherboard. Even after they replaced the mobo the thinkpad showed the same problems, only after they replaced the whole case it worked properly again.

The old flexed case used to damage new mobos instantly, a true mobo killer.

[christopher_wolf]

You never really realize the use of a rollcage/internal skeleton until something like that happens.

It would have been great if I had seen some measurements and analysis on that "mobo killer" chassis as opposed to a normal T4X Series Thinkpad chassis. It might have pointed out some weak points and areas of high stress besides the only thing we know about this problem; i.e. "Don't pick it up one handed from the corner too much."

[funnylookinhat]

Well I do pick it up by the corners, so I'm fairly sure that is the problem. The bigger issue remains, how do I get the warranty service people to replicate the issue so that they can fix it?

I'd rather not have to buy a new laptop (college student, no money, etc.)... : (