Hi All,

Have a panasonic CF-W2 laptop, and the following has happened:

1. From about 2 months ago, very randomly, the screen would
"glitch" (jump as if the VSYNC was off, NOT go off/out). This would
occur several times a day, or sometimes not at all. It would also
occur regardless of condition - just sitting on the desk, perfectly
stable, and then "glitch". Tilting the screen had no effect either in
making it glitch, making glitching worse, or stopping it glitching.

2. This morning everything was as per 1. However, got home and started
using it: At first, everything was normal. Walk away for 20mins and
come back, and there is a pitch black patch (about 3cm by 2cm) in the
bottom left corner. Upon touching it, it was extremely hot. After
lowering the brightness on the LCD, for the first minute I got
continuous glitching (for the first time ever), then the glitching
slowed down/gone back to normal, and now the spot has gone away. The
screen is much cooler, but very dim now! =)

Any ideas on what I should do to fix 2, and ideally 1 as well?
Thanks!
Raj

In
news:80b906ba-2ec5-435d-ab64-0f7c00ba8adf@a70g2000hsh.googlegroups.com,
abd08 typed on Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:25:36 -0700 (PDT):
I have never seen anything like this on a LCD except the black square
(and mine wasn't hot). And that was the video driver in my case.
Otherwise I have no idea. If it were me, I would think it is one of the
following:

1) Video card

2) LCD display

3) Video driver (sometimes older drivers are better)

Sorry I can't be more helpful. :-(

--
Bill

BillW50 wrote:
cables inside the LCD case. Your hot spot could lead you to the problem
on the inside of your case. (Ribbon cable shorting on the foil interior
shield). Reseat the ribbon cables (gently) and see if your problem
resolves itself.

Thanks for the reply. After further investigation:

1. The video drivers/card are not the issue as external display is not
affected and none of the settings were changed.

2. The inverter was located on the right hand side of the screen (thin
bar, vertical orientation). This was far away from the spot which went
black, and then returned to normal (albeit, now "darker" as if the
screen was singed slightly)

Any ideas???
Thanks!
Raj

In
news:ab600e18-aa4a-40c2-bc58-2a95d6f17683@f36g2000hsa.googlegroups.com,
abd08 typed on Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:16:23 -0700 (PDT):
In news:gXnRj.24$nW2.17@nlpi064.nbdc.sbc.com,
G.G.Willikers typed on Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:36:58 -0400:
Yup, sounds like G.G. nailed it to me. Check those ribbon cables. Don't
worry about the dark spot on the screen. That should disappear in time.
At least if it is what I think it is.

--
Bill

On 28 Apr, 19:56, "BillW50" <Bill...@aol.kom> wrote:
checked and rechecked the cable (firmly seated, extremely well
insulated, room to move etc - cant picture this being the problem) but
no joy. Got a inverter off eBay cheaply, so will try that, then the
cable (non^ribbon, slightly odd type) and finally, the LCD >

Thanks for all the suggestions! =)

abd08 wrote:
Please reply with the results. I work with a lot of laptop brands, but I
have yet to have a toughbook come my way.

Like Bill, I recall having a dark spot one time. It was the result of
moisture getting inside the enclosure. One of the other techs here got a
little to vigorous with the glass cleaner and it seeped inside the
casing, between the lcd panel and the shield. It eventually evaporated,
but I was freaking out whem it happened.

Will post back in a few days... the only other person I could google
who had this ended up replacing both the LCD and inverter at the same
time, but after testing with the old components realised it was an LCD
fault. Fingers crossed!! =)

"abd08" <dejaonly@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:80b906ba-2ec5-435d-ab64-0f7c00ba8adf@a70g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
1. may be unconnected, but the black patch that was very hot is due to a
problem with the Cold Cathode tube that illuminates the display (or can be
the tube's associated inverter - but my money is on the tube itself). These
tubes seem to be somewhat misnamed because the cathodes aren't cold at all,
they actually get very hot in use (the term 'cold cathode' has a very
different meaning). There is a failure mode of these tubes that causes the
cathode at one end to get even hotter than it really ought to. This heats
up the Liquid Crystal display immediately adjacent to it which ceases to
work as it should and exhibits a black patch. The display often recovers as
it cools down, but continued operation in this manner will result in its
eventual destruction. Replacing tubes is not for the faint hearted.

1. just sounds like a loose connection.

M.I.5¾ wrote:
you aint just whistling dixie there pal.
I finally attempted this recently with success, but it tested every
ounce of patience that I had.

Replace bulb = $9.00 vs. replace 17" XWGA LCD = $199.00

"G.G.Willikers" <noone@athome.com> wrote in message
news:94ERj.228$J16.209@newssvr23.news.prodigy.net. ..
I replaced one on a little 3" Casio television once. It took me around 3
hours and even then I ended up with a scratch on the inside surface of the
glass. The replacement went the same way very quickly. I hadn't realised
that although the thing ran off 8 alkaline 1.5 volt batteries, that it
should not have been run from a 12 volt AC adaptor. It took so much current
from the batteries that, with the voltage drop, it was actually a 9 volt
device needing a 9 volt adaptor.

In news:481720fd$1_1@glkas0286.greenlnk.net,
M.I.5¾ typed on Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:39:17 +0100:
I too have a Casio handheld television (TV-880 I believe) which I think
is a 2.3 inch color display. I could run it from four rechargeable
2300ma AA batteries for almost four hours. So I would say the drain was
about 500ma. I also purchased a cigarette adapter from Casio for it. I
believe the rating on it was like something like 6v @ 500ma.

Since the US is going to all digital broadcast in February of 2009. Mine
is going to be pretty worthless after that date. Sure I could hook up a
digital tuner to it. But that wouldn't be small enough to fit into your
pocket anymore. :-(

--
Bill

BillW50 wrote:
pocket / small format TV's. That really sucks. I've had a Thompson 5"
LCD TV that has served me well for years. Great reception too. So much
for pulling in games while I'm camping.

"BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> wrote in message
news:48172b09$0$6435$834e42db@reader.greatnowhere. com...
We have the same problem in the UK, though the analogue switch off date is a
bit later. There is one area in Wales that has already switched off their
analogue. Fortunately, the little Casio (mine is a 3.3 inch) is now the
only analogue TV that I have got (and I don't use it much these days
anyway).

On 29 Apr, 10:03, "M.I.5¾" <no....@no.where.NO_SPAM.co.uk> wrote:
Right... solved the problem. The problem was the backlight as you
correctly guessed. Cable was fine, inverter was fine (got a spare
now!). Got a replacement screen (refurb) with 1 month guarantee for
190USD (95 pounds) fitted etc.

Thanks to all for their help and insight... have another 2 laptops,
and won't be replacing them as hastily as I might have once done! =)

Raj