Dead Graphics

I have a laptop that the graphics have stopped working on. It was a very good machine and still (I think will boot and run) how can I use tis pc? Can I connect with my desktop somehow? With no visual I am lost. Any help would be very much appreciated!

 

You cannot connect it to your desktop but you can connect an external monitor to your laptop and use an external monitor instead of the laptop's own monitor. This assumes the laptop is otherwise working fine and only the laptop's monitor is bad.

If the problem is with the laptop itself, or the laptop's graphics solution, you may be out of luck. And depending on the age of the laptop, it may not be worth it to get it fixed.

You told us nothing about the laptop so we cannot provide specifics but here's a couple suggestions that at least may help you determine the problem.

A common problem with older laptops is the CCFL (cold-cathode fluorescent lamp) and/or its inverter have failed and the screen's backlighting is no longer working. You can verify this by shining a flashlight into the screen and if you look very close (like put your nose a couple inches away from the screen), you should be able see a very dim image display of your Windows desktop. If you can see your Windows desktop, the computer itself is still working (a good thing). These repairs are fairly easy and not too expensive. A qualified tech can easily do this with 1 hour of labor time, plus parts.

Note that most if not all laptops let you connect to an external monitor (or projector). And depending on the specific laptop, you can cycle through laptop, external monitor, and both by using a Fn + F-key combination. There is no industry standard so you need to check which F-key yours uses. For example, on my Toshiba notebook, I press Fn +F5. You need to make sure you didn't accidently switch to external monitor only.

 

The graphics are dead. I was hoping to be able to run it remotely and use it for storage or something like that. It was a very nice machine Qosmio x870 with 24 gigs ram and I 7 .

 

The problem is, the initial set up the laptop up for remote access requires you see what you are doing. Once setup, no monitor is needed.

 

Yes I was hoping someone here might have a work around that.

 

Well, if they did, that probably would be bad as that would indicate a serious security vulnerability if someone could remotely access your computer when you had not previously setup and authorized remote access.

That said, I offered a workaround but you didn't say if you tried it or not. If you don't have an external monitor to try, note that most TVs support computer input.

Beyond that, you could pull the drive, install it in or attach it to another computer, then copy off any personal files you don't want lost.

 

Yes I did try my monitor and no signal. I ended up taking it to someone for diagnostic and the graphics are dead. But Thanks for the help ! I will come up with some way to use the parts at least. Can't see trashing it.