My Toshiba Qosmio G30 suddenly developed the green screen problem
I have Toshiba Qosmio g30(no serious probs since purchase) that suddenly developed the green screen problem.The xp start up screen is green & black/dark gray pixels are also green. There is also some red pixel distortion in scroll bars and menu boxes.
I was using it fine today then i half closed the screen and left it to go on standby or hibernate. Anyway, when i flicked mouse to turn it back on, the green pixels were all over the desktop. PLEASE bear with me on my steps because i really don’t think it is a fatal hardware fault and don’t want to dismantle yet!
1)I thought video card driver corruption – installed new & original drivers but no joy. also tried other various tosh drivers for other parts.
2)problem the same in safe mode so started to get worried.
3)then approached the color management profiles thinking they had been corrupted somehow – short term fix but not happy. basically you can alter the settings to get rid of most black pixels…eg they will be v dark grey. the less there are the less the problem is visible. maybe there’s a prob deep inside windows, startup progs or registry that messes with pixel display/pixel shader? sadly i don’t think it’s that simple.
4)i can safely rule out water damage and have not dropped or bashed it.
5)I then suspected a damaged wire in the hinge mechanism but since i can have perfect blue (without even a single green pixel)i just doubt that any potential damage caused in the hinge would affect only black pixels…..and also only black pixels on all your pcs/laptops! playing around with hinge angle so far fails to solve problem but i haven’t entirely ruled it out since the last thing i did before it all happened was move the screen.
6)The static theory is certainly interesting but how would it have suffered such a problem? can heat / power supply or even sudden hinge movement cause this? Anyway, have tried touching inner frame/depress start fix but no joy yet. will experiment further with this but why would it only mess with the black/grey pixels and not green pixels instead?
7)I will soon try external monitor that should narrow down problem a bit more
8)in the meantime i am going into bios and will try a few other things…some rest for my laptop, a test of black pixels in photoshop etc, and some more static shck therapy!
ANY HELP would be greatly appreciated but surely we can’t all have the same faulty wires…it’s just such a specific problem.
QS remains is it software (windows, color management, drivers, registry, hibernate/standby/start up prob etc), or hardware ( lcd – graphics card communication, static charge, cable damage)
If these pixels appear on the screen as soon as you turn on the laptop, even before Windows starts loading, most likely your problem is not software related and there is something wrong with hardware.
First of all, you should test the laptop with an external monitor.
If the external video is fine and these green pixels appear only on the internal LCD screen, most likely you have a problem with the screen. You can buy a new replacement screen here.
If both external and internal images have the same defect, you might have a problem with the video card. Unfortunately, I believe the video card is integrated into the system board and when it fails, you have to replace the whole motherboard.
As I mentioned above, before you make any conclusions, test the laptop with an external monitor.
UPDATE. September 30, 2008.
Toshiba Qosmio G35 BIOS Update and GPU Repair Program
Based on our Investigation, some Toshiba portable computers have Graphic Processing Units (GPU’s) that may exhibit one or more of the symptoms specified below.
If you experience a failure, you may see one or more of the following symptoms:
- Multiple images
- Random characters on the screen
- Lines on the screen
- No video with power onConsistent with our commitment to customer satisfaction, Toshiba is conducting a free GPU Repair Program for customers whose portable computers contain the subject GPUs in the model identified below and have experienced a GPU performance issue.
Qosmio G35-AV650
Qosmio G35-AV660
Qosmio G35-AV670For more information please contact Toshiba Support at 1-800-457-7777 or a Toshiba Authorized Service Partner near you.
August 16th, 2008 at 8:05 am
Hey everyone.
Same problem as all you guys have had. Microsoft techs worked on this problem for 6 hours to see if it was an OS issue. All evidence pointed to a hardware fault. Will attempt to contact Toshiba and get back to you with their reply.
August 13th, 2008 at 4:06 am
Hi all,
Just to let you all know. After several battles with Toshiba UK’s customer service, they eventually passed me on to head-office.
