Screen whiteout and subsequent crash

[Elwyn]

Hi Folks

I've got an X30 which has survived me quite well. The battery is a bit naff but it spends most of its life on mains power, I'm sure you know what I mean

Anyway, a short while ago whilst working on the laptop the screen went gradually white then totally white, and it crashed, partially. The screen no longer worked but there was still sound coming from it.

I held the power button in until it switched off and when I switched on again it had cleared and so far has not returned.

I've got a pretty standard x30, it doesn't have Bluetooth or WiFi built in, but I do use it an awful lot as it is my ownly computer on the interweb at the moment that I have available

Has anyone seen this before, or do you know what it is please?

I've had a look around for replacements (as it would be the same thing, as I like this unit soooo much) but I can't afford them just yet

All help appreciated

And, BTW, I've looked in the Wiki but not seen it mentioned in 'known problems'. I've tried search but nothing relevant has appeared

[Elwyn]

111 People have looked but no one has commented. This could be for numerous reasons including the inquisitive

I have had a few recently without any pattern but later this evening (or later last night as its now 3am UK time) it happened again. Except this time the laptop was actually quite hot underneath. Upon reboot Speedfan indicated the main temperature was 68 degrees.

Speedfan and this X30 only show two figures. Machine and HDD.

I shall have to take more care methinks

[rkawakami]

From the description, I'd have to say that it sounds like it could be one of two things:

- LCD ribbon cable is loose/broken somewhere
- problem on the motherboard

My usual T23 looks like this every now and then:

http://www.kawakami-ca.com/images/t23_white_screen.jpg

I attribute this problem to a loose LCD cable, either where it's plugged into the motherboard or at the back of the LCD panel or it's got a crack in it somewhere. In fact, before I took this lousy picture with my Palm Zire 71, the screen was working fine. I simply moved the panel around and twisted it slightly until it went all white. At other times there's lines across the screen or the image "rolls" like a television with a bad vertical sync problem.

If your problem seems to be related to the temperature, then I'd think that it's a video chip issue on the motherboard.

edit: As to the "crash", unless you plug in an external monitor and can see what's happening, your operating system may be working normally. In fact, the next time your screen goes out, if you can, attach a monitor to the VGA port, press the Fn+F7 key combination and see if you get a display.

[Elwyn]

Thanks Ray

Whenever it has crashed I have been watching either .avi files or .dvr-ms and both times they have carried on running but with no way of stopping them. Even Alt-F4 doesn't work when the white stuff starts. But now I have a spare 17" CRT I'll try that next time

For replacing the ribbon, I take it that it is just a strip down and replace it. There is bound to be info about that here. However I don't think there is the same for the graphics chip

For the time being it's good enough and I'll carry on going. If it truly goes then it'll be back off to Sterling XS for another

Thanks again

Elwyn

[Elwyn]

This has happened a few times since. I have used the Fn+ whatever key to change between external/int screen and after a minute or so it flicks back to a low colour 640x480 res telling me there is a fault with the driver for the graphics card.

Anyway, it's going to have a reinstall shortly as it's going out on humanitarian operations...

My Mums' computer has died and she's borrowing it.