Help Needed (Windows 7) Laptop has suddenly got a black horizontal line

Is this line near the bottom of your laptop's monitor?

Try and describe the situation a little more.

Try to enter bios and see if it's there as well.
If not - this is software issue. If yes - it's either screen broken or connector.

Sounds like ardware issue. Is it getting bigger?

Also try, if you have some, to plug the laptop to an external monitor. If it reproduces the same line -> software. If not -> hardware.

A friend of mine had a little vertical line once, near the top right of the screen. Turned out to be a physical internal screen break; applying gentle ppressure with a single finger on the area would permanently make it bigger (I would suggest against trying it, at least if you want to salvage it for whatever time it may hold on; though with just closing and opening the screen might slowly but consistently worsen the issue if it is the case).

But what 76561198082881386 suggested, using BIOS to see if it appears also there, is the better method. No software involved.

I had a similar issue. It was dead pixels. Single pixel height horizontal line, kept getting longer, then more pixels around it going black. I pressed on the screen and got it to move around a little, and the black turned blue, but never got it to look perfect. You should be able to replace the screen, but whether or not that's cost effective is another matter.

i made a steam group for windows 7 steam users. you could hit them up.
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Windows7ForeverUpdateNever

Most likely your display is faulty and needs to be replaced. With lesser probability it could be an issue with your GPU which is difficult to fix DIY as this shit is soldered to the mainboard normally.

It should be the screen

This kind of line artifacts usually indicate a hardware issue. Either a problem with the screen cable inside the laptop or the screen itself is starting to die..

If you haven't tried already, you may need to download and install your display drivers manually. Consult with the make and model of your laptop and do a Google search for where you may be able to find them.

Additionally, I found an article that might help you to try and troubleshoot if the problem is something else (hopefully not hardware!): https://laptopflow.com/ways-to-fix-black-horizontal-lines-on-laptop-screen/
Good luck.

It probably is Dead Pixel, it is going to get worse over time. Best fix? Replace your Display.

Bump thanks will read the replies later tonight

Do you see the same line in BIOS? Then it's your actual display that has gone bad and the fix will be to replace it.
Does the line disappear when you delete your graphics driver? Most likely reason is that your graphics chip is dying. If the line is still there when graphics driver is deleted, again, most likely the problem is within the display module

Like some people said, dead pixels or, more probably, a defective cable/connector between the motherboard and the screen. Check this first. Dead pixels are usually single ones or a small group of them on random places around the screen. A horizontal line is probably a bad connection as I said. They use flat cables with delicate connectors prone to fail.

A horizontal line of dead pixels is a sign the grid of microscopic conductors flipping the liquid crystals by switching electrical current was damaged. This may happen by exerting pressure on the screen or if you clean the screen the wrong way and liquid gets under the bezel and shortens a bunch of those conductor lines.

As a result you'll see a black line of dead pixels that don't respond anymore. This is different to random dead pixels caused by manufacturing defects.

Yes, that's probably it, this screen is probably past its prime.
To be 100% positive, use https://www.guru3d.com/download/display-driver-uninstaller-download/ (Display Driver Uninstaller) and then reinstall your GPU drivers. I'd pre-load the drivers and go offline while installing (simply to make sure the system doesn't automatically download and install some drivers).

But yeah, prepare to spend some money on hardware.