Acquired a seemingly fully functional TI-81, but the top row/line of the display has issues. At best it will display only single vertical columns of pixels on the row or nothing at all.

Would appreciate any suggestions/guidance/direction. Thanks very much.

https://imgur.com/lFH3qQC
I have a ti-81, and I have a few streaks running up and down my screen, too. Although your problem is a little different than mine, both are caused by a damaged screen. The screen can be damaged through drops or hitting the calculator. Pressing down on the screen can damage it, too. There are countless forums online about this issue. (Click here for a forum example). How to fix it is in the link provided also, though it requires hardware replacement because streaks on a calculator is a hardware failure.
Indeed it's a hardware failure; the top portion of one of the display's ribbon cables (unlike newer calculators, the TI-81 has two ribbon cables) isn't connected to the contacts on the LCD glass. It can't be reattached, so the screen would need replacement. It's cheaper and easier to replace the entire TI-81. The different display types (old gray-on-white, blue-on-green, and TI-82-style gray-on-white) aren't compatible with each other.

If you can find a replacement TI-81 with a blue-on-green display (all are hardware revision B), you'll be much happier with the readability.
CVSoft wrote:
Indeed it's a hardware failure; the top portion of one of the display's ribbon cables (unlike newer calculators, the TI-81 has two ribbon cables) isn't connected to the contacts on the LCD glass. It can't be reattached, so the screen would need replacement. It's cheaper and easier to replace the entire TI-81. The different display types (old gray-on-white, blue-on-green, and TI-82-style gray-on-white) aren't compatible with each other.

If you can find a replacement TI-81 with a blue-on-green display (all are hardware revision B), you'll be much happier with the readability.

I was afraid that the answer would be cheaper to toss it for a complete replacement, than to fix it. Thanks for the insight.
  
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