Retrieving information from a laptop with a bad monitor

DallasCowboysFan said:
I tried hooking it back up to the tv again but I never got the laptop to view on the tv.
I tried pushing F4 like you suggested but nothing happened.

I could hear a humming sound when I pushed it but that was as close as I could get to success.

Thanks for your help.
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I think the graphic card is ok and you should be able to output to the HDMI .
( it's more likely that the backlight or inverter is dead)
Some laptop need to "sense" a signal from the HDMI, so you will need to have TV set to the right input.
.... tried ;-(
 
This is the 21st century, lost data should no longer be an issue.

As previous posters mentioned, for now, pull the disk, get an adapter, copy the data.

The USB adapter posted earlier (or similar) works excellently. I use them all the time when cloning disks, or re-purposing SSD's as external HD's. Convenient, portable...

albeit earlier poster mentioned it works on his regular spinny 3.5" disks, which I would not rely on, it didn't power up my WD 3.5" disks. But for SSD's and 2.5" (laptop) disks it is great.

(I believe you need something like this for 3.5" HDD's but that shouldn't matter in your case)

In the future, Back up your data to AWS-S3 / Glacier (great for archiving, now can retrieve data expedited within minutes as well for nominal fee (pennies/gb)

Cloudberry backup is free, nominal fee (Encryption)
Cloudberry Explorer is also free, nominal fee (Encryption)

It is quicker to download your data from an AWS bucket than pull drives and copy data at times. Not to mention, you can access your data from any of your devices with an AWS front end installed (cBerry) my favorite.

For the price of a Latte a month, you won't regret it...
 
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Thanks, I'll try the adapter and see how it works.
And I guess I should try the Cloud too.
I wonder how many people actually use it, as a percentage of the internet?
 
DallasCowboysFan said:
And I guess I should try the Cloud too.
I wonder how many people actually use it, as a percentage of the internet?
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Pretty much anyone who takes data backup seriously.

Off-site storage is an integral part of the golden rule: 3-2-1 Backup

3 - copies
2 - different media/technology
1 - off-site

AWS, Azure incorporate redundant servers, and optional redundant geographical data centers hosting your data. It would take multiple catastrophic events at the different locations to lose your data... If it gets that bad, data loss is the last of our problems... more reliable and efficient than contininually swapping disks and transporting to an off-site location.

(Having a physical air-gapped copy still is always a good idea)

There are plenty of articles on the web. I bookmarked these years ago. The concepts are simple to understand.

Backup overview
Disaster preparedness - Planning ahead
 
i had the same problem; laptop monitor went dead

i tried plugging in a 2nd monitor, vga i think - no luck with that monitor either

so,
i installed a Linux program, something like Ubuntu - and
the program came up on the 2nd monitor, and i was able to move stuff around

[main monitor still not working properly]

[i don't remember if i needed the 2nd monitor to install Linux]

marc
:cool:
 
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marcoPolo21 said:
i had the same problem; laptop monitor went dead

i tried plugging in a 2nd monitor, vga i think - no luck with that monitor either

so,
i installed a Linux program, something like Ubuntu - and
the program came up on the 2nd monitor, and i was able to move stuff around

[main monitor still not working properly]

[i don't remember if i needed the 2nd monitor to install Linux]

marc
:cool:
More...

Thanks, I opened the laptop again to see if something miraculous had happened since the last time I looked at it. It's Christmas time, so anything is possible.

I could barely see the shortcuts on my desktop even under the best of lighting conditions. Then I had the bright idea (pun intended) of using the light on my smartphone . I turned on the light and held it an inch from the screen, copied everything to a thumb drive and moved it to my new laptop.

It was old school and basic, but it worked.
 
Which other video outputs your tech have ? Maybe the deal is with them really ? What do you say ? I do not understand anything. I have VGA and HDMI on my laptop that's for sure. You should try to connect via usual VGA and report here results.
 
IamaMars said:
Which other video outputs your tech have ? Maybe the deal is with them really ? What do you say ? I do not understand anything. I have VGA and HDMI on my laptop that's for sure. You should try to connect via usual VGA and report here results.
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Thanks, but the thread is 2.5 years old and I have resolved the problem.
I transferred all the data and bought a new laptop.
Many thanks for your ideas though!
 
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