Laptop screen broken

Horlock

Please read before replying:

The other day I found my laptop with screen open, power on, in my bedroom. The laptop had been switched on, the screen showed black but with a fainter black strip down the middle.

I was on my way out of the door so just handed it to my wife and asked her to test it. She claims she switched it off, and back on and worked perfectly before she shut it down. Once I returned I tested it repeatedly every time it went straight to the black screen with the fainter line.

We have an almost one year old - who my assumption is - had found it climbed over it, stood on the power button and also stood on the screen breaking it!
This assumption could be fully true, partially true or totally false.

I phoned company who said that they repair screens for about £130 which I am not prepared to pay (I paid less than this for the laptop over a year ago).

I removed the screen to see what the model number was to locate on ebay - the model seems to be selling for £80 which still sounds high - especially as I wasn't sure that it was the screen itself at fault.

Just now (with no screen in the laptop) I tried testing the computer attached to my desktop screen.

The problem was the output was not correct - different error but still unusable. This time the screen went extremely blocky - I was able to tell that it had loaded windows sucessfully as bits of the windows logo appeared and the background colour changed. I was able to work out where the mouse was pointing due to changing blocks surrounding it - which enabled me to successfully login and switch the power off.

So now comes the questions:

1. Does the failed vga imply the fault doesn't lie with the screen?
2. What could the fault be?
3. Is it worth trying to repair?
4. Now I know what a screen is worth would it be reasonable to try selling the one I've removed?
5. Could the laptop have developed this fault without my daughter climbing on it - we didn't see her anywhere near it - but it had been switched off.

dominicr

I'm guessing you bought the laptop used. The experience with the desktop monitor does suggest some problem either with the cable or connection, or with the laptop's VGA output, but more likely (I'm afraid) the latter. It seems that the output is faulty; with the built-in display you see nothing and with external display you see something but it's not correct.

The screen from the laptop would only have value I think if you could guarantee it worked, the fact you could buy one for £80 doesn't mean you could sell it for that. But you could try on eBay, or just sell the whole laptop for spares. It does sound like it is time to invest in another one, sorry I can't be more optimistic. If you don't need the portability of the laptop, consider getting a desktop PC, they are very cheap second-hand and they are much easier/cheaper to repair.

Horlock

Thanks for the response. I don't know what to think. I definately don't need another desktop - I've got two decent ones and am trying to sell a cheap old one at the moment. The laptop is basically for when we travel, means the kids can watch a dvd in the car and I have access to the internet etc when we arrive. Definately doesn't need to be anything special. I may try and get another one cheap.