Laptop problems - dead screen?

[Karen]

Laptop screen appears to have died overnight... rebooted it a number of times and still getting a totally black screen... when I pulled the power out and put it back in again I could see the screen for a few seconds and then it went black again...

Laptop is 5 years + old, crashes about 6 times a night and is very slow so was due for replacement shortly but I need to get some photos off it...

Any ideas or do I just forget it and order a Mac today?

 

[Darren S]

Karen - has it got an external VGA socket on the rear of the chassis? Should be a smallish blue 'V' shaped socket.

Assuming it's not your graphics card that's shot on the laptop - you should be able to plug in any PC monitor into that socket and view what should be your laptop screen on the monitor...

D.

 

[Karen]

Karen - has it got an external VGA socket on the rear of the chassis? Should be a smallish blue 'V' shaped socket.

Assuming it's not your graphics card that's shot on the laptop - you should be able to plug in any PC monitor into that socket and view what should be your laptop screen on the monitor...

D.

I'm not sure :S I'll have a look when I get home... I did try linking it up to my lcd tv screen before but I couldn't get it to work :S and I can't remember what bit it was plugged into then either :S

 

[Darren S]

An LCD screen may not have been the ideal test, to be truthful. Don't forget, that laptop is at least 5 years old. I think LCD screens had only just been released about that time, iirc?!

Do you know anyone else - with a standard PC monitor that you could try it on?

D.

 

[Karen]

An LCD screen may not have been the ideal test, to be truthful. Don't forget, that laptop is at least 5 years old. I think LCD screens had only just been released about that time, iirc?!

Do you know anyone else - with a standard PC monitor that you could try it on?

D.

Oh, maybe why it didn't work!

Someone has suggested I bring it into work and try it but there is far too much dodgy stuff on it lol.

 

[Darren S]

LOL! - let us know how you get on anyway....

D.

 

[Karen]

Well someone at work thinks the backlight has gone... but I was told to shine a torch on the screen and I can faintly see it then, so I managed to start copying stuff off it last night, with the help of a 3 cell maglite angled over my shoulder down on the screen... it was a long night...

iMac has arrived anyway today so I suppose the laptop may as well be binned once I've got everything off it, as it won't be worth the cost of fixing it will it??? (to keep as a spare or for camming to pc's)...?

 

[sh33n]

Get a very very powerful torch and shine it on the screen (with the laptop on).

If you can make out the desktop, etc then the backlight has gone, which is usually reasonably cheap to replace.

 

[sh33n]

Oh shite, just read your post.

Ignone the above

 

[Karen]

Oh sh*te, just read your post.

Ignone the above

What's 'cheap'?? Someone told me about £150 :S then someone else at work may be able to fix it... it would be handy to keep if it was reasonable to fix...

 

[Darren S]

Laptop monitors are notoriously expensive to replace - often making up the single, most expensive part of the laptop itself.

£150 wouldn't surprise me, but to chuck money like that at a 5+ year-old laptop would be mad.

At least you've managed to copy and burn the stuff you were after though!

D.

 

[sh33n]

What's 'cheap'?? Someone told me about £150 :S then someone else at work may be able to fix it... it would be handy to keep if it was reasonable to fix...

The actual back light should be fairly cheap (if you can find the right type for a old laptop).

It is the labour that will cost so much, if you can get someone to do it for you then it won't cost a lot.

Hope that helps ^ :S

 

[Karen]

Ta. Yeah I work in an Engineering dept for a tv co and we have a maintenance dept so Ill ask the guys in there

 

[Gus]

if its the backlight thats gone its likely the invertor has blown or has a dodgy connection. Try massaging the bottom of the frame of the screen with your thumb ontop and fingers behind the screen. Or try moving the screen 180' then closing it, sometimes this causes the ribbon cable that connects the screent o the laptop to reconnect. You could also try moving the ribbon cable with something blunt.

If its old like you say I wouldnt hesitate to take the frame off the screen with a small philips head screw driver. you can then check the connections, wiggle the wires a bit.

also lastly double check the little switch that tells the laptop is the screen is open or closed, use a paper clip to prod it a bit just to make sure it hasnt seized.

 

[Gus]

What make laptop is it, might be able to help with parts.

 

[wozzaa]

if tis fucked household insurance usually covers it worth claiming for as they usually replace it with a brand spanking new system.

Done it myself a few times when my systems have died.

 

[Karen]

What make laptop is it, might be able to help with parts.

Ta for suggestions and it's a Toshiba.



wozzaa - They wouldn't cover on just old worn out stuff, I could understand if it was dropped and damaged or something.