Blurred bands in laptop display

[Pteryxx]

Greetings all, My laptop monitor just started to show blurring in narrow horizontal bands - i.e. when reading text, one line is sharp, then the next one is blurred, then the next one is sharp, and so on for the whole screen. Scrolling up and down shows that the blurred areas are part of the screen, not the document - the same areas of the screen are blurred no matter what text is shown there. What on earth is going on? I haven't reset anything lately, but I've been carrying this thing around in my backpack for months. Machine is a Dell Inspiron 8200, heavily used for work and play.

-Thanks, Pteryxx

[oalee]

Maybe there's something wrong with your LCD display, you should get it checked out.

[i686-linux]

The inspiron 8x00 series is commonly known for having screen issues. The hinges flat out suck. I had a Dell technician come out to my house one time (it came with my warranty at the time) and he even said that the 8x00 series is known to have issues because the hinges are too small for the screen and the chasis. As far as I can remember there are also only three screws for the hinges. Quite an odd number if you ask me! If your laptop is covered under a warranty, then let them know that there is an issue with your screen. If you are unsure of your warranty status, you can always go to http://support.dell.com and lookup your warranty information using the "service tag." I believe that we had someone with a problem with the 8200 screen in here not too long ago. Mine is starting to get shot out too. The lid closing/opening doesn't always trip the sensor to tell the laptop to turn the screen back on. Occasionally I have to close and open it again. Hopefully, your laptop is still covered under warranty. If not, find a replacement on Ebay and install it, or have someone else install it for you. Not sure the asking price, but I'm pretty sure it's a lot cheaper than going through Dell for a replacement if it's not under warranty anymore. Good luck, and let us know what happens.

[Pteryxx]

Thanks, that's what I was looking for. I'll be out of town for a week - me and faithful 8200 on duty at Steel Conflict - but after that I'll let y'all know what I find out.

One last question - is this blurring likely to get worse quickly, as in weeks? If not, I can endure it for however long it takes to save up the repair funds.

-Thanks, Pteryxx

[i686-linux]

It is quite possible that the issue could get worse.

[Pteryxx]

Well everything is fine, though now I feel pretty silly. Turns out there's nothing wrong with my monitor at all, the blurring was caused by the screen being set at a strange resolution (1280 x 1024) instead of its normal 1400 x 1050. This was a side effect of my sig other, unbeknownst to me, using the laptop to play a DVD through an attached big honking desktop monitor.

Thanks gang, and I know where to look for future problems. -Pteryxx

[harmony671]

Thanks for the resolution tip, fixed my Dell right up :)