Black Screen with a flickering white horizontal Line

[TanzaniaPeace]

I'm trying to sort out a computer for a friend of mine.  It is an HP Notebook 15-ay167sa that he brought new from a dealer in the UK.  It worked fine for a short while and then started getting a screen flicker.  It slowly got worse until he abandoned it and it has sat for a year or so.  Now, when you boot it up, shows a black screen and sometimes a flickering white horizontal line 2/3rds of the way up the screen.   It briefly showed the login page and then briefly showed the BIOS page while I was trying to start the BIOS menu.   I've tried reseating the memory and have tried using a flash drive to perform a BIOS recovery.  Neither has helped.  Any ideas?  Does the RAM need replaced?  Is that a guaranteed fix?

[WAWood]

@TanzaniaPeace 

This most likely has nothing to do with the RAM because if it did, (1) the PC would be beeping (which you did not mention), and (2) it would not start at all.

This is almost certainly an indication of failing video hardware -- either the screen or the video chip or both.

You need to connect an external monitor to the laptop.

If the visual artifacts also appear on the monitor, then it is a failing video chip and since those are soldered to the motherboard, they are not replaceable.

If the visual artifacts do NOT appear on the monitor, then it is a failing laptop screen. While those can be replaced, the cost varies enormously by individual PC model.

We are not able, or permitted, to provide any repair estimates or equipment prices.
For this information, you would need to contact an HP Repair or Service Center.

Since you live in the U.S., here is a link to the HP Service Repair Centers:
https://www.service-center-locator.com/hp-hewlett-packard/hp-hewlett-packard-service-center.htm

Since you live outside the U.S., here is a link to HP Service Centers, by Country/Region: https://support.hp.com/in-en/service-center

Good Luck

[TanzaniaPeace]

Thanks for the reply.  I've got another HP computer with a motherboard that got zapped by lightning through the ethernet port (there are visible burn marks near the ethernet port.)  If the two video chips are compatible would it be theoretically possible to replace the one with the other?  I'm based in rural Tanzania and there isn't much access to tech help, so trying to think about how we can make this work on our own....