I never caught the name of the guy I spoke to but he was extremely helpful, and as a good-will gesture offered me the chance to get a new 2 year warranty, and said that this would also cover the cost of my repairs.
I’m delighted with this, and Toshiba have gone up massively in my estimations again. He did say that there wasn’t enough evidence of a manufacturer fault which is obviously what I wanted to hear. But I’m still very happy with this outcome. He was very understanding, and could see my distress at having to pay the £584 I was originally quoted on top of the £2000.00 I’d already paid for a computer that wasn’t even 2 years old.
So I can only recommend to you all that you keep fighting the good fight, they will listen eventually.
August 12th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
I have a G30 Qosmio and have experienced all of the “HD”, problems and overheating conditions. I had my motherboard replaced a month ago. I faxed a letter to Toshiba asking for a new warranty for my new factory board but have had no response to date.
I would be happy to provide other details if requested.
Sincerely Rob.
August 12th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Hi
Same issue
Uk Toshiba failed at 13 months with vertical lines issue, then left hand side of the screen died!, then the green lines and blue screen occured.
confirmed graphics card malfunction by independant engineer.
Toshiba say its not a commmon issue and wont repair it for free, even though its only 6 months out of warranty. Pc world wont replace it unless toshiba admits its a common issue and can pinpoint the cause.
I believe this is a manufacturing defect and that toshiba should be repairing our machines for free.
Any glimmer of hope, uk toshiba contact or stories of success eagerly anticipated.
August 6th, 2008 at 1:59 am
Hi
Ive had problems with my g30 aswell believe it or not. I paid £1500 for it at pcworld and it worked really well. Then after a while it started to go funny green blotches all over the screen. I rang pcworld and they said just give your system a system restore and everything should be ok so i did and it didnt help one bit. so i rang back up and they said whoever i had been speaking to hadnt followed the correct protocol. They then took my laptop and replaced the harddrives and it worked fine, until recently the problems happened again and it would let me even enter windows. i took it to an independent computer shop and they said its the graphics card and they have put it to ms graphics which is awkward when your using websites and wont allow me to use my dvd player or games, and when i scroll quickly on a website it bleeps.
July 26th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Hi,
same problems with my G30 motherboard dead after 10 months or light use! Waiting permanent solution!
Thank s
July 21st, 2008 at 9:37 am
See my posts for contact at Toshiba in Canada, perhaps he can call someone in UK. They have my machine at Toshiba Head Office in Canada, and are assessing the situation. They have fixed MB once for free already, and I am sure they are not interested in hearing from me too much more. LOL Actually the man I am dealing with is very helpful. I am waiting for solution…ie replacement or permanent fix. The guy I am speaking with is well aware of this page. Don’t give up the good fight Quillian.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Hi Guys – guess what? I’ve got a Qosmio G30 and it’s doing the same bloody thing – powering the fans up to max speed, green lines from start up and will only run in safe mode. I’m uk based and need a toshiba contact to complain to (out of warranty). If we all communicate to the same person then there’s a much bigger likelihood of getting this “premium” (ha ha) laptop sorted!
James
July 19th, 2008 at 8:12 am
Left a review here too just for the hell of it
http://www.ciao.co.uk/Reviews/Toshiba_Qosmio_G30_179__6519184
July 17th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
I don’t know if this will help anyone, but it couldn’t hurt to share my experiences.
I bought a used G30 that had a video problem where the screen would start to flash after about 10 minutes of use, and shortly after the machine would lock up. (At the time, I did not know about the video card problems common on these machines.)
Shortly after, I started getting the “green vertical lines” on the Windows load screen, followed by the “Blue Screen Of Death” with error code 0×8e or 0×50. I could boot into safe mode without any problem, but the machine was just about useless in safe mode.
To cut a long story short…
I went into safe mode, right clicked My Computer -> Properties -> Device Manager, opened Display Adapters, right clicked the nVidia 7600 Go, and Uninstalled it completely from the computer (clicked YES to the pop-up).
Then I rebooted into normal mode, went past the Windows load screen (still with the “green vertical lines”) and it loaded into Windows!
