StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Alright, apparently my laptop decided it hates me. Last night I went to bed at 2 AM and put it into sleep mode. This morning, I flipped it open and pushed the mouse to wake it. Instead of going to the user login screen, it was my desktop, and the time was 2:12 AM (it was actually 8:45 AM). I pushed the mouse, and saw that the icon wasn't moving, so I figured it'd frozen up. So I pushed the power button and turned it off, then turned it back on. All the lights come on, but the monitor stays black.

My roommates agree with me that its probably the monitor, but its always good to get confirmation.

Remove the battery from it, disconnect the AC power, let it sit a few minutes, and then try powering it up again.

Alright, removed both the AC and battery. Does this usually work?

EDIT: Monitor still wont display anything, but it does the normal boot up sounds and all that.

Jadeite wrote:Alright, removed both the AC and battery. Does this usually work?

It does if the problem is a video driver that doesn't like going into/out of hibernation and suspend modes.

Jadeite wrote:Alright, removed both the AC and battery. Does this usually work?

EDIT: Monitor still wont display anything, but it does the normal boot up sounds and all that.

Try connecting it to an external monitor via the VGA jack on the back and see if you get anything.

Alright, I'll try that later when my roommate's not using his desktop computer.

Ok, I hooked up a roommates computer to the laptop, still no display.

Do you have a 3.5 inch caddy for your hard drive? It's not expensive, one cost me $20 CDN (probably overpriced too). It comes in USB.

Alternatively you can get an actual adapter to plug a 3.5 inch hard drive directly to an IDE cable, but these are rarer. This is preferable if you want to install a brand new OS.

At the very least you can copy over the shit from your hard drive onto a desktop if you get the USB caddy. I think the technician called it a "housing".

Brian

Jadeite wrote:Ok, I hooked up a roommates computer to the laptop, still no display.

Does your laptop have a "CRT/LCD" button somewhere, or something similar? Many laptops now do not automatically send a signal through its VGA port, and you're going to have to somehow get it to switch its display.

Something like that happened to me on a desktop; if it's not posting, the motherboard may be gone. I've never looked inside a laptop beyond the RAM and battery, but I understand some parts are tough to get at.

If you can see the motherboard, look for discoloration around the chips, which may indicate heating damage, or swollen or leaking capacitors, which may mean the power supply went a bit wonky.

Or not; if you are still under warranty get it looked at by a professional fixer before you tinker with anything, or at least admit to nothing. They will use any excuse to deny service, sometimes.

If possible, remove any private material from the HD by swapping it into a similar laptop that works, though odds are this is not an option for you.

Maybe you can use another computer to poke about your HD or MB; if the MB is gone, though, you won't get anything.

I understand that at least with earlier laptops, you were not supposed to close it up or move the screen once it was turned on, so it could be the that connection as well.