Laptop Screen Problems!

dbrookf

My laptop screen had multi-coloured stripes, the toolbar was duplicated at the top and bottom, some coloured squares appeared on a quarter of the screen and now it's BLACK! Help anyone please?
(I'm typing this on someone else's computer...)

Thanks! (It's four years old by the way....)

free4440273

four yrs old? would be -- given the age -- expensive to replace, all things considered/ time for a new laptop?

MoneySavingUser

stripes = reaching end of it's life

Hammyman

Could be:
1) Screen cable - cheap fix
2) Overheating - cheap fix
3) Dodgy RAM - cheap-ish fix
4) Motherboard fault - not cheap fix.

Number 2 is definitely worth investigating and can be done with a torch. Merely shine the torch into the vent on the base and look at the vent on the side/back where the fan exhaust is. If you can see the light all the way across, its not blocked. If you can't or can only partially, the laptop will be overheating and the fan and heatsink need clearing out.

dbrookf

Thanks - I will check with a torch.

If I do need a new laptop, how do I go about getting access to my files etc on old laptop and transfer them across (as I can't see 'em!)

free4440273

dbrookf wrote: »

Thanks - I will check with a torch.

If I do need a new laptop, how do I go about getting access to my files etc on old laptop and transfer them across (as I can't see 'em!)

hook the laptop up to a friend's external monitor. and then access said files/