A “Found New Hardware” pop-up appeared for the video card which I canceled. Now, aside from running a safe video driver, the computer functioned fine.
Then I downloaded, unpacked and installed v84.71 of the 7600go video driver here
Rebooted and …..
NO MORE GREEN VERTICAL LINES!!!
NO MORE BLUE SCREENS!!!
The computer has been running beautifully now for 2 days.
Please post your results here should you decide to try what has worked for me.
July 14th, 2008 at 3:02 am
Hi again,
To the guy who started this thread originally, please if you read this can you get in touch with me? I am from the UK also, and I just spoke with Toshiba, and they are claiming they’ve never had this problem for this laptop and that they’ve never fixed it for free.
I don’t believe this for a second, and I was wondering if you could give me any uesful contacts? I spoke with one of customer supports superiors, and he claims they’ve sold millions and there hasn’t been a significant amount of the same problem.
The scam part of it seems, if it’s sold in a different country it has a different model number and is therefore not classed as the same laptop. This is outrageous! They say they will look at it for £35, and if they find a problem that isn’t ware and tear they will fix it for free. Thing is, once it is in their hands, they can say whatever they like!
Please if you read this contact me at ‘will ‘at’ warwickshireonline.com. I really need your help if you’re out there, or any body else who has got this done for free in the UK.
July 13th, 2008 at 3:59 am
Hi all,
You can add me to the list of dopes who bought this pile of G30 junk. The worst part is I bought it on the recommendation of a laptop magazine! If I find it, you can guarentee I’ll be sending some serious abuse down the phone to them.
It has never worked properly since I bought it, first of all the RAID controller kept insisting that one of my drives was buggered. I sent it to be fixed, and it came back with exactly the same problem.
Now today, I have experienced the same problem you are all having. Red dots were appearing round my mouse pointer, then the green stripes, I rebooted and it wouldn’t load up without bluescreening on me. I can now only start it in safe mode. I will be demanding Toshiba fix it for free like some others have done here.
Either way I will NEVER buy a Toshiba laptop again, and I’ll do my best to make sure no one else does either.
The G30 was clearly rushed through the door when it was designed and never properly tested. I’ve never had so many problems with one machine.
July 9th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
According to this news :
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/07/07/nvidia-warns-of-high-failure-rates/1
Nvidia says it had probliems on some graphic chips for laptops, since 2006 : it causes overheating and failures… similar to what we suffer on our Qosmio, so it might not be A Toshiba failure but a Nvidia failure…
July 7th, 2008 at 12:24 am
Now as i said in my previous mail (7/4/08)my G30 is having the green screen problem again. Fortunately i am still in the 6 months warranty slot for replaced parts.
Its a nightmare!
July 6th, 2008 at 6:06 am
The day after I sent my e-mail to Toshiba customer service, I received a regular mail from Toshiba : they accept to change my motherboard for free.
I really think that it is time now for all Toshiba customers to have their G30 motherboard fixed for free !
July 4th, 2008 at 1:27 am
I replaced the MB on my Qosmio G30 (same old Graphic card probl.)Feb.08. Cost me 1200.- swiss francs.
Since i have just 6 months warranty on replacement parts i would bet it goes ‘TEXAS’ again by aug/sep 08.
Fred
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:09 am
Hey Pierre,
I would be interested in your class action, I bought my laptop in france too.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:19 am
We are a lot of G30 buyers suffering same problems in France.
I bought mine Sep 2007, it failed March 2008, 6 month after the 1 year warranty : 765 € to fix the motherboard for a 18 month old “luxury laptop” paid 1800 €, that is not normal (to stay polite…)
I’m considering a kind of “class action” in France, we would be happy to share experience with other G30 buyers suffering the same failures.
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Just to let you know that the G30 has the same problems in France too. I bought the PC end of 2006, in June the green vertical line problem apeared. Only now I discover that the situation is hopeless. I’ll never by a Toshiba pruduct agian !
