Inspiron All In One 2305 Driving me insane :( No Video

Hello, let me start by saying thanks for your time, and I appreciate any advice at all. I am a PC technician by trade and have always purchased Dell products, this computer belongs to my grandmother and its really starting to become an issue for me to get running.

I was brought this computer because it would not turn on. You would hit power and the light above the button would quickly blink then turn and stay amber, the hard drive and fan would begin to spin, and you would hear the basic booting up noises. The screen did nothing at all. Before bringing it to me she called Dell and they recommended a new motherboard which would be $300+ to send in to replace. She took it to a few 'bix box' stores and they diagnosed the motherboard also.

So after my troubleshooting it sounded like the motherboard to me too. I sent it to a motherboard repair center I work with in Florida, and they called me and said the motherboard tested 100% OK with no problems at all. They mailed it back to me and I began to hook it all back together.

For whatever reason, once it was all reassembled, the computer started right up and the screen worked fine. I was cautious tho, I knew I wasn't safe yet haha. I began to update the OS and install updates. It gave me noticeable problems twice, I mention these because they may help diagnose the system. When I would set the screen saver to the touchscreen enabled aquarium, the system would eventually freeze and turn off. Then once in the middle of a string of 30-40 updates, during the last phase it froze and ended up overheating, I manually turned it off and took off the back and put a fan on it, waited a while and rebooted. I then finished the update installs.

The system then ran fine for 2 days straight, I rebooted a dozen times or so, played a movie, surfed the web, used the webcam and touchscreen and everything I could think of to test it out. I gave the computer back to my grandmother and she used it for 10 days straight with no problems whatsoever. She called me a few days ago and said in the middle of using the internet and a messenging program to talk (text) a friend of hers, the computer randomly turned off. She said the screen has a bunch of 'lines' in it now.

So she brings it back to me and she is way disappointed because she really enjoys this thing. I turn it on and the weird thing is that the BIOS and the welcoming windows 7 logo look great, but as soon as the actual windows environment begins to load, you can see the entire screen is covered with these tiny black horizontal lines that obscure your entire view.

I played around with the graphics and resolution settings to no avail. I did a system restore to the day I gave it to her in working order, same results. I go into safe mode.. and here it gets interesting. Everything looks great. OK so its a driver problem I say to myself. I boot up into normal mode, get the lines again, and go into device manager and uninstall the Radeon Mobility 4200.. the lines go away, there is no graphics installed but everything looks fine/normal and works 100% great. So I go to amd's website to grab the newest driver for this computer.

I download the latest driver and chipset for it and download the chipset first, then the driver. The driver installs fine and the graphics switch over and look cleaner/better and the installer is finishing up. The installer begins to hang and 'freeze' and does nothing for a very long time, I notice the computer is beginning to overheat again like last time. I manually shut it down to cool it off, again.

After putting a fan on it and cooling it off I attempt to turn it on.

Exact same symptoms as when it was brought to me the first time. The light above the power button blinks once then turns and stays amber, and the hard drive and fan begins to spin, you hear the normal startup sounds, the motherboard is lit up from the power being connected, and the video does nothing at all. :(

So in short, I know for a fact this motherboard is 100% in working order.

I have a brand new LCD video cable in the mail tomorrow (I dont think this is the issue but eh)

And there is a brand new inverter board with cable in the mail thursday/friday (this is what im beginning to think is the culprit)

Any advice at all, please I am at my wit's end. I am already into this project for the sake of helping someone out, and i've already lost hours and hours of time and about $100 in parts so far.

Do you think the actual LCD is failing? These are the most expensive part of the machine and I will probably scrap/sell it if so. Does anyone have any ideas of symptoms of the inverter board failing?

Thanks in advance, anyone.