Problem with AR11S monitor - can anyone help?

[kissenger]

Hello all. I was just watching an avi file on my VAIO when the colour on my monitor messed up all of a sudden, not just in media player itself, but on everything.

I can still make out clearly whats on the screen, but the colour has reduced to the quality you get when you start your computer in safe mode.

Does anyone have any clue as to what might have happend? Anyone have this problem themselves? Most importantly, does anyone know how I might be able to fix it? (I've already tried a restart, a restore, and a reinstall of the monitor by disabling it and then restarting my laptop).

Oh, btw, when I hook my VAIO upto my HDTV the colour works fine. That leads me to believe it's a hardware problem and that they computer I spent £1700 on just last year is busted.

[jumpsuit]

Ahhhh now then

I have been unlucky with dual booting several Vaios - glitchy to say the least.

It could be a hardware problem - but if it is not immediately obvious to another member, if you contact e-support you may well be asked to try a reinstall first.

Lets wait and see if anyone can diagnose it

[kissenger]

Damnit! I should never have installed Vista. What a pile of crap. Full of bugs anyway - and now I find out that it might have messed up my XP stuff too!

I contacted esupport before I even posted - they're just very slow. I've had no reply from them and it's been about 6 hours.

I think I will format the drive Vista is on and just use XP?

[jumpsuit]

maybe wait to see if any hardware advice is posted.

I had to give up on 3 dual booted systems and leave vista on.

[Blencogo]

I don't think I can add much here. Unfortunately I think Jumpsuit has diagnosed the problem pretty well.

If the problem exists in two separate partitions (XP and Vista) using two different nVidia drivers - for XP and for Vista - and an external monitor works OK, then everything points to a hardware fault with the AR11's LCD Display.

When you say that the colour is messed up, is it as it would be if you set the colour to 16-bit? It is set to "Highest (32-Bit)" in Display Properties -> Settings.

If it was me, I would probably download the latest XP and Vista drivers for your nVidia card and reinstall them afresh just in case .......................

Are you still within the Sony Warranty period? I see you joined CV last December but had you owned the Vaio for some time before then?

As Jumpy has said, Sony will ask for a Reinstallation of drive C:\. I know this is often a pointless exercise buy equally, it does sometimes fix some unusual problems.

Sorry there doesn't appear to be a simple answer.

[kissenger]

Hi, thanks for your input. I don't know how to explain the problem exactly. I tried taking a screenshot but then it occurred to me that windows would only capture the screen as it SHOULD display, not as it DOES (for me).

It seems as though the relative input of red, green and blue has malfunctioned, and colours are appearing in the wrong place. There is no problem with shapes, light, etc.

I would agree that this seems like a hardware issue - especially seen as how I've had trouble with the same screen in the past (one of the speakers on it broke after about 3 month, but I never took advantage of my warranty to get the problem fixed (I was at Uni and I needed my laptop for work). The warranty has now run out.

However, I still have a feeling that the problem is software related, due to the fact that the malfunction occurred whilst I was funning an .avi video file. That could just be coincidence though.

I'm still waiting for esupport to get back to me. I don't want to reinstall XP until after the do because of all the hassle.

I gotta say: I really regret having bought my VAIO. Mine was overpriced, and has malfunctioned in various ways since I first got it.

[kissenger]

I just did a full reinstall of my C:\. The results were not good, nothing changed, the problem is still there. While I was doing the reinstall it occurred to me that the problem might have something to do with me spilling water onto my keyboard the other day.

So, it looks like my VAIO is done for and I need to buy a new laptop. Anyone have any recommendations for what I should buy (please, no VAIOs).

[Thalamus.]

the problem might have something to do with me spilling water onto my keyboard the other day..

Yes that could very well be the cause of your problem..

[kissenger]

Yeah maybe. If it is, is my laptop done for. Or should I just dry it out and hope for the best?

[Thalamus.]

That would depend on what's damaged..

Ask a local repairer in your area to have a look..