June 18th, 2008 at 6:41 am
Hi again…. Have had the G30 back from MB replacement on Toshiba for about 1 month, and same starting video symptoms are happening again. The mans name at Toshiba Head Office in Markham, Ontaio, Canada, is MILTON. Ask receptionist to put you through to him. He is the guy who authorized my first MB fix. I am going to call him again about my recurring symptoms. Do not replace mother board with your own money because it will happen again. Call Milton in Markham, Ontario, Canada, to see if he can help. Lets make Milton aware that there is a design problem that needs a permanent fix on them.
June 12th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Hey Tab W, where are u located? is your LCD came from Qosmio G30 also? how can we arranged the shipping?,, you can contact me directly to my email,, l_lyric@yahoo.com,,
thank you very much
lyric
June 12th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Hey Lyric you can have my LCD 17in display
for $100 (you pay shipping)
Let me know
Tab W.
June 12th, 2008 at 8:05 am
Hey Lyric, you can buy a brand new compatible screen on egay for the G30 for around 140 GBP (250$ ish), I bought one for my other toshiba laptop a while back, works great. Try here East Coast laptop LCD Store or NotebookBitz
June 11th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Hi everyone im one of the victim of the qosmio problem,, same as your problem, i already had my mptherboard replaced for $1000, after 2 months my LCD broke down,,, now i need another $400 to replaced it, my goodness…
is there anyone here who want to strip his/her lcd from qosmio g30 and sell it to me for a reasonable price,,
thank you very much,,,,,
Lyric
l_lyric@yahoo.com
639208191670
+63 7991169
June 8th, 2008 at 1:58 am
I sent a letter to toshiba headquarters in japan to complain about the design fault. This was about a month ago, they obviously don’t give a monkeys about the problem and are just “moving on” trying to sweep the problem under the carpet, that is until one of these pieces of sad excuses for a laptop decides to set spontaneously combust and burns down a house with its occupants and they are forced to admit that “maybe we do have a slight overheating issue on the G30 series but we had absolutely no prior knowledge of the problem, please contact our company’s overpaid loophole jumping lawyers for further information” BUNCH OF CORPORATIST, HIDE BEHIND THE WADS OF CASH YOU’VE MANAGED TO CON CONSUMERS INTO SPENDING ON YOUR LAME PRODUCTS, MUPPETS.
June 7th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
This machine is a piece of CRAP (G30 175) bought in the UK cost me 1900 Pounds about $2200 Canadian. Like many other did not take out the extended warranty (thought for this price must be a great machine) Exactly 1 year and two months later same as the rest…Video card on MB bad!!
Called Toshiba Markham ontario..Tech said between $800 and $1000 repair bill!!! and 4 to 6 week wait LOLOLO.
Decided to cut my losses…not paying this to get Perhaps a few months before it goes again.
Went to Tiger Direct Bought a new Acer PC with 22in monitor 2 year warranty Fully Upgradable ..they took my Two 80 gig drives out of the G30 and put them into slim housings which I now use for Data Drives.
The rest i will strip and sell parts (Battery memory etc) on Ebay. I will NEVER buy anything from TRASHIBA again!!! Peace to all and good luck.
June 1st, 2008 at 9:20 pm
My G30 has up an died on me 5 months out of warranty.
Graphics Card fried and in need of a replacement. I just don’t know if it is worth replacing with the risk of it dieing again or not. Just so much money that never got pushed any where near it’s limits that now too unreliable to repair?
May 31st, 2008 at 8:53 pm
My G30 is doing the same thing. Power on, display corruption. The video card seems to be burned out 3 months out of warranty and I’m quoted nearly the cost of a new laptop just to get the motherboard replaced. I am having no luck with Toshiba support and am unlikely to buy a Toshiba product again.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:38 am
My Q30 has been in since April 17th and still no sign of it coming back.
I sincerely hope that they lose it having read the problems above. I too believed that I had bought a technology-proof machine and hoped it would last three years or so.
Mine was in its last week of warranty, so based on the info above, I would expect that it will not last much longer when it does get repaired….
May 10th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Same again. warranty just ran out at 13 mths. First and last Toshiba. G30’s are no good.