Satellite M305-S4910 Screen flickers badly

Hello all, I have a Satellite M305-S4910 for the past 15 months. Last couple of months, the screen started flickering It is not the backlight flicker but the actual display flicker. Similar to what you would see on old tube TV's when the vertical hold is not working. What should be at the bottom of the screen would appear anywhere say in the middle of the screen and go back and forth.

Strange thing is that it happens when the laptop is kind of cold (first 15-30 minutes after the laptop is powered up). After that the flicker is reduced significantly so that I can actually work on the laptop. Seems like heat makes it go away or some capacitor finally gets charged or something.

I took it to a local repair shop and they said they would "try" changing the inverter (US $60) but it does not look like the inverter problem since the backlight is fine. I can also change the brightness without any problems.

Any ideas? I know it is already time to buy a new laptop but I kinda like this one and even if I buy a new one, would like to see this one continue to work.

Are there any parts which can cause the flicker? Connectors, capacitors, power supply filters?

By the way, if I connect an external monitor, it works fine so the problem does not appear to be in the graphic card. Only the LCD flickers badly.

Thank you in advance for a response.

Ajay

Thanks.

Isn't the inverter needed for the backlight? That is why I thought if the backlight is flickering as against the actual data on the LCD, it would mean inverter is bad. But if the backlight is fine, the inverter should be ok but something else would be the problem.