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help with windows laptop

twoodcc

twoodcc

macrumors P6
Original poster
Feb 3, 2005
15,307
26
Right side of wrong
yeah i know this is a mac forum, but i've gotten pc help and i've given pc help on here, and i believe that there are good, knowledgeable people on here that wouldn't mind helping if they could

anyways, my girlfriend's laptop is acting very strange. it works, but the screen is terribly dark. if you strain and tilt it just right, you can see some things on the screen.

any ideas? i've tried turning the brightness up, and nothing.

i'm thinking maybe it's something to do with the connection between the screen and the computer....but not sure. but it's unusable right now.

thanks in advance
 
I assume the data has been backed up (just in case), and the computer restarted to make sure it wasn't just something funky?
 
epochblue said:
I assume the data has been backed up (just in case), and the computer restarted to make sure it wasn't just something funky?
Click to expand...

no it hasn't been backed b/c you can't really see to back anything up. (can't really see the mouse at all hardly)

but i did restart, and nothing......even with the windows pic while booting up is dark....
 
It almost sounds like the connection with the backlight is bunk...or the backlight burned out (if they can even do that).

Short of taking the machine apart to see what you're working with, I'm not sure how to go about fixing this...
 
epochblue said:
It almost sounds like the connection with the backlight is bunk...or the backlight burned out (if they can even do that).

Short of taking the machine apart to see what you're working with, I'm not sure how to go about fixing this...
Click to expand...

thanks. yeah i don't know either. maybe i can talk her into getting a mac now :D
 
Use an external display to backup the data - sounds definitely like a burned out backlight.
 
clevin said:
how old is it?
Click to expand...

at least a couple years old....maybe 3. it's got a 1.6 ghz centrino....one of the first centrioes....it's an HP dv1040us (i think)

live4ever said:
Use an external display to backup the data - sounds definitely like a burned out backlight.
Click to expand...

yeah, i was telling her that we should connect it to an external display. hopefully we can do it tomorrow.

is it worth saving?
 
well i tried to connect to an external monitor, but it didn't see the monitor.

i'm thinking maybe it could be the video card?

probably not......but either way, i guess she just needs a new computer?
 
I had the same problem as you with an old Dell laptop last week. I was able to take apart the laptop (by the screen) and replace the broken part with a spare I had from another Dell laptop. The right side of my screen was EXTREMELY hot so I figured it was a board issue and not the LCD screen. If your comfortable taking apart the screen bezel I would start there. Here is a picture of what I replaced.

cimg058036679.JPG
 
twoodcc said:
thanks. but even if i could get it apart, i don't have an extra part, and i wouldn't know which part was broken....
Click to expand...

You can check ebay or craigslist for parts laptops. I just happen to have one sitting at my house. The part that was burnt out, was on the printed circuit board on the right side of the screen. I just swapped circuit boards.
 
twoodcc said:
well i tried to connect to an external monitor, but it didn't see the monitor.

i'm thinking maybe it could be the video card?

probably not......but either way, i guess she just needs a new computer?
Click to expand...


Stupid question, but did you fn+F7 to toggle CRT LCD? (on most computers its F7, some its different)
 
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