I've got an HP zd7000 laptop and I've been having a hell of a lot of screen trouble with it.

Right now, my screen only shows a basic white background with a bunch of colored lines on it (see attached picture). The few times I can get it to work, it cuts out anytime I run something graphics-heavy, like a game. It works perfectly fine on an external monitor.

So my question is this: is this an LCD problem or a graphics card problem? It's not the ribbon cable as far as I can tell, as I've got two and the same problem happens with both. Hopefully it's just in need of a screen replacement. Any help is apprecited.

i have an hp ze5730 with a very similar problem. I took it apart and I notice that there is slight corrosion on the lcd cable and at 2 of the 5 pins connected to the inverter board. Could this cause this type of behavior for me? A screen replacement would seem to cost over $400...

Here is a photo of the cable. Is this normal?

Well, I know that's definitely not what either of my cables look like, but I couldn't tell you if that's causing your problem or not.

Your problem will have something to do with the LCD screen. Is this a screen you just had replaced or is this the original LCD panel? White screen usually means NO Data. I would say most likely the board on the back of the LCD is heating up or it could possibly be a LCD cable problem bit my money is on the panel and you will probably need to replace. That is one of the most picky lcd panels to find. Its probably a LP171W01(A4) or (A4)(K1) right?

If you use an external monitor and everything works fine then your problem is most likly not going to be your video card and LCD cables don't really go bad too often unless you are opening up the laptop just for fun

If you have a hard time finding a panel for your laptop let me know. If you deside you don't want to fix your laptop cause it isn't worth it let me know. We will give you something for it. I could use it as a backing up for a testing bed.

Good luck

Dave
(800)805-0062

you could also send an email to purchasing@laptopsetc.com. They usually buy in bulk but they may give you something for it.

Actually dcarroll, that is incorrect. It turns it out it was the video card, which I was able to get replaced free of charge, and that fixed all my problems.

Good to hear you got it fixed. Dcarroll was spot on with mine. I had to get a replacement LCD (after trying new cable and inverter). Wound up costing a bit under $200 total.
Thanks!

Hi
I have a similar problem with my Thinkpad G41. After a drop at the airport, all I can see in the LCD are vertical lines that change color and width according to the graphics being shown at the moment. The external monitor works fine.
Did your screen lines change as well. How hard was it to replace the video card?
Thnaks
Sergio

Mine did seem to change somewhat. As far as how hard it was, I couldn't tell you because I didn't do it. After some research, I found it was a design flaw and HP replaced it for free. As far as I know, it's pretty difficult to change a video card in a laptop without really knowing what you're doing.

Sergio51 i had a similar thing with an old R30 (this was in like 2002)

It turned out the card overheated and damaged itself