[rescue] Anyone dealt with a SPARCle laptop with bad video?

[pakenned-list at pobox.com]

> I finally got the PC133 ECC SDRAM for my SPARCle laptop from an eBay seller
> in Israel, found a compatible power tip  for my iGo universal power supply,
> and powered up the SPARCle. Alas, I got what looks kinda like interlaced
> video with missing lines on it.
> [...]
> https://www.dropbox.com/sc/poqs5m1wru8tt4f/eG_CDBUuv3
> https://www.dropbox.com/sc/id0kj5w3grkf4wk/Tj_JPfeTuS
> [...]
> Anyone run into this before, and have any ideas on how to fix this if it
> can be fixed?

So, I _don't_ know.  But, I'll hazard a guess, since I've not seen
anyone else pipe up.

I wonder whether there's ribbon cable (or one of those circuit traces on
Kapton film thingies) that's partially come loose, or needs to be
reseated.

I wonder also whether you need to set the video mode from the
boot-monitor?  I.e., it's displaying a 8 bit mode when being fed
24-bit data?  This is PURE speculation but I've seen things like this
with laptops in the wrong mode (the bad old days of Linux laptops).

Maybe try to install, and see whether you can get the display into a
mono or 8-bit mode?

I'm hoping that my speculation will prompt someone to call BS and inform
the list of the truth :)


Cheers,
Paul