Vertical lines, otherwise black screen....... help?

Hello all. I'd like to toss in a different spin on the old 'black screen of death' discussion. My Imac (G4, 1Ghz, 15") does something a little different. Upon startup, my screen comes up black, except for a row of vertical lines about 2" wide near the left side of the screen. They are all different colors, and change every time it boots, but almost always in the same place. Also, after it's on for a few seconds, the whole screen gradually blooms white from right to left, and as soon as the screen is all white, black creeps back in, from right to left. At that point, the screen stays black with the exception of the vertical lines. Here's what I've done so far:
-Checked external video - everything is A-ok, perfect screen on external monitor.
-Disassembled the base and checked cable connections - all cables appear to be snugly connected to the logic board.
-Disassembled the LCD display - All connections behind the LCD are intact.
What gives? Any ideas? Could it simply be a defective LCD given the external works fine? The screen reminds me of what G3 Ibooks do when the cabling is damaged, but I can't see visible damage anywhere. An inverter maybe?
I've been a PC technician for years, with a ton of Apple laptop experience, but this is my first Apple 'home' unit and I'd like to be able to use it again! For now I've confiscated the wife's Ibook. Can anyone help?
iMac G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9) Ibook G4 (wife's), iBook clamshell (junior's)

Well, that's so odd; but it sounds hardware all right.
I'd be worried about availability of parts or a new/reman logicboard if the
video component can't be replaced or found as a separate component.
If you have access to a tech service manual, as was once available in
a PDF format and would have been an original Apple proprietary docu-
ment, you could see the exploded view of the parts and also some good
step-by-step troubleshooting. Of course, since the repair ultimately is to
replace any suspected defective parts, you'd need a few extras on hand.

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Welcome to the Apple discussions.
You might return it to Apple, and ask them to fix it correctly this time. Generally, issues that start while under warranty, but are not fixed, will be covered, but it's on a case-by-case basis.
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I have a PowerBook G4 17" and need Apple discs to set it up again. Mine lost during move. Screen seems damaged, has vertical lines. Can anyone help. I can call as I have unlimited calling on my iPhone 6 anywhere in North America.

I have a PowerBook G4 17" and need Apple discs to set it up again. Mine lost during move. Screen seems damaged, has vertical lines. Can anyone help. I can call as I have unlimited calling on my iPhone 6 anywhere in North America.

king,
If your Powerbook's serial number (do not post it here) starts with "W8" then the vertical lines are mostly likely due to a defect in the display itself. W8 is a factory code and, during the iMac G5 and PowerBook G4 timespan, that factory shipped thousands of units with the same defect. It cannot be fixed via software.
As all PowerBooks are now classed as "obsolete," an Apple Store will not work on it. They will look at it ands tell you it has vertical lines and that they cannot fix it. This Apple article shows Apple devices they curently considered obsolete:
Vintage and obsolete products - Apple Support
It is possible that some Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASP) will still work on older computes but they cannot get neededparts from Apple. As this issue was so pervassive, it wil be hard for you or an AASP to find a used/pulled display that is not effected with the "W8 Curse."
Although I love the old PowerBooks, I would not even spent the money for disks, much less the US$150-400 it would cost to replace the display, even should one be available.
If you give us a rough idea of where you are in the world, we can suggest repair shops specializing in fixing older Mac notebooks, but be aware those resources may be rather scare outside North America.

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[Edited by: admin]

T400s vertical line down the screen - outside of warranty

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http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=89101
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lead_org wrote:
@tripplec, i don't understand how a Chinese company affects the outcome of the OP's problem? Would IBM do it differently?
Yes, I spent 3 years at a Toronto Bank who bought say 500 systems or so plus notebooks. ThinkPad's and Think Center product. I supported did the warranty work while there. When the warranty was up it was up!! Even if a lowly optical mouse fail and a number of them did. Too bad nor replacement.
I've delt with IBM, Compaq and HP. There customer relations is entirely at at different level and would and did on may occasions provide one time post warranty repair even for catestophic issues well after warranty was over. This is a case by case basis. You could reach them and talk to them (locally) and not haveway around the world having no sense of what significance your case it.
There is a difference as was the turn around time 48hrs max and not weeks.
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Vertical lines, otherwise black screen....... help?

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