laptop help

[Partycattin]

I have an older Compaq Presario 1640 laptop. The display works fine when I turn it on, but after about 2-3 minutes it starts to flicker and eventually just gets different color lines on it. Any idea what part may be failing?
I don't need a high power laptop so I'd like to just fix this one if cost effective.

[Water Romper]

Without actually looking at the PC I would guess your monitor is going. Generally, they tank after 3 years or so. Flickering is a key sign it’s going. :cry:
Personally, I would look at a new DELL Inspiron or something along the same line; it will cost you almost as much to fix your Compaq, and if you get the new PC soon, you have a good chance of transferring your data to the new PC before the old one starts having a system failure.

[Her454]

I have an older Compaq Presario 1640 laptop. The display works fine when I turn it on, but after about 2-3 minutes it starts to flicker and eventually just gets different color lines on it. Any idea what part may be failing?
I don't need a high power laptop so I'd like to just fix this one if cost effective.
I am assuming since that is an older model it is not under warranty. You can try 800.354.9000 and tell them its an out of warranty call and they may be able to help you. If not then you can try 800.633.3600 and there will be a tech support charge for the call if they assist.
Otherwise I would go to any local dealer that sells HP equipment (they purchased Compaq) and they can look at it or troubleshoot it. It sounds like the screen connections are going back in that model but I couldnt say for sure. To be honest, its an older model and not worth the cost of the service call.

[Jyruiz]

sounds like the inverter board is going out, hook it up to an external monitor, if it does not do it then, it is the inverter board. If it still does it, good chance it is the video section on the system board and you are better off buying a new laptop then. Sometimes replacing the flex video cable solves this as well, but that if it uses one, can't remember on that model Compaq.

[Partycattin]

sounds like the inverter board is going out, hook it up to an external monitor, if it does not do it then, it is the inverter board. If it still does it, good chance it is the video section on the system board and you are better off buying a new laptop then. Sometimes replacing the flex video cable solves this as well, but that if it uses one, can't remember on that model Compaq.
Hooked up my monitor from the home computer and it worked fine with the laptop.
Can I buy and install a new inverter board? Any idea of the cost?
Thx

[Jyruiz]

Hooked up my monitor from the home computer and it worked fine with the laptop.
Can I buy and install a new inverter board? Any idea of the cost?
Thx
You probably can buy the parts if you go to a service center and ask, I would get the flex cable as well if it has one. If you are really nice, you can tell them about your problem and they might narrow it down for you so you don't have to buy any extra parts you might not need. I couldn't tell you about the cost, it has been way to long since I worked on the hardware side of things.

[Partycattin]

Thanks for the info. I'll give that a try.

[socalmoney]

I would stay away from Dell for a while, they are having problems with batteries.
http://www.consumerist.com/consumer/battery/another-dell-laptop-ablaze-190546.php
I bought an Acer a few months back and it has a lot of features for little money. I would wait till the Intel Core 2 processors are abundant. They will have twice the power and use half the energy of the current Core Duo processors.