Laptop turns on but nothing on the screen

[pspr]

Quote from DT3:

Called them they said warranty had already expired and if I want them to fix its gonna cost me $400+.

How do I go about rebooting the bios?

I'd call them again and say they gave you a computer that only lasted 2 months and you expect them to cover the problem. Put the monkey on their back and get an exception. They should at least extend your warranty so this would be covered for 3 months.

 

[nkhoi]

my laptop screens all die after the guarantee expired all but Toshiba's

 

[FirstDegree]

I am going to be very vague here because I can't remember exactly...

I had a laptop that went from functioning to black while using it. I did a bunch of research on what the problem could be.

1. The lamp/bulb burned out. These look like mini lights that you'd see in a building, long and circular.

2. There is a computer chip that powers the monitor and that could have shorted out. For some reason the word "inverter" is sticking in my head.

Do some research on laptop bulbs or laptop inverters and see if anything is related.

Also, as far as laptop > external monitor, it won't be instant as far as I know. You need to switch the desktop from the laptop to the external monitor using a function key, or going into the display settings. I can't remember how to do it since it has been over a year since I last used my poor ol' laptop.

 

[schizo]

Quote from DT3:

How do I go about rebooting the bios?

Download the appropriate BIOS driver here: http://www.bay-wolf.com/flashbios.htm

The instruction on how to create a bootable ISO can be found here: http://www.bay-wolf.com/bootcd-bios.htm

If you do not have Nero, you could use a free application called ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/

 

[DT3]

Quote from nkhoi:

hold the power button down until it is totally power off then turn it on if not seeing anything chance is your screen is dead.

I'm trying to do this, but it just shuts down at the slightest touch. Usually I need to hold it down for like 5 seconds but now just pressing it lightly turns it off

 

[flamadiddle]

I had the same problem. The driver may have been blown out. Go to Dell site to re-install.

 

[schizo]

Quote from DT3:

I'm trying to do this, but it just shuts down at the slightest touch. Usually I need to hold it down for like 5 seconds but now just pressing it lightly turns it off

That's because your BIOS is dead. Trust me it's your BIOS.

See my post above on how to flash your BIOS.

BTW, DELL no longer store their BIOS drivers in ISO format. They're all in EXE, which is not bootable. So use the download link I provided instead.

 

[DT3]

Thanks Schizo,

I don't see my model number in that link. I went to Dell website and see they released a new Bios a couple days ago for my model but like you said it is a exe file, how should I proceed?

 

[pspr]

Quote from DT3:

Thanks Schizo,

I don't see my model number in that link. I went to Dell website and see they released a new Bios a couple days ago for my model but like you said it is a exe file, how should I proceed?

If you can get the .exe file copied to a CD and use notepad (not a full wordprocessor) to create a text file with the following in it

[autorun]
OPEN=search.exe bios.exe
ICON=disk.ico

Replace bios.exe with the name of your bios .exe file. Then rename this text file autorun.inf .

When you put the CD in your dell drive it should automatically start the bio.exe file. So long as there aren't any interactive prompts it should run OK.

 

[schizo]

Quote from DT3:

I don't see my model number in that link. I went to Dell website and see they released a new Bios a couple days ago for my model but like you said it is a exe file, how should I proceed?

First contact DELL support and request for the BIOS in ISO.

If your request blows up in your face, as I've experienced in my past encounters with their support reps, you'll need to manually convert EXE to ISO.

Unfortunately, there's no software that will directly convert EXE to ISO. You must initially extract the EXE file and whatever it spits out you will then need to re-archive it as ISO using apps like MagicISO.