Laptop screen has stopped working??

StevieP · 27 Dec 2019 at 14:14

Per the title, one minute my Gigabyte laptop was working fine and then when I went back to it a little later the display has just gone black!?!? (I assumed the screen saver had kicked in but moving the mouse and pressing keys did nothing!)

No reason as far as I can tell and I've tried the various "FN" keys that control the brightness and volume etc and I can't get anything to display on it - even during the boot?

I can power down by holding the on/off button and the same button produces an LED light and I can hear a fan whirring but other than that nothing works???

Anyone got any ideas??

darket · 29 Dec 2019 at 01:43

firstly plug into an external monitor or tv , do you get an image ?

Secondly try shining a very bright light on the screen , can you see an image now ? if yes the back light has failed , if no and you can get an image on an external screen then it's possibly a screen cable fault.

jsmoke · 29 Dec 2019 at 02:20

Could be backlight as said, there's an inverter also but I think you can usually see some image if that goes, although dark, could be wrong there though.

StevieP · 30 Dec 2019 at 09:31

darket said:
firstly plug into an external monitor or tv , do you get an image ?

Secondly try shining a very bright light on the screen , can you see an image now ? if yes the back light has failed , if no and you can get an image on an external screen then it's possibly a screen cable fault.

jsmoke said:
Could be backlight as said, there's an inverter also but I think you can usually see some image if that goes, although dark, could be wrong there though.

Thanks for the replies - I've tried using an external display with no joy by either VGA or HDMI!

The more I think about it the more I'm thinking it's a motherboard issue because no other keys seem to work either!

There is a button combination that should eject the optical drive but nothing works!

jsmoke · 30 Dec 2019 at 10:50

StevieP said:
Thanks for the replies - I've tried using an external display with no joy by either VGA or HDMI!

The more I think about it the more I'm thinking it's a motherboard issue because no other keys seem to work either!

There is a button combination that should eject the optical drive but nothing works!

You may have to activate the external monitor with a function key such as FN + F3, the combo will depend on your laptop.

StevieP · 30 Dec 2019 at 13:32

jsmoke said:
You may have to activate the external monitor with a function key such as FN + F3, the combo will depend on your laptop.

Yeah I tried this - it's FN + F5 but no dice!

No key presses other than the power button seem to work!

jsmoke · 30 Dec 2019 at 14:05

Could be faulty ram, try taking a stick out and making sure they're seated well

StevieP · 30 Dec 2019 at 16:45

jsmoke said:
Could be faulty ram, try taking a stick out and making sure they're seated well

Tried that too - there are 2 sticks of RAM and I've tried both and either stick in either slot - still nothing!

I've removed the connection to the battery and held the power button down and tried booting back up while plugged in - still makes no difference! (and I've tried disconnecting the CMOS battery!)

jsmoke · 30 Dec 2019 at 16:55

Try taking out all drives unplug any peripherals. Other than that sounds like a gpu or mobo issue. Maybe pickup a second hand mobo.

StevieP · 30 Dec 2019 at 17:33

jsmoke said:
Try taking out all drives unplug any peripherals. Other than that sounds like a gpu or mobo issue. Maybe pickup a second hand mobo.

This is pretty much the conclusion I've come to too!

Frustrating as it was working just fine one minute and then nothing!

jsmoke · 30 Dec 2019 at 17:53

If all else fails, stick mobo in oven.