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Updating the BIOS — 4 Comments

  1. interesting! It would never have occurred to me that this was a BIOS problem.
    Whenever red streaks appear for me, it’s usually because the data cable connecting the screen to the motherboard has become brittle or has been pinched somehow (by a cracked hinge for example), or there is some damage on the screen’s circuitry itself (usually verifiable by pushing at the screen on its edge near the lines).

  2. I just assumed it was a software problem, as it was intermittent, yet the laptop wasn’t moved at all.  If moving anything causes a problem then delve into the mechanics, but this just felt like a software thing.  It seems to have done the trick, anyway!

  3. just an example of how a physical problem can happen even if nothing has been moved:
    My wife had a HP DV2000 for a few years. grand laptop – kept her quiet.
    Every day, she would turn it on in the morning and off at night. It would never be moved from its spot on the kitchen table.
    A few weeks ago, she went to turn it on, and it just beeped then did nothing.
    It tuns out it had been overheating gradually for those years, and had eventually got to the point that the solder between the motherboard and the GPU had given up the ghost.
    (http://verens.com/2010/06/20/long-beep-short-beep-short-beep/)
    I’ve yet to get the right tools for fixing this. I’m not even sure I’ll have the expertise, but it’s just a very expensive paperweight at the moment, and I’d rather at least try to fix it and fail than to let it gloat quietly at me.
    I’d say your deduction that it was a BIOS issue is surprisingly intuitive! It would not have occurred to me at all.

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