Computer: eMachines M6805 (Stock) - out of warranty.
Problem: Possible fried video card (ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 64mb onboard) as the display is garbled.
Click here for pictures of the display.
About 3 days before the LCD went completely garbled, the LCD was flickering on and off. What leads me to believe it's the video card as it looks horrible even in POST. Also, when I hooked up my external 19" LCD to the laptop, the output was still garbled, and when I take a screenshot on the laptop, save it, and then view it on a working computer, the screenshot is as garbled as the laptops LCD.
I've done some Google searching, found a couple posts about people with similar problems. Only suggestion I've read was someone (or someone's) saying "It's your motherboard, send it in for replacement." Which is all fine and well, except I called eMachines corporate and they want $244 (including shipping both ways) to replace the motherboard. I'm more interested in replacing the video card (if possible) and doing it myself. I've got loads of experience with desktops, but laptops are simply confusing (maybe i've missed a pictorial of a M6805 breakdown somewhere).
I'm also unable to locate someone selling the ATI Mobility 9600 to swap out my old one.
This whole post assumes that the ATI Mobility 9600 can be swapped out with relative ease....lemme know.
Click here for pictures of the display.