LCD problems

[Kilauea]

Hello,

I have a laptop which is quite problematic. Less than a year ago(back then it was about 15 months old) the LCD screen was changed completly to fix a problem where it would turn off after less than 5 minutes of use. Then, there was a power problem with the charger and it turned out it was failing, so we got a new AC adapter which corrected the problem.

However, now the screen is back at it. Right now on the boards, I can see perfectly, but on some webpages or with some programs, it shows some annoying problems. When viewed at 1280 x 800, there is some lines that are visible horizontally near the center of the screen from the top to the bottom. The lines are about 1 1/2 inches long and the quickly change color as if they were moving. When viewed on full screen, the text gets all blurry too. The webpage I am looking at right now is: http://www.iisd.ca/process/chemical_...baselintro.htm. Whether I use IE7, Opera or Firefox, the problem remains the same. Here is a picture I took of the problem, the quality if far from amazing, but gives an idea.
The whole text is impossible to read, while the menu in the blue rectangle is readable because the lines start on the right of chemical management.
The problem is also visible when using Avira Antivir even tho its less present.

I have tried to use the laptop when connected to an external monitor and there is no problems in that case which makes me believe it might be the monitor is the problem.

What should I do with it ?
I live in Quebec, so there is a law saying that goods purchased should be used for a reasonable time considering what they are and how much it was paid for. It was bought on December 26th 2005 thus making 2 1/2 years old, the price was around 1100$. The repairs started between the 13th and 15th months for the screen, and around the 16th month for the AC. Now there is also a problem with the AC cable, but the company is already sending in a new cable.
Would you consider that such a law would be applicable for me ?
What is a reasonable amount of a time a laptop should be used ?
What should I do about it ?

Thanks

 

[Thund3rball]

If it's under warranty you should have it serviced. If not you will have to service it yourself or pay to have it serviced. That's about it. I don't think that law applies to an item 2-3 years after it was purchased - lol.

 

[tzetsin]

If the screen is only a year / year and a half old though i dont think it would be too much to bitch about it though. specially considering that the screens are usually pretty reliable, to have one crap out twice in 2 years leads me to believe that the last time they fixed it they didnt really do a quality job, or replaced it with inferior parts. Something you could do to confirm that is in fact the screen is to plug a VGA monitor into the laptop (usually on the left hand side towards the back) or an S video cable to a tv if you dont have a vga (do laptops ever not come with a vga out? i've never seen one without...) Anyway, if the problem is not there when you have the other monitor as your main monitor then the laptop screen is most likely the culpret, if it is also present on the second monitor then your looking at a different problem, an i dont think you would have much of a case trying to get it under warrenty (unless you bought the extended warrenty from the shop you bought it from, wich is usually 3/4 years?)

As for having it repaired (on your own)... unless this laptop was top of the line two years ago, its probly not worth repairing. the cost of repairs would easily cover the cost of an entirely new bottom end laptop. Even bottom end laptops can run really well if you get rid of all the garbage that comes with them and take out vista.... or upgrade the ram to at LEAST, minumum, no less than 1 gb and for the price of ram... 2 gig is best, but not more than 2 cause its a waste (unless its 64bit vista, which it wont be) but i'd recommend upgrading your vista to xp, on a bottom end laptop... if you can. (by "if you can" i mean if you have a copy of xp already and can do it yourself)

 

[Balfrat]

If it's under warranty you should have it serviced. If not you will have to service it yourself or pay to have it serviced. That's about it. I don't think that law applies to an item 2-3 years after it was purchased - lol.

In Québec we have a law that protect us against poor warranty. Example, I buy a new fridge and I have a warranty of 5 years with it but it break after 6-7 years and the compagny refuse to repair my fridge I can go see a judge, I explain my problem the compagny will say their bullshit and the judge will decide which party is right (in this example I will surely win because a fridge is supposely to last more than 6-7 years). Not many people do this because, first they don't know this law, secondly is take time and finaly it is a pain in the ass to do that.

Kilauea if you want to do that than I think you have a chance to have a new notebook, you just have a to demonstrate that you just have a laptop that work for 1 years, after you just have problem with it and you'ra tired now because it been almost 2 years that it didn't work correctly. Ask that they repair it correctly or a new one.

I'm not a lawyer i'm just a customer who know is right but don't ask more i don't know more :haha:

 

[Kilauea]

Lol, I totally forgot about this thread....

Well ya Balfrat, that is what I am planning to do, but prior to that I must make sure the company is not willing to give me service... and that's kind of long...

What sucks is that all along I can't use my computer... its the 3rd time that they take it... twice for the screen and once for the AC adapter... Don't remember exactly how long they took it each time, but can say that the 1st 2 times were about 1½ month probably ? As for the 3rd time, I just gave it this week.... the 22nd to be precise. Hopefully they get it done or they give me enough time to send them a letter in order to appear in front of the judge before I start working again.