Laptop screen problem

safsnowball

Hi I'm trying to sort out my son's laptop for him. The symptoms are as follows:

Black screen with a very faint image, works OK on an external monitor.

I guessed the fault would be with the inverter or backlight in the screen, but I've changed the inverter and tried a brand new screen to no avail, the same symptoms remain.

I've even changed the video cable for a new one, and checked all connections are secure and removed and reseated the RAM.

Is there anything I have missed?

Mista_C

Stupid question but the simple things often get overlooked. Have you made sure the brightness is up high enough from within the bios (if that particular laptop has a bios setting for it) and from the FN combo key?

safsnowball

Mista_C wrote: »

Stupid question but the simple things often get overlooked. Have you made sure the brightness is up high enough from within the bios (if that particular laptop has a bios setting for it) and from the FN combo key?

Thanks for quick response, yes tried the FN combo - no change, but not looked into the the bios yet, will see if I can find any options

Hammyman

Possibly a failure of the supply on the mainboard that powers the inverter assuming its not the cable itself. Seen this a few times and the only fix has to be either find another point on the mainboard at the correct voltage and bodge a supply from that or replace the mainboard.

safsnowball

Mista_C - no options in the BIOS to lighten the screen, but thanks for the suggestion

Hammyman - I think that must be the issue, sort of knew it was but was trying to pretend it wasn't. Makes the laptop a bit uneconomic to repair. Son will have to use his TV to view until he can afford another laptop.

Hammyman

I would just add one thing. If this laptop is a Dell and you're not using a genuine Dell screen or inverter, sometimes they are a bit fussy about them and will turn the screen backlight off if you set it to full. They'll work OK up to about 75% screen brightness. So maybe try turning DOWN the screen brightness and see if it comes on at some point.

safsnowball

Hammyman - it's actually a HP G60 but thanks anyway. Managed to get a full refund on the new screen so not too much money wasted.