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Inspiron 1545-PP41L video issue
Hi all,
I literally bought this 2010 laptop for a dollar at a local pawn shop and i love it. I can install and use arcane linux and open indiana (solaris) distros that cannot deal with uefi. The problem is at boot up and when going into the OS i often get erratic screen displays such as bright light around the edges, a horizontal line, or vertical columns with various colors. Rarely when in a program (usually when playing Diablo I through Wine for some time), i get bright colors about the edges of the display and everything comes to a halt. In a short time this resolves itself and the program goes on as usual.
There are suggestions online this may be a hard drive issue. I have tried 3, and booting from usb iso distros. All have the issue, but much less so using the latest and biggest hard drive. A complicating factor is the later hard drives are thinner and hard to fit correctly.
At this point i suspect a screen issue, but can't be sure. I have learned two different screens were shipped with this model. I have the lcd one and not the one with the inverter board at the botttom of screen.
Question is, should i buy a screen, a cable connecting board to screen, or does this sound like a problem elsewhere in the machine? Thanks much for any suggestions!
ejn63
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November 2nd, 2017 04:00
Run the built-in self test on the screen (hold the D key through powerup). If you see the same faults there, replace the screen.
If not, there are two other possibilities:
A bad wiring harness between the mainboard and display - replace that wiring harness first.
If that does nothing - it's a bad GPU. In that case, replace the mainboard.
billwx
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November 2nd, 2017 22:00
Thanks so much! I did not know about that diagnostic. I did it 3 times. In all of them i got a series of beeps. In the first 2 i got only the screen defects. In the last try i got a series of entire screens of solid colors one after the other, blue, red, green, etc, and the last screen before booting into the OS was the unusual lines and odd color defect again. So i guess screen it is. Many thanks, you guys are great!
ejn63
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November 3rd, 2017 09:00
Screen defects wouldn't produce beep patterns. I suspect this is a bad GPU -- i.e., a bad mainboard.
billwx
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November 21st, 2017 22:00
Turns out the beeping was caused by my unknowingly tryiny to enter the OS after the test had completed due to screen aberrations. Sometimes the video test shows screen problems, sometimes it does not (just as in a normal boot). Maybe all or 2 of 3 are bad? I have ordered the screen and wiring and will report results. After watching the YouTube take apart on this model i am hoping not to dig out the board. If the latter is necessary, it seems logical to replace the fan in the process.
ejn63
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November 22nd, 2017 06:00
Intermittent video artifacts still strongly suggests a bad (or failing) GPU.
billwx
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November 23rd, 2017 15:00
Last night i replaced the video harness cable with a new one. No change so i put the old one back and saved the new for another project.
Today i replaced the screen. In addition to being beautiful, this seems to have fixed every issue. I repeatedly did the D display test suggested above, logged in and out, restarted, shut down and booted, using all three OSs on this hard drive and have yet to see any of the previous video anomalies. Very pleased the problem is solved, and just as pleased with what i have learned during this process.
Thank you very much ejn63 for much helpful advice!
Next, max out the processor and maybe the ram, though the latter is quite expensive. Eventually i dream of building my own 1545-PP41L from new parts. Love this model!