Acer Travelmate 8104WLMi Screen Problem

When I boot up my laptop I receive no image at all on the screen. I do see a back light but no image. An external monitor works just fine. I used to get a weird fuzzy pink tint over the screen at times that would go away with some playing around with the screen a bit. I did eventually send it in to Acer for repair. They replaced the Mainboard. 4 Months later i started getting a blue tint over the entire screen that would go away after i played with it a bit. Then after a while when i would start my computer i would not get any image on the screen. After turning it off and back on numerous times i could finally get a picture. After weeks of this, the screen finally wouldn't produce a picture at all. I haven't ever been able to get an image on the screen since. External monitors still work. I took the Laptop apart and all of the cables look fine. The video card is a ATi X700M. I'm not sure if i should try a new inverter or a new ribbon cable or if the problem is another faulty board.

I had a similar problem with my 8104. Took it to Grey Matter Technical Services in San Francisco (wrong coast for you, I know, but this guy is great!) and he ended up putting some additional electrical insulation (tape) between the DVI/USB daughter board and the main board. Apparently there was some contact between the solder points on the daughter board and the mainboard. Issue is now FIXED! I love this laptop, hate ACER technical support, and am really glad that I found someone to fix my machine. As an FYI, he also was very complimentary about the build quality of the laptop (other than this flaw).

Don't know if this is your problem or not, but it worked for me. Grey Matter is on Yelp. Since I'm a new user I can't post a URL, but go to Yelp dot com and do a search for Grey Matter.

I'm glad to hear someone has had the same problem.
So you didn't have to have any parts actually replaced? I've taken the laptop apart twice so I know exactly what your talking about. I was thinking it had something to do with the inverter maybe but what your saying makes sense.

No parts replaced in my case. He just used high-temp electrical tape to insulate the two boards from each other.

One thing he did mention though was that in his research, he found that parts are mostly made of unobtainium for this model, except things like the LCD itself. Not sure how cooperative Acer is on selling parts, but if it's like getting a manual from them, you might as well go outside and bark at a lamp post.

I just took the whole thing apart again to see if i could find anywhere to insulate better. i taped part of the dvi board. The 2 boards do connect together when you screw everything back down. The connection is just a female type spot on the main board and when you screw down the dvi board there is a male type piece that fits inside. i couldnt find any other areas that i could really tape. But after everything was put back together i still have no screen... Going into windows on an external and going to displays on the ati properties i noticed my laptop screen doesnt even come up. backlight is on but no image... i think i may try a new inverter for the hell of it...

which appear most of the times when I switch on my laptop (8104wlmi too) and they remain unless I start putting pressure on various parts of the case, twisting the base or the LCD etc. It seems to be deteriorating; slowly but surely: when the problem appeared I was able to fix it just by tilting the screen back and forth and it was OK for some time. Now the strips come back much quicker and it takes more effort getting rid of them.

Obviously, I won't be able to leave it with Rich (JeffinSF, at yelp you mention it cost "under 100" bucks, that's a damn lot for a few strips of insulating tape ). He must have spent hours finding the solution then.

I'm not sure what could be the cause of my problem. Initially, I thought it's the video cable (it may be frayed somewhere - the ribbon that goes through the hinge, perhaps or simply detached a tad), don't think it is the inverter, I have the lamp on. It is definitely something to do with the cableway btw the video card and screen. Something's touching where it shouldn't or is not touching properly.

I don't quite understand how a DVI/USB sister board could affect the transmition of data from a video card. I guess I have to disect my machine for the very first time to find out.

I used to have the exact same problems about 4 months after i had it repaired under the acer warrenty. In their work order they said they replaced the mainboard and that was all... like i said it worked for about 4 months, and then i started getting the blue crap, twisting and fidgiting around with it made it go away... but after time i couldnt get any image when i turned it on. After about 5 to 20 attempts of just restarting it over and over the image would finally come up. this lasted for about a month. since then i can NEVER get an image unless connected to an external monitor.

I emailed the guy in San Fransisco and asked if he could tell me exactly what he did or if he had any tips. He responded by saying it wasn't just insulating the boards from each other better. He said he did a lot of fidgeting with different things.

I did open mine up at taped the boards to insulate them better. but to be honest i did not think this would work... I do think it is either some malfunction with the actual main board or the ribbon cable to the lcd panel. I have inspected this cable, reseated everything and i still have no luck or any better idea of what the problem is.

1. That sounds as if he didn't know what was the cause himself.

2. That's what I suspect it is. The onset of the trouble was imo travelling and carrying the laptop in my case, the constant movement, dropping and picking. Before that it worked OK.
It can't be the video card itself, external monitor works fine in your case as well as other people's with similar issues. The glitch must definitely be en route from the v card to the lcd panel. The fact that when I grab a picture the blue strips are not captured supports my assumption.
Our problem is that, as jeff mentioned above, it's very hard to get our hands on spare parts, especially for these older models. There's an Acer repair centre not so far away, in Devon, so I might go there before Christmas and ask them for help.

Replacing the motherboard is the quickest way of fixing something and therefore most common. But do they bother with finding out what is the actual cause of the problem? I doubt that.

PipBoy88: Did you still have the old motherboard? I really need it, cause I am looking for the acer travelmate 8104WLMi motherboard for fixing mine. Please give me the information to my email if still keep it....jaka@kymco.or.id...Thanks before..

That would be just below the keyboard to the right of the mousepad. I love the laptop but need to get this fixed so I can use it for presentations. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I don't know if I should buy an inverter, a cable or do something else.
Thanks.