Laptop Black Screen

Ice213 · 23 Jul 2013 at 17:56

Hi everyone,

Trying in vain to fix my mums laptop at the moment and was wondering if anyone had any advice or ideas that I could try to either fix the problem, or at least diagnose it.

As far as I've been told, my sister was using the laptop, shut it down, a few days later it came to be turned on and instead of coming on the power light lights up and all of the touch screen buttons flash as they should, but nothing appears on the screen at all. I tried a few ideas I found through googling such as removing the battery and holding the power button down for 60 seconds, checking the HDD and Ram were not loose at all but neither did much good.

I also tried plugging into my TV through a VGA cable to test the screen, but I couldn't remember if there was a specific button to press on the laptop to put it onto the television or not :confused:

. Been a while since I hooked a laptop up to a TV...especially blind

.

Any help would be really appreciated,

Thanks!

thepharcyde · 23 Jul 2013 at 18:22

FN key and usually one if the F keys. Could be screen ribbon has come dislodged. What laptop is it

Ice213 · 23 Jul 2013 at 19:18

It's a packard bell of some sort, she's had it for a few years but there was no sign of anything even beginning to go wrong, which is what has sort of stumped me a little.

I'll try the 'F' keys see if I can get it to work on the TV...at least that will rule out some things.

MagicBoy · 23 Jul 2013 at 19:23

Does it work OK when plugged into a monitor?

Ice213 · 23 Jul 2013 at 19:28

MagicBoy said:
Does it work OK when plugged into a monitor?

Would I have the same issue of having to change settings to get it to output to the monitor as I am having with trying to get it to output to the TV? I'm trying to press the fn key with f4 which appears to the picture closest to 'change the output' but unfortunately it's not working.

Just a bit of additional information, the touch screen buttons above the keyboard all seem to working and functional when the laptop is turned on, not sure if that information helps.

MagicBoy · 23 Jul 2013 at 19:31

Yep, sorry must have skipped over that bit.

There will usually be an icon on a key to change the output. Can't tell you what it is as different brands use different keys. Without a model number I can't check.

Ice213 · 23 Jul 2013 at 19:43

Well, there are the function keys, sorry if the pictures are a bit rubbish or too big...if they're too big for the forum rules I'll shrink them down a little, but I wanted you to be able to see them.

I've been pressing the fn and f4 key since it's the only one that looks a little like it might be what I want. I did try f8 too since it had a screen on there.

DFish · 24 Jul 2013 at 10:18

fn+F4 is the key you want

Fish

d_brennen · 24 Jul 2013 at 10:23

Is that an Easynote TJ65?

MagicBoy · 24 Jul 2013 at 11:52

DFish said:
fn+F4 is the key you want

Fish

+1

Worth trying on a monitor rather than a TV if you have one available. Some TV VGAs are fussy about resolution and refresh rates in my experience.

Ice213 · 24 Jul 2013 at 21:01

Thanks for the responses everyone.

d_brennen said:
Is that an Easynote TJ65?

It is an easy note yes, it's an LJ61 though according to the little label tag under the monitor

DFish said:
fn+F4 is the key you want

Fish

MagicBoy said:
+1

Worth trying on a monitor rather than a TV if you have one available. Some TV VGAs are fussy about resolution and refresh rates in my experience.

I was using that on my TV, but I will certainly give it a go on my monitor. Will give it a go and report back.

Ice213 · 24 Jul 2013 at 21:19

Nothing doing I'm afraid with the fn+f4 when hooked up to the monitor. Tried to blindly log in using the password to see if it made a difference, but nothing doing still.

Any ideas what the problem could be? Possibly time for a new laptop?

d_brennen · 24 Jul 2013 at 23:32

Try reseating the video cable? Not sure where it resides in that model, either under the keyboard or the top touch strip. Take the battery out, there should be a couple of screws for the top panel (with touch buttons). While under there, look for the KB screws and remove them too. Flip the laptop over and gently tease the top strip off, being careful of the ribbon cable beneath (for the touch buttons). The keyboard will be secured at the top (iirc) with 4 or so small retracting clips, finger nails or a pick will see these off. Lift the KB toward you, minding it's ribbon cable (no need to remove, just lay the KB down). You should see a cream coloured block about an inch wide with the video cable heading toward one of the hinges. Use your nails to pull the video cable connector out of the block, both sides at the same time. Push it back in, plug the laptop in and hit the power button, no need to reassemble at this point. If it fires then reassemble