Laptop screen not coming on

BopNiblets

Hi guys, bit of troubleshooting needed, have a Dell Inspiron 1545, a few years old now.
I press the power button, the fan whirrs a for a few seconds (and then stops, but I think this is standard behaviour), the power light comes on, but the screen doesn't light up, no backlight or anything, do you think it's busted?

I noticed it the day before yesterday it did this, then later it came on, now it's happening again.
I also tried connecting a VGA cable to an external monitor but nothing came up on it when I booted the laptop.
Appreciate any help, cheers.

mp22

Get a linux live cd and see will the pc boot from the cd drive.

fionny

Linux wont make any difference dont waste your time, the BIOS would show long before any OS started to boot.

If with a different monitor plugged in its still a non runner then you graphic card / mainboard may be borked. Did you close the lid when you turned on the other monitor? If it is actually still running you should be able to open cd drive etc...

-( i )- Wicker

Do you have anything connected to the USB ports, like an ipod? For some reason a lot of machines are funny about that when powering on.

BopNiblets

I have a mini USB dongle for a wireless mouse, no difference with it disconnected though, I think it may be the graphics card as you said fionny.
I know a guy who knows a guy who used to work in Dell hardware support, I'll see if he has any tricks.

yoyo

Do the lights on the laptop remain on or power off suddenly? Are you sure there is no image on the screen (look very closely/shine a tourch on it to check). If the machine goes off suddenly lights and all it could be mainboard failure. If not try taking out the memory (RAM) and replacing it again (Remove battery AND power plug before doing this). Sometimes RAM can become loose over time. Also take out the battery and unplug the machine. Press the power button, wait a few seconds>plug in (minus battery) and see if it boots. If you can see a failt picture on the screensuch as the windows startup logo then either the LCD backlight (unlikely) is busted or (more likely) the inverter has given up. Inverters are cheap enough to replace and simple enough to install generally.

Nick

BopNiblets

My mam brought it to a local repair guy who reckons he can replace the "video chip" for €120.
(I assume it's the graphics module, I've only ever taken out HDs and memory from laptops)
What do you guys think, could I do this myself maybe and where would I get the part?

yoyo: I had a close look allright, the backlight on the screen wasn't even on so there was nothing to see.
The power light stayed on after pressing the button.
I tried booting without the battery also but the same.

Edit: After watching this I don't think I'm confident chopping up the insides
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UigTRODlOlM

yoyo

BopNiblets wrote: »

My mam brought it to a local repair guy who reckons he can replace the "video chip" for €120.
(I assume it's the graphics module, I've only ever taken out HDs and memory from laptops)
What do you guys think, could I do this myself maybe and where would I get the part?

yoyo: I had a close look allright, the backlight on the screen wasn't even on so there was nothing to see.
The power light stayed on after pressing the button.
I tried booting without the battery also but the same.

Edit: After watching this I don't think I'm confident chopping up the insides
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UigTRODlOlM

It is an old laptop now, the replacement video chip will likely be a 2nd hand part, I'd reccomend a new laptop tbh, if it is the video chip gone in it. I'd say it will cost more than €120 when labour is factored in, best off replacing the machine.
It is likely a motherboard problem from the sympthoms described anyways.

Nick