Screen laptop producing distorted images

Question

My Acer Aspire 5250 is running linux mint 17, I usually use it with a stand alone monitor because its screen is cracked. Yesterday the screen started to distort as shown in the screenshot. https://www.dropbox.com/s/u7hslep0zdmgz7b/yt3LlYX.jpg?dl=0 I have tried to change resolutions it didnt work. I have tested the monitor with another machine and its working perfectly. When using vlc, videos play without distortion but all other applications are affected by the distortions. What could be causing the screen distortions?

Comments

lines and distortions on screen are caused by bad ram.
if you have 2 ram chips, pull out one and see if you get a change, then pull out the other one to see if that helps.  you dont get driver problems for base hardware with the linux kernel.

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How do explain this??

http://news.softpedia.com/news/canonical-patches-ubuntu-15-10-kernel-regression-that-broke-graphics-displays-501063.shtml

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Thank you. I have removed the chips, interchanged them, put them one at a time and there has been no change..then I ran memtest and it says the ram chips are okay.

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did you try to get ram chips from elsewhere? because if that doesnt help then its worse. its the gfx chip. u cant change those on low end and mid end lappys.  an OS change wil just flush your cache but the problem wil return. hardware is failing somewhr in thr. my worst case advice, get ready to invest in a new laptop.

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This laptop was just for downloads, I guess its time to retire it now.

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the law of laptops, when something breaks you buy a new one. if its just for downloads, maybe buy a biggish tablet? better lifespan and easier maintenance plus no ram line on screen unless you drop it?  u can even get Office, a separate keyboard and better mobility.

Answer 1

This looks like a graphic driver. Try to change your driver from open driver to propietory one or vise vesa. Is your monitor cable still hold firm on the laptop? Is it a serial connection or hdmi, try to swap between the 2 if your laptop support it.

I notice you ar using 17.1 and the latest is 17.3. Try to update your system then upgrade it. Its a breeze in Linux Mint and l have yet to loose any data although a backup of all your important data is recommended.

Reason why lm asking you to upgrade is that every new linux OS comes with better graphic support which might help your problem.

Comments

@macdonald is spot on. These things usually happen for a reason either you did an upgrade that is incompatible with your set up or something messed up with your graphics settings. Try the solutions listed here https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/display

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Thank you. I use a VGA cable the monitor does not support an hdmi cable. I will update the system to 17.3.

Is there a way of changing the graphics driver from open one to proprietary one via the terminal because the device manager is inaccessible but the terminal is accessible thru "ctrl alt f1". That brings another question to mind, is it possible for the graphics driver to only affect the GUI but leave the CLI unaffected?

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My advice to you is to back up your home folders and any other material using the command line and do a fresh install using mint 17.3 Mate.

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okay folks. enough with the bad advice. this system was working okay, then something went bad, without a software update, thats hardware failure manifesting.   advising the user to upgrade is like asking him to trade problems. each OS change comes with its own myriad of issues.  the second thing, is that linux and ubuntu are not windows. the linux kernel uses hardware accelleration in OpenGl if its available. if someone ever asks you to upgrade display drivers on linux builds, that person should not be giving computer advice.

again, windows 7 cmes with problems. if i upgrade to windows 8, uo get a new set of problems. going up to 10, i get a newer set of issues. its best to deal with the problems that my current OS has, the devil that you know.

lines on the sceen mean bad ram.

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That person is me and l have done it on my personal pcs at home and work over years and working. I have a history of linux since 2002 and l have seen a lot of problems. Linux display drivers only started to mature recently in the last 3yrs otherwise before that it was a nightmare.

This is simple to test, l advice him not to spend any money, just download the latest ubuntu or mint live disk and see if it can boot land him into desktop

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Ok here is the thing when offering advice on public forums it is always advisable to stick to proper decorum, calling other people's advice bad for no reason smacks of arrogance. Usually people who claim to know everything are almost always wrong.

Attributing all screen distortions to RAM chip malfunction is ignorant especially after memtest shows no problem and the terminal is working properly. And just because someone says there was no changes to software does not mean its true. Human memory is one of the most unreliable tools under the sun.

