R50e 1834-J9G display and ethernet issues

[andywit]

Hi All

1) Display issue
For about two years now, I've had an issue with blank/unreadable screen. On the first occurrence I was in Cyprus, when on booting the screen was just a blank..... but I observed that the hdd activity and battery indicator lights all appeared to be as normal along with fan etc etc. Temporary resolution has been achieved by gently inserting a simple plastic key ring fob into the area of the vga cable and the rear of the laptop
Anyhow, luckily, the issue only occurs every now and again so I've mostly ignored it until now when I'm contemplating 'open laptop surgery', including a new hdd and other stuff. I am concerned about what is causing the issue? Could it simply be caused by a loose vga cable that just needs its screw tightening up or merely reseating the connector; maybe its something more serious that I found elsewhere on the forum today about T4*'s that need their graphics chips resoldering?

2) Ethernet issue
Again this is not a major issue as I normally use a wireless connection but occasionally need to use a wired connection. The ethernet connection can be persuaded by gently 'levering' the ethernet headshell, without which the software XP Pro SP3 software claims that the LAN is unplugged.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I value any ideas.
Regards
Andy