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I'm trying to help a friend reformat her Dell laptop but all we see is a black screen when the pc is powered on. The laptop has vista OS. The pc was fine a few days ago and all of sudden this happened. So, she just wants to wipe out everything because we think it's a virus. She made already made a clone of her hard drive a month ago, so wiping everything won't be a problem.
What we've tried:
We inserted the vista CD and powered the pc on then hit the ctrl and F8 or F11 buttons but nothing happens. All you see is a black screen.
We tried taking the battery off and unplugging the plug then repeating the steps above but nothing happens except for a black screen. Then repeated the steps above without the vista CD in the player, nothing seems to happen except seeing a black screen.
I don't want to do it but, I told her the last resort is to maybe replace the hard drive with a new one and just start from scratch. We would rather save the hard drive, it's a 7200rpm and 80gb. The 80gb isn't very big these days but she was very happy with it.
Your hard drive and Vista are not the problem. You have hardware trouble on your laptop. There are a couple of guys reading this forum that work on laptops regularly. Hopefully, someone can offer you some troubleshooting tips.
First thing I'd do is hook up a monitor to the laptop and see if I get a display that way.
OK this might sound crazy but it sometimes works on some Dell and IBM laptops.
Disconnect the ower
Remove the battery
Press the power button 15 times quickly in a row
Replace Battery
Plug it in
Try it
OK this might sound crazy but it sometimes works on some Dell and IBM laptops.
Disconnect the ower
Remove the battery
Press the power button 15 times quickly in a row
Replace Battery
Plug it in
Try it
We tried this method but it's still showing a blackscreen.
Your hard drive and Vista are not the problem. You have hardware trouble on your laptop. There are a couple of guys reading this forum that work on laptops regularly. Hopefully, someone can offer you some troubleshooting tips.
First thing I'd do is hook up a monitor to the laptop and see if I get a display that way.
We haven't tried plugging it to a monitor, we don't have a plug and monitor to plug it into as of now. BTW, we are both long time dell laptop owners and we never had a problem with the screen though.
We haven't tried plugging it to a monitor, we don't have a plug and monitor to plug it into as of now. BTW, we are both long time dell laptop owners and we never had a problem with the screen though.
Do you have a late model TV? Many TV's will except video input from a computer. So if you have a late model TV, you can use that.
We haven't tried plugging it to a monitor, we don't have a plug and monitor to plug it into as of now. BTW, we are both long time dell laptop owners and we never had a problem with the screen though.
Just making sure: there's no BIOS screen right?
Try the external monitor when you get a chance. Also try, if your Dell has it, a reset button on the bottom. You might have to push it with a pin. If not also, try taking out the CMOS on the laptop. You will obviously have to disassemble it though.
I also just "fixed" two laptops with broken displays. One was a cable issue and another was a faulty RAM slot.
If the external monitor works then it could be a faulty inverter, the LCD screen itself or just a cable. If the the external monitor doesn't work then it may be the board itself.
Try the external monitor when you get a chance. Also try, if your Dell has it, a reset button on the bottom. You might have to push it with a pin. If not also, try taking out the CMOS on the laptop. You will obviously have to disassemble it though.
I also just "fixed" two laptops with broken displays. One was a cable issue and another was a faulty RAM slot.
If the external monitor works then it could be a faulty inverter, the LCD screen itself or just a cable. If the the external monitor doesn't work then it may be the board itself.
Ok, the external monitor will have to wait for now till we get a hold of one. There is no reset button.
I'm not sure what you meant by CMOS? What is that exactly so I can work on that?
You may have accidentally switched it to an outside display.
Look along the top row of function keys. I believe it's F8 on Dell, but it should say something like LCD\CRT in a different color. Find that key, hold down the FN key (down near the spacebar usually), then press the function key. It may take a second or two, but it should switch over.
You mentioned pressing the F8 key in your post, so maybe you hit the FN key at the same time.
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