My laptop screen sucks.

[Russ]

I have a Compaq Presario CQ62 laptop and I've been having a lot of issues with the screen recently. Sometimes when I use it, the screen will just freeze occasionally, and if I tilt the screen a little bit in any direction it'll unfreeze and all will be dandy. But recently, it has a tendency to act up really, really badly on me. The screen gets to a point where it's frozen no matter what when it's turned on, unless I'm constantly holding the screen with my hand on the back of it in the top left corner, and I have to be pushing slightly and applying a little bit of pressure. I have absolutely no idea why it's doing this. As soon as I let go of the screen, it freezes again, then the entire screen gradually turns an awkward, beige-ish color and gets brighter with random dark stripes through it. Here's an example of the screen when it is being held:

http://i40.tinypic.com/2rmpjr5.jpg

 

Then here it is after I let it sit for a little bit:

http://i40.tinypic.com/afj248.jpg

 

I have absolutely no idea why it does this. It isn't an issue with the computer overheating because I have a program called Speedfan downloaded that monitors my laptop's heat and there's absolutely no correlation between the temperature and how bad the screen is acting up. I had an issue like this before and I downloaded a program called DriverMax and updated my laptop's display driver to the most recent version which made it work for a while, but now it's sucking again and the driver is updated so it can't be that either. The computer itself still runs; if I'm listening to music, it keeps playing, and if I type something on the screen while it's frozen then I apply pressure so that the screen is working again, it updates it so that whatever I had typed or clicked appears. So it's just a display issue. The computer itself doesn't lock up or freeze, the screen just screws up.

 

I really, really want to know why it's doing this and more importantly how I can go about fixing it. A few sites in my limited googling mentioned something called a cold solder joint but I couldn't get a good grasp of what that meant, why it's screwing up my laptop or how to fix it. So please help me out if you can!

[Emily]

That is strange. What I think google was trying to tell you is that it's a hardware issue, not a software issue. There's some kind of physical problem inside the casing. Something has come loose or detached. Kind of like when you wiggle a plug loosely in a socket and the light flickers. Someone would probable have to open up the casing of the computer, find where the "break" (loose part) is, and re-secure it. I;m no computer expert, but this sounds like the most logical explanation. Especially because you mention different things happen when you move it, tilt it, etc.

[Tynach]

I have a Compaq Presario CQ60-212US myself (slightly lower model of yours), and have not had that problem. And yeah, that's definitely a hardware issue - if it's still under warranty, I would send it in to get it repaired. If not, then I would find someone who can meet you in real life (or that you know already in real life) who is VERY good with computers, hopefully with a certification, and let him/her take it apart and see if there's any issues.

 

Did you ever drop the laptop? That could cause something like that.

 

Also, cold solder joints refer to the actual 'melted metal' bits that hold various components onto a circuit board. When a solder joint is 'cold', that means that the soldering iron wasn't hot enough when they were doing it - and it didn't make a proper connection to what they were soldering. Here is an example of a cold solder joint - notice how the wire in the circuit board still looks loose enough to come free.