Tiring to understand?

The problem has been fixed, but I don't understand how I fixed it.

It was a Netbook with Win7. The screen would not work. The back light would come on for a few then go off, you could hear all the start up sounds.

I figured bad graphics card, busted screen, or crimped wires.

So before riping it apart I connected a DVI cable to check the card.

All of a sudden it worked fine like nothing was wrong, problem fixed. Besides the user messed with a setting, what could it of been.

 

Hard to say. Maybe a faulty connection somewhere on the motherboard - in a component or circuit path - that was somehow jarred closed/connected by the physical action of you attaching the external cable.

I once had a ham radio receiver that refused to work unless the circuit board was warped - I know there was a micro-fracture or other bad connection on the board somewhere, but never did find it (didn't look too hard - I found it in the trash). Used it like that in my garage for years. Probably still be working if my brother hadn't run over it with a 3/4 ton GMC . . . :-D

I can remember a few more devices of mine that have suddenly "healed" themselves somehow, but it's all anecdotal.

Maybe someone with more savvy when it comes to laptops has a better answer them me Could be a perfectly logical and understandable reason the laptop staggered back to life.

 

There is normally some function key combination to toggle between dvi/vga only or laptop screen only, or both. I have seen a few laptops that will hang in the dvi/vga only setting till you unhook then re-hook a dvi/vga screen. Perhaps this is the problem you had.

 

Many laptops have a bios setting to laptop/external, or, automatic for vga, so that it will start and find the screen.
It is possible that this setting was to external, and you either loaded default settings, that woulD have given 'automatic', and the system found the on-board screen, or, as said by ACE 256, connecting a cable to the external port, brought it back on-line. Your other thought about a crimped cable is a worthy one, as I have seen this, and also, the end of the screen cable that goes into the rear of the machine has been known to work loose, as I found most had a stickky across them, that (very rarely) lost its adhesive power and I have had the odd loose one to fit back, and put a new piece of sticky tape across it.

 

@ ACE 256

It was a HP Netbook the function key to toggle between internal and external display is FN F4, i tried hitting that before i hooked up the DVI. But got nothing.


@ baklogic

It might be the BIOS, when i hooked it up it showed the start up screen on the external then after the desktop loaded up thats when the internal display popped up.