Dead Powerbook Screen? Or not?

[nomar383]

Hey guys, so this one is a little bit of a puzzler:

I gave my sister this shiny 1.33Ghz G4 17" PowerBook a few months ago and everything was great. Then after a few weeks the screen began to get vertical lines on it. But it would be like that for a few minutes, then the screen would be fine.

Fast forward to now where the screen sometimes does not show anything at all, or is completely filled with vertical lines. An external display works like a charm and the internal screen works if I hit it like a Nintendo near the speakers.

What do you think is up? Bad display? Or connector?

 

[California]

Your hinges are crimping the video signal. Unscrew them and rearrange the wires, if possible. Never worked on a 17" screen but this is the trouble.

 

[nomar383]

So your pretty sure the screen isn't shot? I didn't think so

 

[California]

So your pretty sure the screen isn't shot? I didn't think so

LCDs go dim but don't just up and "die" unless there is a huge electrical problem or they are cracked.

The vertical lines tell me it is the hinges or the wiring to the screen, not the screen. This is a famous problem on Titanium Powerbooks == the hinges squeeze the wiring and sometimes break the internal wires from the video card to the screen. I once sold a Powerbook with this problem very cheap and an Apple guy bought it and doubled his money when he fixed the vertical line issue by fixing the hinge wiring.

Your video card is working fine as proved by hooking to an external display.

I couldn't hurt to take a look at the hinges and wires.

 

[nomar383]

I had it half way apart last night before I realized I need another screwdriver. I think you're right about the wiring, that makes sense