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On a thinkpad L412, running xubuntu 15.04, I get various strange atrifacts on the screen, mostly stripes. It can realiably be triggered by moving the mouse pointer to the upper left corner. It also shows up around icons as single short stripes. Sometimes, the screen flashes wildly. The strange thing is, it seems to depend on the kind of software I use. A xfce terminal seems not to do much trouble, but a webbrowser causes catastrophic effects, after running a few minutes: webbroser

I can then switch the virtual desktop with keeboard shortcuts, and the flashing goes away. If I switch back to the browser window, the flashing is back. I can kill the browser, the flashing is gone.

Also, it seems to be triggered by reaching edges of the screen with the mouse, the upper right corner seems most sensitive.

I had similar experience with fedora, so it looks a bit like a hardware issue. Without knowing anything about the working of lcd panels, I would expect a more regular flashing, not to be dependent on the screen area and application in use. So I am not completly convinced - couldn't it also be an issue with the graphics driver?

Any thoughts about this? Anything I could do except get a new computer?

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    I'm guessing here, but stuff like that happens when the cable is loose. Another thing I'd try is switching to a VT to see what happens and/or turning off hardware acceration in the browser
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Sep 8, 2015 at 8:02
  • The cable would be the one connecting the lcd panel in the lid?
    – Isaac
    Sep 8, 2015 at 8:50
  • yup, or to the motherboard.
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Sep 8, 2015 at 9:38
  • I still did not get the time to check the cable, but currently the problem is gone, so that sure looks like a loose cable.
    – Isaac
    Sep 11, 2015 at 11:18
  • Looks like it was the connector on the motherboard - I will post a picture. Thank you very much @JourneymanGeek for the hint - it saved me quite a bit of money :)
    – Isaac
    Sep 15, 2015 at 19:04

1 Answer 1

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Following @JourneymanGeek s advice, I checked the cabeling of the lcd panel. I started out with a youtube DIY video for the panel side of the cable. That side seemed to be pritty firm. I then followed the thinkpad l412 service manual on how to remove the Palm rest, where I finally found (with a bit of luck) the other end of the monitor cable:enter image description here

The lower end of the yellowish thingy (for the color blind: below the "Strg" and Windows key) is actually a plug and seemed to be a bit loose. I pushed it back in, and since the symptons have vanished.

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    Your welcome. Its pretty neat that you've documented it, since it was a completely wild guess on my part.
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Sep 16, 2015 at 10:54

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