Laptop not working at all, help!

reply to post by scotsdavy1

In your case, that sounds like the best route. Ouch on the pocketbook, though.

Since we're hashing out laptop problems here I have a Dell Inspiron running WIndows 7. The screen will go dark but you can still see icons and everything else works fine. Sometimes rebooting will fix it other times I have to resort to system restore then everything's fine. Then there's days where nothing will bring it back.
Any have ideas on what could be causing this?

reply to post by Asktheanimals


Possibly the inverter is on its way out...normally quite a cheap part and not too hard to replace (famous last words)

I had an idea that worked. I plugged it into my 52" TV using an HD lead and everything worked perfectly well! Screen on laptop was a pale colour of white but expected this but should have been showing on there as well I guess?
So, other than plugging it in to my spare 22" monitor I have, is it worthwhile replacing the screen or is it something more than that is wrong with it?
She says it's no problem using the monitor but would prefer it back to the way it was.
At least I now,know it's not completely dead as I thought it was....
Mouse functions and keyboard also worked as well...

reply to post by scotsdavy1

Ahhhh...
I'd still try plugging something into the VGA to be sure. If it looks OK, then it does sound like the LCD (or the connector as Maxatoria mentioned) could be bad.

reply to post by Asktheanimals

Yep, Maxatoria could be right.
Inspiron 1525 by chance?
Here is a discussion that may help:
Screen Goes Black

What I always do to ensure it isn't a virus, is put in a linux, keep at least 2, such as pclinuxos 2013 and mint linux 2013, and always get the next 2 when they come out, downloaded. And redo the bios boot order if needed, so cdrom is first. Then go into the live load. If it all works, its a virus. The last time did this, it worked ok then started going through the drive check when I was loading the original windows, so it gave me a clue that the harddrive needed replacing. That was on a friends computer she was going to recycle, thought it was toast. So I put in 4 gigs of ram, she only had 1, replaced the hardrive and put on pclinuxos 2013. It works just fine.

Live booting linux tends to identify problems, if its hardware or software.

Laptop is model emachines E442
AMD V160
15.6" LCD
ATI RAdion
4 gb memory
250 gb HD

Could be the inverter. It should be easy to fix. It doesn't last forever and usually gets damaged at some point. Older laptops without LED-display have inverter, because backlights need different voltage from the other computer parts. LED-display doesn't need inverter because LEDs get power straight from motherboard.

reply to post by Thebel


Yes i agree with that, inverters are a common part that go on LCD screens and can be easily replaced.

That's what I thought as well after reading up on it and the comments here. I do know just before it went, at the bottom left of the screen, there was a small jet black kind of circle there.
Was thinking of maybe getting a new screen plus inverter because there were some marks and scratches etc on it and I would have to remove it anyway to get at the inverter.
I did replace a screen on a laptop years ago so know how to do it plus what the inverter is easy to replace.
It's the only logical thing I can think of as all the symptoms are there plus it works on a TV via the HD lead so interior is working and no virus detected.