Laptop video problem

[mikeamys333]

Hey. I have a question, I was hoping somebody here could help out with.

We bought this used laptop off of ebay. The guy that had it said it had software issues, but in working with it, I don't believe that's the problem... I noticed that it sees to run fine in any type of DOS or setup mode. When it gets a little more graphical, it acts a litte flaky, flickers occasionally, and when you move the mouse around, it leaves little dots where the mouse pointer was. Then, when you go to boot up into windows, it goes completely blank, I'm assuming because there are too many colors, as it seems to be video-related. The computer keeps running though. Earlier, during a windows setup, the screen went completely blank, stayed blank for about a minute, then came back on and the setup was still going on, just as if I'd turned off a monitor and turned it back on, didn't affect it. I was able to boot into safe mode - I tried lowering the color to 16-bit but that still didn't seem to help. Normal mode Windows just doesn't happen. :rolleyes:

What does this sound like? It's a Compaq Presario 1800 if that helps any. I was wondering if the graphics adapter was going out, or maybe even could be a memory problem? Or (yikes) hopefully not the screen itself...... :eek: !

Thanks in advance.

Amy

[Cowboybooter]

Welcome to XPC, mikeamys333! :)

Do you have another monitor you could try plugging in?

:)

Bob

[mikeamys333]

Thanks for the welcome!!! :)

We have a desktop computer too... can it be a regular monitor or does it need to be another laptop? This is the first laptop we've ever owned and don't know much about them, although we've worked on a lot of desktops over the past few years.

[Cowboybooter]

Yep, a regular monitor will do!

:)

Bob

[mikeamys333]

Ah-hah....! *just dawning on me!* :eureka:


SO..... depending how it does on the reg. monitor we *then* know if it's the adapter or the screen....! Cooooooool! Thanks!! :eureka: :)

[Cowboybooter]

:)

Bob