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I got my laptop back from the shop for a couple of days. The replacement display doesn't flicker (dimming and brightening.) But now it fucking jumps. It jumps during high workloads (such as when recovering from hibernation) intermittently (quite annoying,) and if I tap just the right spot above the keyboard, I can get it to jump fairly consistently.

What is happening and any ideas? Oh shit, I think I just saw it jump again. It isn't even like the system is too hot from extended use. It had been hotter before.

The only positive thing that's coming from this is my padded post counts due to all these screams for help...

Your laptop is a lemon.

I've been thinking the same thing myself.

Now, could anyone give more concrete comments please, it'd be very welcome.

Jump like... jump?

Sounds like theres a loose connection in there somewhere.

Yeah, though AFAIK most laptops have used some sort of digital connection to their main display, yes? A loose connection wouldn't do that.

IMHO, start bitching at whoever made your laptop and see if you can get a new one.

phongn wrote:Yeah, though AFAIK most laptops have used some sort of digital connection to their main display, yes? A loose connection wouldn't do that.

IMHO, start bitching at whoever made your laptop and see if you can get a new one.

No, they're connected via wires (with no shielding) encased in two plastic sheets.

My problem doesn't seem to happen when I'm on battery power, only on main power.

It seems to be less severe during the day, and more severe during the night.

I also notice that I have a little habit of putting my hand on that grille plate structure on my laptop above the keyboard when I do my startups. When that happens, the thing jumps. I tend to put my hand on that region when I do my startups from hibernation, which may explain why it doesn't bother me when my hands are typing properly on the keyboard.

I'm beginning to wonder whether it is just static electricity from my hand getting into those circuits.

Kazuaki Shimazaki wrote:My problem doesn't seem to happen when I'm on battery power, only on main power.

It seems to be less severe during the day, and more severe during the night.

I also notice that I have a little habit of putting my hand on that grille plate structure on my laptop above the keyboard when I do my startups. When that happens, the thing jumps. I tend to put my hand on that region when I do my startups from hibernation, which may explain why it doesn't bother me when my hands are typing properly on the keyboard.

I'm beginning to wonder whether it is just static electricity from my hand getting into those circuits.

Static electricity won't cause that. Sounds like the monitor isn't properly shielded or something. Either way, they fucked it up, and they have to fix it or buy you a new one. Get what data you can off of it pronto.

Hrm. Looks like some power component somewhere is FUBARed. Send that thing in and demand a new one.

It'd just have to wait until the end of first semester now less than a month away unless it falls apart completely. If the problem isn't too bad, maybe I'd just live with it until the end of the school year. Then since the warranty is about to go anyway, I'd send it in.

Don't just live with it. I did that one time with a hard drive, and I ended up waiting till it was out of warranty and I was stuck with a hard drive-shaped doorstop. Take it in and have it replaced.

Indeed. And if you wait until the end of your academic year, you might find that it still doesn't work after repair/replacement. And then you'll be SOL since the warranty is gone. Try doing this ASAP.

Kazuaki Shimazaki wrote:It'd just have to wait until the end of first semester now less than a month away unless it falls apart completely. If the problem isn't too bad, maybe I'd just live with it until the end of the school year. Then since the warranty is about to go anyway, I'd send it in.

Not such a bright idea. As others have mentioned, you ought to have it fixed while you still have warranty. And, more often than not, these problems usually get worse, rather than better. As a result, you could find yourself stranded without a working laptop before the academic year is out.

Indeed. As before, I would strongly demand a new laptop if this one is giving so many problems.

And exams end around June typically at the latest, often finishing up in May. I know these problems tend to deteoriate over time - I'm just suffering from the hesitation of a person who can barely live without his computer.

It is going to have to wait after my last exam in December unless the monitor dies completely, though. My second semester looks freer than my first semester, so I have most of January till June to set this computer all right. Then I'm going to see whether I can get one of those extended service packages to reduce my repair costs, because I foresee this computer requiring intermittent repairs throughout its useful life.

In the meantime, maybe I'd get some video clips of the jumping LCD to show Customer Service, who no doubt is getting a little impatient at a customer who brings in his product twice already and coming for a third - even though their own tests reveal their product has a problem.

As for complete replacement, well, I hope they give me my old hard drive back at least. It seems to work well, and you always lose some miscellaneous stuff you would prefer to have during the transfer to a new computer.

Update: I have the Jumping Monitor Video up. Try it. I think it uses Quicktime. Now I know why I got myself a freebie website

Kazuaki Shimazaki wrote:<snip>
Update: I have the Jumping Monitor Video up. Try it. I think it uses Quicktime. Now I know why I got myself a freebie website

There's a little problem with your site. It doesn't show up.

Computer Woes Click on the only place to click

Maybe Geocities just didn't like the idea of SD.net denizens clicking on the link and being able to access video.

Kazuaki Shimazaki wrote:Computer Woes Click on the only place to click

Maybe Geocities just didn't like the idea of SD.net denizens clicking on the link and being able to access video.

Were you massaging the thing when you did that vid? It was eery,

Mirrored the video. I even compressed it using WinRAR. (dropped it from 919kB to 693kB, vs 740 something with ZIP))

Enigma wrote:

Kazuaki Shimazaki wrote:<snip>
Update: I have the Jumping Monitor Video up. Try it. I think it uses Quicktime. Now I know why I got myself a freebie website

There's a little problem with your site. It doesn't show up.

Here's a tip for those cranky Geo$hitties sites: Put a ? at the end of the URL and hit <ENTER>. Works just like a can opener and phucks Geo$hitties' bandwidth anyway.

Admiral Valdemar wrote:Were you massaging the thing when you did that vid? It was eery,

I was running my finger all over the grille. Because it doesn't really happen all that often (and it disappears after the computer runs for awhile,) if I don't provoke it like this, it'd never show anything on a 15-sec vid.

I had a really old Pentium 100 Laptop that had that problem. That laptop gave me so many problems, I almost never got another. I got a used gateway laptop after that and have not had as many problems

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:Here's a tip for those cranky Geo$hitties sites: Put a ? at the end of the URL and hit <ENTER>. Works just like a can opener and phucks Geo$hitties' bandwidth anyway.

Thanks, but let's be fair. Tripod is worse in my experience. I once shared a Tripod site with a friend. I soon understood why he never updated it - it was a pain in the butt, kept giving error messages for the smallest thing. I could update it about one time out of 10 attempts.