Screen Problems

[Hussar 54]

Any help, please ??

I have an old Dell LapTop which I've used for a few years as a back-up for bits and pieces - photos, music, etc...

Decided it was time to get a proper back-up HD add-on and having finished moving my stuff from this machine to the HD, wouldn't you know it - the old machine decides to go on strike !!

When I switch on, I have the usual Windows start-up screen and music theme, but after logon, the screen goes extreeeemly dark and although I can see 'something' in the darkness, not enough to actually use the bloody thing....

Any ideas where to look in the Set-Up or wherever if I go through the F8 Safe Start-Up....

Thanks,




Or any other ideas, please ??

[Mike-Bracknell]

Would the symptoms you describe be a fair approximation that your screen's backlight has gone kaput?

If your laptop is a Dell D600 you might be in luck as I have a screen for one of those kicking around somewhere, so long as you pay shipping.

:edit: - oh hold on - you say you get the 'normal' windows startup splash-screen? is this the same brightness as before?

[Mr Optimistic]

Inverter

Daughter had the same, 'ghost of an image', the inverter board has most likely gone u/s. If you look on the internet there are instructions on how to replace it. Relatively easy. Hardest part is sourcing the right board: each machine has several variants. Got one from ebay seller and worked fine. Think it cost less than £40. 20 minute job but take your time with the connector. Inverter lives under the plastic strip just above the keyboard.

Unlikely to be backlight (and these are just about irreparable).

[green granite]

Try plugging in a different monitor If you can, if that's dark as well then it's a video problem, I take you've tried increasing the brightness etc, the reasoning being that the video system is not really controlled until windows is running, before then it is just used as a generic video output at low res.

[Simonta]

Hi Hussar 54.

Please describe exactly what happens. Does the screen go dark after you log in or before? If before, exactly when in the startup process does it go dark? Before the loading Windows animation or after it?

As others have said, a key test is to start it up with an external monitor. If it works fine, then you have a hardware problem with the screen or the backlight inverter. Does the image get easier to see in the dark or easier to see when it gets lighter?

[Blues&twos]

the inverter board has most likely gone u/s. If you look on the internet there are instructions on how to replace it. Relatively easy. Hardest part is sourcing the right board: each machine has several variants.

Agree with Mr Optimistic - be really careful to get the right one....including making sure the board has the correct connector!!

[MacBoero]

I'm with Simonta on this one, because the original post suggests that the screen is fine up to login.

This suggests to me that there is a problematic driver that gets loaded only when a user logs in, or there is some sort of user setting being applied at log in.

I would be examining all the control panels for graphics card and monitor settings, and also looking at the power setup, to see if any energy saving settings are kicking in.

Often laptops have some third party control applications installed for setting up the graphics card, those would need checking too.

[BOAC]

Once again - START IN SAFE MODE and see!

[Hussar 54]

The Power of PPrune never ceases to amaze...

Thanks everyone - all your advice gratefully accepted and tried...

Connected the errant machine to friend's monitor and everything OK...

Disconnected and still the same problem - everything works fine until the Sign-On Box appears, when suddenly the screen goes 'black' half way through typing in user name...Typing 'in the dark' so to speak, after user name and password have been entered, the screen flickers back to life for a less than a second before disappearing again...

All very strange to a TechnoDinosaur like myself...

Will download everything to the HD back-up as quickly as possible using the monitor, and then 'fiddle' around with the settings - if its a hardware problem, then no chance of me fixing it as I can't really manage much more than checking the tyre pressure on Frau H's car as far as engineering goes...

Thanks again...

[Keef]

First IA:

Give it a smart but not too hard thwack on the back of the screen when it does the flicker. If there's a loose wire, that will reveal it.

[tailstrikecharles]

works with women too!
(She said she wasnt on that time, but....WHACK! and what do you know? there it was! 1/2 way up there, that wire you mentioned! - turns out she had a whole purse full of those 'wires' -hah! )

[Simonta]

Poor old BOAC is a lone voice in this thread but is right, the next step is to start in Safe Mode and report back.

The symptoms you give indicate that the problem is with the display driver, either the driver itself or fritzed settings. Starting in safe mode bypasses the driver.