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Author Topic: Laptop screen afterimages (ghosting?) and pixel lines  (Read 2293 times)

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whathaveyoudonewithyourli

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    Laptop screen afterimages (ghosting?) and pixel lines
    « on: December 25, 2017, 08:28:21 AM »
    Gif of symptoms here.

    1.5 year old Acer Aspire V5-591G started having a horizontal line of gray pixels appearing near the top of the screen last Wednesday, at where the address bar of my internet browser is in the gif. A second line then appeared next to it, and sometimes a third one flashes in as well.

    On Friday, the part of the screen below the lines (so, like, 95% of the screen basically) started ghosting like you see in the gif. Afterimages whenever I scroll down, or whenever I move the mouse cursor, or whenever there's an animation playing, basically any action happening onscreen. Screen also periodically has a purple tinge slowly fade in, which then disappears after half a minute to reset before the next cycle of fading in. Ruins my eyes to use the laptop now.

    If it matters, I mainly use the laptop at my desk and rarely move it around. And I don't have a screensaver, if you're suspecting something like a burn-in. The behavior is already present right at boot even before starting Win10. Tried to investigate by connecting to an external monitor, then a television set. Displayed fine on both. Also, my laptop has the feature of having dual graphics cards (Intel HD Graphics 530 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M), so went to device manager, disabled one while enabling the other, problem persists. Switch to disabling the other graphics card, still no dice. Partly opened the case to wiggle cable out from screen and reseat it multiple times, didn't seem to help.

    What other troubleshooting steps should I try? What is the offending component, and what are my options with warranty having expired? Much thanks and Merry Christmas!

    BC_Programmer


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    Re: Laptop screen afterimages (ghosting?) and pixel lines
    « Reply #1 on: December 26, 2017, 07:24:49 AM »
    Sounds like the Screen to me. You've eliminated pretty much any other possible culprit.

    Specifically, I suspect it would likely be any number of electronic components within the (physical, in the screen) Display Driver.

    Your options are to use the laptop only with a dedicated screen, pay Acer to repair it, or you can try to find a compatible screen online and replace it yourself. You might also find local repair shops might be able to asses options regarding replacement. They may even be able to isolate the specific problem and replace a failed electronic component, rather than the entire screen.
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    Mark.



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    Re: Laptop screen afterimages (ghosting?) and pixel lines
    « Reply #2 on: December 26, 2017, 01:46:00 PM »
    even though you are out of manufactures warranty, did you get extended warranty through the retailer you purchased the unit from?

    don't know your country of origin, but in Australia, part of the ACL (Australian Consumer Law) has a 'fit for purpose' clause.
    basically it states, in your situation, that a laptop should reasonably be excepted to last for more than 1.5 years.
    so here, we would be covered, as the ACL negates the need for an extended warranty.

    whathaveyoudonewithyourli

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      Re: Laptop screen afterimages (ghosting?) and pixel lines
      « Reply #3 on: December 27, 2017, 04:50:55 AM »
      Thanks very much for the advice! Ordered a new screen, hopefully that will solve the problem.