a sony vaio pcg-grt29zp with a screen flicker was brought to me to be fixed [for other reasons]. The screen is perfect sometimes but when the LCD is moved it flickers...with wavy lines.
There is a panel that can be removed above the keyboard...when this panel is pushed down the screen returns to perfect...It is right above the f4 and f5 keys..as a matter of fact if I hold those keys down hard the screen agains turns perfect..when i removed the panel there is a cable that look like a power cable it has a ground wire screwed in and the rest of the cable is attached to a plastic connector which appears to be plugged in tight...and plugs to the side..so pressing down would not make it tighter
Any ideas on how to troubleshoot this?
thanks
Jan

Hello Cyberjan,

In my somewhat limited experience with laptop hardware, I have seen this problem is almost always connected to a lot of play in the monitor hinges. When you move the monitor to open or close it, is there a space between the time you start moving the monitor and the time you actually feel the hinges begin to "tighten" or "catch." In other words, can you move the monitor a little bit without it actually staying in that position?

Basically, the optimal situation is that any amount of movement in the monitor will change it exactly to that position. The monitor hinges should always be tight. If there is play in the monitor hinges the problem is there isn't any slack in the monitor cable. Being that it is a laptop, there is no room for slack, the video cable length is measured exactly. So when the monitor moves slightly, it will pull on the video cable and weaken the connection between the cable, and the video port.

As far as correcting this, I do not know specifically how to adjust the monitor hinges and get them back to normal. You will have to try to find a maintenance manual for that model. Also, the hinges could be damaged enough to where you can't adjust it and you may have to replace the hinges entirely. All this of course if I am correct about the hinges being the problem.

Hope any of that info helps you