ThinkPad R61: VGA output broken?

[vv]

Greetings! I've got a ThinkPad R61 which I bought about half a year ago and an Advanced Mini Dock for it.

I'm using the VGA connector on the dock with an external 21" CRT display (a Sony GDM-F520) and I'm having severe problems with the picture from there whenever the ethernet connector adjacent to it is in use. If an ethernet cable is connected, the picture flickers almost all the time. Sometimes it goes out completely for a split second, but most of the time there's just garbage flashing, erratic horizontal sync and lines where the brightness varies. The instant I remove the ethernet cable, the problem disappears...and when I reconnect it, the problem usually reappears, but not always.

Similar things happen when I'm using the VGA and ethernet ports on the side of the computer itself, but if I first undock and then redock and use the ports on the dock the problems disappear.

Also, my VGA-to-5xBNC cable just stopped working with my ThinkPad and its dock (tried both the VGA connector on the dock and on the machine itself with dock disconnected). The cable still works with my PlayStation 2's VGA adapter (don't have another computer to test with) so I don't think it's the monitor or the cable at fault... VGA-to-VGA also still works with the ThinkPad too

Sometimes the problem goes away for a while but it will come back by itself in time. Today I left my computer powered up while I was away from home for about 10 hours and when I came back the display works pretty well (there's an occasional flash of garbage, but it's usable unlike in the morning). This leads me to think that perhaps heat plays a role in the equation. Bad soldering? But why does the ethernet connector affect it then...

Has anyone else ever had this problem? Faulty computer? Both the system and the dock are still under warranty, but I'm kinda hesitant to send them in (especially the computer itself) because then I guess I would be without a computer/dock for god knows how long (the TP is my only computer at the moment). Also, I don't want to send the HDD in with the computer...would they mind if I removed it?

I've tried different NVIDIA drivers (both Lenovo's official 174.something set and unofficial .inf hacked ones) and reinstalling Windows + all drivers but no dice. I'll try another computer and other ethernet cables next weekend (can't do it until then) to be sure that the problem isn't the display itself, but I don't think it is since the PS2 works well.

[basketb]

Just a guess, but I would try a different VGA cable and a different Ethernet cable. Seems like there is some interference between the two.