Is It The Screen Or Something Mo

Hello there fellow geeks.

So i have this old Dell 5010 laptop that has been very good to me over the years and recently my nephew dropped it (i think....i'm not sure ?) Was wondering if just the screen is bad or there might be something else at play here? The screen itself isn't physically damaged or cracked. I will replace the screen but don't want to needlessly blow the money if it is something else that might be wrong. Have a look at the pic attached to this post. Any correspondence is appreciated.

 

Does the laptop actually work? Can you sign in to Windows? What is its Operating system?

 

Yes, the laptop powers on. Sometimes i can sign into windows but can only see half of the screen. Then other times when i boot up i can't see Windows, just horizontal and vertical multi-colored lines. The hard drive sounds healthy, no clicking or any abnormal noises out of the ordinary.

Windows 7 is the operating system and the laptop is a Dell Inspiron N5010.

 

Given that it is a fairly budget model, and clearly the screen appears damaged, it may not be economical to have it repaired. You could ask a local IT repair shop to look at it and give you a quote.
In the original reviews of it about 7 years ago the screen and build quality were its downsides.

 

Interesting concerning the reviews from 7 years ago. I priced some screens on eBay and they're between $40.00 and $50.00. Not really worth it i guess. If I come across a used screen for $20.00 i'll probably pull the trigger.

 

I'm sure you can still retrieve the data from the hard drive by hooking it up to another system. And the RAM sticks are probably still usable or sell them on ebay.

 

If you want to keep using it, just attach an external monitor. That will give you time to look and decide to either buy a refurbed Win 7 laptop or a Win 10 laptop.