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Thats true Garikai, l stopped doing IT home support especially friends and family because of how they tell you the problem occured. People lie, sometimes they are not aware that they are lying when tell you what went wrong withe there PC.

techspy007 is just over excited with his ideas which will look like he is arrogant but as time goes he will calm down! Its a phase, it will pass

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i call a spade a spade. bad advice is bad advice.
lines on a display are bad ram
 get your tech rite people. i talked to macdonald. his computer knowledge is primitive at best. and again, solvind computer problems by re-instaling an OS ua a hammer bad advice.

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How primitive? Which century can you put me in?

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Are you saying you know better than Canonical Ubuntu??

Did you read this: Canonical Patches Ubuntu 15.10 Kernel Regression That Broke Graphics Displays??

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nope i did not say that. but, i think you also have problems reading simple posts.

1. i did mention that OS upgrades come with sets of problems. and your example just emphasizes my point. a kernel upgrade (what linux, ubuntu and android are built on top of) is an OS upgrade.

2. that upgrade, it broke graphics on VMWARE. it was the host OS that was at fault by giving the guest OS access to low level device functions.  but torvalds took full responsibility  because torvalds.

3. linux uses opengl for graphics accelleration. opengl makes calls to the lowest level of gfx hardware, minus abstraction. that means and it is why you do not need 3rd party drivers on linux distros unless u wana play WoW.

4. I am a part of the linux open source kernel development community (android biased nowadays.) the only time i ever used a stock kernel was the first time i instaled linux. my point is, i know what im talking about. and uhm...bad advice is stil bad.

some of the core rules of troubleshooting are Never re-format.along with dont belive what the user tells you, just fix their problem.

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i dont get ideas. maybe you do, not me. i provide solutions, that work. what makes it so easy for me to come up with solutions, is that i code and mod OSes and system software. i know whats under the hood and how it works see.

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So what is happening here? You told him his memory was fault, he removed or swap it then ran a mem test and it says all is ok! Laptop mem do not come that cheap and if he is in Zim not that easy to find.


Im yet to meet a programmer who lives in real world!!

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i told him to get ram chips from somewhr else, not use his own.

go research what a ram test is then come back. your ignorance amuses me.

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Memtest is what it is!

If you have worked  with our gvt advising them or whatever you claimed, the results are there for all to see! I have worked with pple with far programming knowledge than yours under different projects, people who produce results for the world to benefit, but they all lack the arrogance you exibit eg http://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/j.darlington
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/bcfuchs

Truly speaking what you know is tiny minute grain of salt, but again it maybe massive because of the enviroment you are operating in and the calibre of programmers we have here in Zim

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ignorant! for 2 reasons.
1. that android device you hold in your hand, it uses oficiated mods i made from Cyanogenmod.

2. a ram-test simply tests if you can read or write to and from ram. thats it.

i'l add another. you dont know how far my programing language goes so dont talk about things you dont know. just to piss all over your lil' linkedin profile, go talk to torvalds on google+.
my coding name is zimspy.

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Not far enough definately, Torvads is one of the clever programmers but you are not, you might be copying his arrogance but that doesnt put you in same class as him.

You do not like to be referred to other profiles bt you quickly point to google+! Typical isnt??

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its Torvalds. with an L.

you've neva writen a single line of code. u r un-initiated. a muggle.

this forum is now off topic. as admin i am closing it.

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Did l ever claim to have wrote a code? Do you think anybody who is in IT needs to have writen a code to be initiated! I specifically chose not to be a programmer for the same reasons and traits you are showing here. Programmers suck big time. Wether its capital letter L or whatever doesnt matter, are you his biographer now??

Why do you want to close this now, you are trying bullying tactics? You are trying hard to imitate Torvalds bcoz bullying and arrogance is what he is well known for!! Unfortunately you cannot match his achievements.

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Ooops! Did you jus said you closed this

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i closed this post. why are you stil posting? your ignorance knows no bounds. i'l ban you frum this forum

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You are more than welcome to ban me not only from this forum, but from internet!!

If you closed the post then no one should be able to reply or post after. So how come lm stil able to reply? Is it because maybe your bullying tactics are failing.

Maybe my ignorance is beating your bullying ;)