pick it up and turn it on its side

That's how to get my laptop to work again.
My laptop is quirky. It was given to me. Who knows how old it is. It has XP so it can't be that old. Anyway, the speakers don't work. Neither does the delete key and the cursor buttons (well, sometimes they work...sometimes). Once last week the whole top row of letters went out. But the big issue that kills me is that sometimes--without warning--the screen display will just start to fade and fade and all the colors wash together making the computer completely unuseable.
But this week I figured it out. I have long theorized that it has something to do with laying on its side or not. I had just never tried it while the computer is on. But its true! This week I got brave and after it started to blur out I turned it on its side and shook it (is shook a word?) and it works!

So for now, the lappy's back in action.