Precision M6500 weird screen problem. Help needed...

Asxetos · Feb 22, 2013

Hi guys,
I have a weird screen problem with my Precision M6500 and i would appreciate your help...

A couple of months ago the screen started displaying some noise, or some sort of ghost image randomly.

At first it was rare, and it was going away by slightly tilting the screen. Then it started appearing more frequently, until it just got annoying.

Because i could temporarily send it away by tilting the screen, i thought it must be a connection problem. As i am an experienced technician (though not for computers) i decided to look into it.

So i took the lid apart and narrowed the problem down to the LVDS flex cable connector (on the cable side). Whenever i pressed the cable slightly just below the connector with my finger, the problem was going away.
I pealed the shielding from the cable to take a look in the cabling (no obvious problem) and cleaned and repositioned the metal shielding around the connector for any possible grounding errors.
After putting everything back the problem was gone (at least for a few weeks).

Last few days, the ghost is back, and now it is permanent. Tilting or touching does not help.

I uploaded some screenshots so you can see what i am talking about (click on the images to see full sized pictures).

EDIT. NO problems on an external screen...

I know it's time to start spending, but since there is no warranty, to minimize cost i would appreciate your input.
My opinion is i probably just need a new flex cable...

The panel is a 1920x1200 RGB-LED type LTN170CT08-D01 Dell P/N: J501T with a Dell P/N: RY89F flex cable.
The screen card is a Quadro FX-3800m.

Thanks in advance

Asxetos...

Edit:
For anyone with similar problems:
Replaced the cable and all is back to normal...