Laptop monitor won't turn on

I went into my laptop today to try and clean out my cooling fan. Now my monitor doesn't turn on. I follwed the instructions in the service manual to a T. I do get a flicker of brightness right when I power it on but that's it. Hard drive and wifi LEDs are lit or blinking. Could possibly have something to do with my Wifi switch on the front of the computer, as I may have broken it judging from the looseness of it. Doesn't seem right though since my computer still indicates I'm recieving internet. I have tried holding the power button for 60 sec with battery out, reseating RAM, and reseating video connector. I really don't know what to do at this point. Any help would be greatly appreciated...

 

Greetings, ForTozs.

Is the fan spinning? Most motherboards prevent operation if the CPU/heatsink fan is not running.

Do you have a discrete monitor? If so, connect it and see if you can discern whether this is a display problem or not.

And, recheck all connections, make sure you didn't leave a screw rattling around in the case, etc.

 

Thanks for the reply. The fan is spinning. I hooked up my computer to a monitor, and it does indeed work...the bad news is now my computer thinks it's 4:30 on July 10, 2008. It also thinks everything in my start menu is a new install. Could this be from disconnecting the coin cell battery in attempt to get my monitor working? Also seems my antivirus and a few things are missing from my tray. Very wierd. Does anyone know what's going on?

Edit: After a restart it does show the right tray icons, but the time and date are still wrong.

 

After removing CMOS battery you will have to change time and date to the present as you effectively reset BIOS date and time back to time of first install.
right click on time and date on taskbar and correct the settings and all will be well.

 

Thanks, I reset the time and that works right now. Now the only problem I have is the monitor. I tried reinstalling the chipset/video drivers and that didn't work. At this point all I can guess is that maybe I somehow disconnected something internally in the monitor when I was in the process of removing the monitor while I was getting to the cooling fan. I think I'm going in. I kind of feel like I have nothing to lose at this point.

 

If you get video in the boot/BIOS and the problem appears while or after loading Windows, try the following:

• Restart the PC and enter BIOS setup (usually "DEL" or "F2" depending on the make/model).
• Tab through the BIOS pages until you see the video options.
• If there is an option for choosing the built-in video card or on board/system video (the exact wording will depend on the make/model), disable the video card by choosing system/onboard video.
• Save the changes, exit BIOS and restart.
• If Windows initially wants to start in Safe Mode, choose Safe Mode, let Windows load fully then reboot - it should then return to normal mode.

If there is a seperate video card built into the notebook, it may have overheated and cooked the chip. If your mobo has onboard video and you can switch to it (as noted above) it will bypass the nuked video card.

If this works, the onboard video will not be as good a quality as what the video card provided; however it will be adaquate for basic web surfing and office apps (plus a lot cheaper than replacing the internal video card).

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks. OK I tried the BIOS suggestion, but the only video options I had were for brightness. I only have intergrated video, so is there anything left for me at this point? Would adding a video card possibly fix my problem? I would much rather buy a video card than a new computer. I might should remind you that my video works fine through an external monitor. I also ran diagnostics after hitting F12 and everything came up good. Is there anyway to test my onboard video? I also went into my display and everything seemed connected well. Holding a flashlight up to the screen did not reveal any graphics. But the LCD does somewhat flicker when I first power up. I'm at a loss but it was something I did when I opened up my computer. I'm wondering if there's something wrong with the connection between my motherboard and display, even though it seems connected well. Otherwise the only wiring that comes out of the display is for the WLAN card, which is working, although I did mess up the switch when reassembling. Still searching. Do you have any other ideas?

 

Don't shoot the messenger but it sounds like your LCD display bit the dust.

If the PC works fine when connected to an external monitor it rules out the video card and drivers. It also basically rules out an issue with either the notebook battery or charger.

Although there's a very small chance it could be the connection from the motherboard to the monitor, even this would easily cost upwards of $150 if you took it to a local repair shop (twice this or more if you went to G:***k S:***d ). If the screen itself is defective the repair will easily be $300 or more.

Since I'm assuming the PC is out of warranty you'll have to balance the cost of repairs against what it is actually worth. If it's over 3 years old (2 years if an entry level model) the cost of repairing it may approach the cost of a new one with a faster processor, more memory, bigger hard drive, etc. Also remember most repair work on laptops is warrantied for (at most) 30 days. If something else dies on the old one you'll have a digital money pit.

On the bright side, you should be able to find a decent notebook for about $500 with 3-4GB memory and a dual-core Intel or AMD CPU. In lower priced notebooks, ASUS, Toshiba and business-grade Dells are all worth looking at. Stay away from HP, Compaq, Acer, Gateway, Lenovo and MSI: As a tech specializing in home and small business PCs, my experience is these brands ship with a ton of crapware and have (at best) marginal warranty support.

If you want an extended warranty, skip the overpriced store offering and go to www.squaretrade.com. Their warranties cost far less and they are the only warranty company that receives strong positive feedback on review sites. Thru the end of the year, they're giving an additional 20% discount with the coupon code JINGLE.

(Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Square Trade, just a happy customer)

Sorry for the bad news. If you're lucky maybe you can convince Santa to help you out.

 

One more note: If you buy a new one, you should be able to get a few bucks for the old one on eBay -- possibly from a buyer with the opposite problem (good screen, dead motherboard, same make/model),

 

Thanks. I'm looking over my buying options right now, but as for Santa helping, I doubt that'll happen being that I AM Santa. I'd like to find a notebook without a hard drive, CD Drive, RAM, ect. but I don't see too many barebones options out there. Maybe someone will come up with a solution to my problem or maybe I'll have a Christmas miracle.

 

You can always check out netbooks; however you'll end up with a much smaller screen. If you go the netbook route, get an Atom Dual-Core - it's worth the few extra bucks for the speed boost.

If looking for a standard notebook, here are a few decent options that shouldn't break the bank:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834200058

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834214025
(Note: Based on the user reviews, it appears this model sometimes goes on sale for as low as $349. If you can hold out a few weeks set up an e-mail "Price Alert" to notify you if/when it drops below $400)

Good luck on the purchase.

 

Have you checked the cable connections from the board to the screen?? it could be that when you opened it up last time you may have dislodged it, before opening up again get a torch/flashlight and shine it on the screen as you boot up and see if you can see it posting, you may have a backlight issue,or a faulty inverter board, i had a similar problem with this laptop that i am using now, i bought new screen and had same problem (waste of money) only for it to be a faulty inverter powercable (£2.00 off ebay) had a broken wire by been getting caught in screen hinge, i would check ALL of the cables first as these are the cheapest to solve first!!! changing the screen and cables is a relitively easy ting to do, if you need info on how to just let me know and i'll guide you through it, you just need to be sure that you have compatible replacements.
iain.t :major

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I will look again, but I already opened up the screen and everything looked OK. Also a flashlight doesn't show anything. I found some replacement parts on Ebay. I guess what I need to figure out now is if I need to replace the cables, display, or the motherboard. If I can't figure that out, then it would probably be cheapest to replace the whole computer.