Experiencing weird display issue on few rows of pixels. Please Help Urgent

[AlTech]

Hi,

 

I just realized that my Pro 4 has a problem with the screen.

 

It's super recent and I totally didn't cause it.

 

I have no idea how it happened and I'm sort of really pissed.

 

Can somebody diagnose what it is? And how I can have it fixed/what needs to be done to repair it?

 

 

Btw, the device is outside of warranty.

[Himommies]

What's the problem?

 

[vanished]

Just now, Himommies said:

What's the problem?

 

The 5 black lines at the top

[AlTech]

Just now, Himommies said:

What's the problem?

 

There seems to be something wrong with several rows of pixels on the screen. I couldn't tell you exactly what but it definitely doesn't look normal and I know something's up.

[Himommies]

1 minute ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

The 5 black lines at the top

Oh damn I coudn't tell.though it was part of the bezel

[vanished]

Well tbh we can't be sure if it's the display or the GPU or even if it might be software... though admittedly I have never heard of a software issue causing this.

 

What happens if you change resolution?

[AlTech]

Just now, Ryan_Vickers said:

Well tbh we can't be sure if it's the display or the GPU or even if it might be software... though admittedly I have never heard of a software issue causing this.

This isn't software.

 

I even see this on the bootloader. (I dual boot Ubuntu and so it goes to Grub2 on startup to select OS and even there I can see it)

Just now, Ryan_Vickers said:

 

What happens if you change resolution?

I can't reliably do this since Windows doesn't offer me a good resolution which is the same aspect ratio as the display. Thus the are affected would always seem the same cos I can't use like 1920x1280.

[vanished]

Just now, AluminiumTech said:

This isn't software.

 

I even see this on the bootloader. (I dual boot Ubuntu and so it goes to Grub2 on startup to select OS and even there I can see it)

I can't reliably do this since Windows doesn't offer me a good resolution which is the same aspect ratio as the display. Thus the are affected would always seem the same cos I can't use like 1920x1280.

My theory is if you drop to lower resolution, if the issue is the display, it will look the same, but if the issue is in the GPU, the problem will scale with it.

[AlTech]

1 minute ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

My theory is if you drop to lower resolution, if the issue is the display, it will look the same, but if the issue is in the GPU, the problem will scale with it.

So, I switched to a 4:3 aspect ratio and I can still see it.

 

Def looks like hardware which is a shame cos it'll probably be expensive.

[vanished]

3 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

So, I switched to a 4:3 aspect ratio and I can still see it.

 

Def looks like hardware which is a shame cos it'll probably be expensive.

Yeah seems like you'll need the display replaced if you want to fix this.  Knowing how Microsoft has taken the apple approach to hardware design lately I'd imagine you're right about the price since it won't be easy to do.  If I were you I'd try to ignore it since it's out of warranty anyway.  Luckily it's in what is probably one of the least bothersome areas.

[AlTech]

Just now, Ryan_Vickers said:

Yeah seems like you'll need the display replaced if you want to fix this.  Knowing how Microsoft has taken the apple approach to hardware design lately I'd imagine you're right about the price since it won't be easy to do.  If I were you I'd try to ignore it since it's out of warranty anyway.  Luckily it's in what is probably one of the least bothersome areas.

I'm guessing the whole screen would have to be replaced.

 

idk why it happened though. I didn't mistreat it.......

[vanished]

1 minute ago, AluminiumTech said:

I'm guessing the whole screen would have to be replaced.

 

idk why it happened though. I didn't mistreat it.......

Sometimes things just die randomly.  And yes, it would be the whole screen.  They can't just replace a few rows of pixels.

[AlTech]

Just now, Ryan_Vickers said:

Sometimes things just die randomly.  And yes, it would be the whole screen.  They can't just replace a few rows of pixels.

But should I go to a repair place and have them repair it?

[dcgreen2k]

12 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

But should I go to a repair place and have them repair it?

You can do that, or just live with it.

 

Edit: Realized that it's a laptop and not a separate display...

[AlTech]

Just now, thegreengamers said:

It's worth a shot, but I guess you can ask them for an estimate on how much it will cost to repair it. Then, ask yourself if that cost is worth it for saving this monitor, or if should you just get a new one.

This isn't a monitor. This is a laptop screen. My choices are A) Replace screen or B) Don't replace screen

[dcgreen2k]

Just now, AluminiumTech said:

This isn't a monitor. This is a laptop screen. My choices are A) Replace screen or B) Don't replace screen

 

2 minutes ago, thegreengamers said:

Edit: Realized that it's a laptop and not a separate display...

 

[mariushm]

It's not something that can be easily repaired. They'd probably have to replace the whole panel, so you're looking at something like 300 to 500$

 

If I remember correctly from the iFixit guides, the Surface things are full of glue and very hard to open up, so it would extra hard to replace the panel - either the front glass can be unglued and you remove the panel that way, or you go from the other side and remove everything to reach the panel.

 

I think they also have the touch thing glued to the panel so you also need that replaced ...  i'd say it's not worth the effort.

 

If those lines annoy you, maybe you can create a custom resolution like 1920x1024 and have the video card center the image on the panel (check scaling options, virtual resolution, super resolution) ... you'd get  thin black bars on top and bottom of the screen

 

 

[dcgreen2k]

Well, if it's as expensive as @mariushm says, then... Would you be noticing it every day and be super annoyed at it, or would you not really pay attention to it?

[AlTech]

I'll figure out how much it'll cost and then get back to you guys.

[mariushm]

Well, the panel alone is 100-125$ on sketchy places like Aliexpress or eBay

Example :

104$ : https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-LCD-Complete-For-Microsoft-Surface-Pro-4-1724-LCD-Display-touch-screen-digitizer-Assembly-replacement/32808806030.html

126$ :  https://www.ebay.com/p/Microsoft-Surface-Pro-4-LTL123YL01-LCD-1724-Touch-Screen-Digitizer-Assembly/1195761778

 

Any professional service company would charge you maybe 60$ to 100$ for one hour of their time, and opening everything to replace the panel and then gluing everything back will take time. They also wouldn't sell you the panel at the prices above, since they have to make some profit from that as well.

So either way, my guess is that it would be 200$ at the very minimum

[vanished]

44 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

But should I go to a repair place and have them repair it?

Either that or live with it.  I don't really see a third option.

[AlTech]

8 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Either that or live with it.  I don't really see a third option.

I'm so confused.

 

Woke up just now and checked again and there's no black lines now.

 

I did nothing but put it to sleep and charge.

[AlTech]

Rip I see it again.

[AlTech]

rip, reinstalled windows and now I'm getting image persistance/ghosting and flickering.

 

I guess the display does need to be replaced after all.

[vanished]

4 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

rip, reinstalled windows and now I'm getting image persistance/ghosting and flickering.

 

I guess the display does need to be replaced after all.

rip.  I was gonna say good job for fixing it but yeah seems like it's on its way out