Laptop Screen Issues

[Hufigyed]

I'm trying to find out whats wrong with this Toshiba L300 running Windows 7. Randomly and infrequently it'll have these vertical bars of what seems like either garbled text or squished graphics. The garbled stuff that appears flickers in some areas, and parts of the screen will flicker in other areas for a split second. Like the icons on the side will flicker every now and then for a few milliseconds in the centre of the screen. It's kind of hard to explain, I'll attach pictures. Is this faulty hardware (graphics chip, screen) or could it be a driver issue?

[glc]

First thing you try is an external monitor to see if it's a screen issue or video adapter issue.

[Hufigyed]

I will see what I can do. The problem is thats it's my dad's laptop so i probably won't be there when it happens. It happens about once a week or less and lasts only a few minutes but I'll see if I can catch it.

In the mean time is there anything else I could try? Could drivers be the issue?

I'm pretty sure the laptop is still under warranty with Toshiba but I figured since it is an intermittent issue they likely won't be able to recreate it. Do you think they would still replace parts or try to fix? Would the pictures be proof enough?

Thanks

[Hufigyed]

I was able to catch it in time hook up a monitor and the same thing happens on the monitor. Every time that it has happened was right after the computer woke up from sleep mode. Unplugging the power cord seems to make it go away.

So I suppose this means it is a video adapter issue. Is that anything replaceable or is it part on the motherboard.

[glc]

Integrated with the system chipset on the motherboard. Simple fix - don't use sleep mode.