I'm not at all technically-minded so I wonder if somebody on the forums could help.

Basically, everything on my laptop screen which used to be white (for example, Internet Explorer's address bar and the 'blank spaces' on the forums, Google and other web pages) has turned a sickly shade of green. Odd dark-coloured pixels are also turning up at random on my screen.

Any ideas anyone?


Thanks,

Theo

I'm not sure how to find it on a laptop (on a desktop it's under the monitor or at the bottom), but there should be a setting to change the hue. However, one of the computers in my old school had this problem, and changing the hue didn't work. It's worth a try though!

Fangs for that, Stephie.

Unfortunately, I can't find anything on the laptop which will seem to adjust the hue. I'm puzzled.

My "guesses" would be:

Graphics card/monitor or the internal connection between them is kaput/loose?
Virus? Are you running anti-virus software?

My "guesses" would be:

Graphics card/monitor or the internal connection between them is kaput/loose?
Virus? Are you running anti-virus software?

Thanks, Jo. I guess I might have to look inside the laptop and see if anything appears loose.

Yes, I've got Avira running on this machine, but did get a Windows Alert message earlier on to say that it appeared that I had no anti-virus program installed, despite the fact that Avira says it's working properly.

I just had a look on my laptop too, and I can't find anything It's frustrating!

Have you changed it to some sort of High Visibility mode colour scheme by accident in Accessibility options? I sometimes do this to people in the office for a laugh.

The dark coloured pixels suggests not, however... has your laptop taken a knock of some kind, and does the problem get better or worse if you adjust the screen (ie: physically move it around on the hinge?)

Are all other colours normal apart from white?

I appreciate all the help. Thanks.

@Solari: I haven't chanced the colour scheme. The laptop did have a slight knock yesterday afternoon, but only a slight one and it seemed ok after that. Have I b***ed it?

Not all the white has gone. For example, looking at this page, the Forums Rules part is still white, though where I'm typing at the moment is sickly green, as are the borders, apart from a thin vertical line to the left of each them (just a few pixels thick). The area around the cursor arrow is white too. All the other colours seem ok.

Moving the screen on the hinges makes no difference.

Unfortunately it seems to be getting worse too.

Sounds like either the screen is dying or the screen to motherboard connector has worked loose.

Thanks. I guess I'd better open the laptop up and have a look for a loose connection. I've got lots of weird patterns appearing as 'shadows' now.

As long as it's just the colours that are changing and it doesn't look like actual liquid crystal has leaked out, it's most likely the cable from laptop to screen as mentioned above (or maybe a dodgy inverter?)

Worst case scenario, a replacement screen + inverter (if necessary) should cost about £65. We fixed a guy at work's laptop the other week as his daughter seemed to have had an accident with a sledgehammer

I'm waiting for the first person to ask if you can show us a screenshot!

Just a thought (I'm really not a techie!), the fact that the rules are still ok when other white bits have gone weird suggests the problem isn't with the screen, but you've somehow managed to change the colour scheme. Can you post a screen shot of your screen? If it's a problem with the screen, the picture will look normal to the rest of us, whereas if it's a colour scheme thing, then we ought to be able to see the green too.



That would be me.

Thanks everybody for your help.

Well done to JoMook and Confutatis for making the correct diagnosis! After disassembling bits of my laptop, I found the right lead, unplugged it and replugged it in, and it's now working perfectly again.

Thank you everybody who tried to help!

Sorry that I got here too late but well done on solving your problem.

I am currently training to be a desktop technician amongst other things so unlike others I could say I am at least partly qualified to try and solve the problem.

Thanks Violin Hero.

I'm wondering whether to treat myself to a new laptop at some time as this one's getting a bit long in the tooth. Recommendations, anybody?

Think about what you are using the laptop for, and whether it is functional. Unless you really need the processing power to do things quicker, or to play games, it's probably not worth it.

As long as you don't have a crippled processor, the best upgrade you can probably make is more RAM (unless you can get hold of a SSHD cheaply).

If you're just browsing the web, even an old *spit* mobile Celeron will do the job.

Can you press Windows Key + Break(pause) to tell us what spec CPU/RAM you have?

It tells me tht I've got a 1.6Ghz CPU and that my RAM is 1Gb. It runs very slowly though and frequently freezes.

If you are running Xp and just using MS office and browisng the internet then your comuter should not freeze. That spec can handle the activities a normal pc user will do.

Thanks again Violin Hero.

A friend of mine says that Windows 7 works fast on her computer and that I should maybe think of installing that, but I dont know if my laptop is up to it. Perhaps a new operating system might be better than a new laptop if you think that this one has still got some life in it?

You need 1gb ram for the baic version of windows 7 so upgrading to this os is a bad idea on your spec machine.

To be honest, either add more ram, if the moherboard can support it, or i have to say it is time for a new computer.

Also the reason it freezes is becuase you try to run to much at once. There is not enough ram and the computer simply says "no" and freezes.

If you want to have your pc run faster do a disk defrag or disk cleanup.

I'll have a word with Father Christmas.