Hi all
I have been given a Gatway Solo 9550 which is just beaut for my boat building workshop and runs win 2000 real well (and my cad program)
But, it has a significant display problem.
The left 1/2 of the screen is fine, bright, sharp, pic etc then the next 1" is a vertical strip of the start of the left side ( Start, programs, documents,etc and its a bit jumbeled ) then the remainder is a repeat of the left side again and reasonable clear.
There appear to be no really dead areas of display just repeats of left 1/2 side.
I connected another LCD display and it works fine with no mirror image.
I have removed inspected and reinserted the ribbon cable with no affect
I have updated drivers and have installed up to service pack 4(win 2000)
As I dont have another ribbon cable I could try to test individual wires with an ohme meter. From what I can find out, the video card is part of the mother board so any Ideas as to this problem any one or just a good guess might help (obviously Im trying to convince myself its not the LCD)
Thanks
Steve Marshall

I think you lower down your resolution a bit and see what changes are coming up! I dunno if this works but just give a try

Thanks Shouvik.d for your reply
I did try lowering the resolution but got no change in the problem
The problem initially, just sort of occurred out of the blue with no changes being made to settings etc On pulling the key board to remove and inspect ribbon cable there was no sign of water or coffee input and all keyboard keys appear free !!??
Thanks for that input
Steve Marshall

Ok let us see it this way. Use a Linux Live CD and boot your Laptop up with it. Then see if the problem recurrs again. If yes then probably there is a permanent damage to the Graphics Circuitry/atleast the LCD Ribbon.

If not then there is some problem with the current OS Drivers u are using(less likely to happen though)

Just give it a try and see

Thanks Shouvik.d for getting back again can I get the Linux Live on the web and will I go right over the top of my Win 2000 Ill sure give it a go
Thanks
Steve M

well u can get a free copy of Linux Live CDs from http://shipit.ubuntu.com but it might take some time. If you have sufficiently high speed connecttion please download any live CD Iso image from http://www.distromania.com and burn it in a CD. next u can simply boot from the CD Directly.

But mostly Magazines like Linux4u and Linux World supply distros of Linux with their complementary DVD/CD so you can catch hold of a copy from you colleagues/friends.

By this method you need not disturb the current setup files at all(Win2000).

ALL THE BEST

Thanks Shouvik.d
I just got back to recive your reply and will down load Linex live now and give it a shot
Ill let you know results
Thanks
Steve Marshall

Hi Shouvic.d
I down loaded both the Ubuntu and Linex live cd router and after down loading "Burnatonce" was abale to get them correctly burned to CD
I can get them (both discs) to start on my PC (running win XP ) but can not get them to boot on laptop (WIN 2000 ?)
Boot sequence is correct on laptop with CD-ROM First
I did just notice an error message on start up (on laptop )
PXE-561 MEDIA TEST FAILURE CHECK CABLE
Do you think this could be of significance and is it referring to the display cable ??
Thanks Steve Marshall

Well this is really strange. PXE stands for Preboot Execution Environment. And it has nothing to do with the LCD ribbon. To add to the incredibility of this situation I could fing nothing in Google on searchin PXE-561. I am really blown out with this error. HAve you ever done a network bootup.

Well I think that the ISO Image didn't burn properly so it is not able to recognize it as a Bootable CD. Though this is very weird to Happen. For now best solution would be to borrow some of your Colleagues already Bootable Linnux CDs.

Really sorry steve! the Linux thing should have worked. I don;t know why it didn't. Ubuntu is really great.

Meantime see if u can get a copy of Ubuntu from your colleagues

Hi Shouvic
I found that the ubuntu CD installation or boot process did seem to hang after a bit on my PC (after further testing it ) so it may be in error although I did a test on it.
Ill try downloading and then copying again.
Another interesting thing I noted last night was that the mouse cursor is visible and moves in sink on the second (repeated ) half of the display
Its as if the video card is sending out 2 or 3 signals ?? but how does the cursor get into it ??
Thanks again for you help
Steve Marshall