I recently pick this laptop up(Intel P3 800MHz Running Windows XP),for my wife for school. I been running into some problems with the screen going black. Since i had it, i replaced the battery,ac adapter and the plastic bezel around the LCD screen. It could be fine for a few hours,then all of the sudden screen go black but the computer stays powered on. However i use a PCI wireless card to get on the internet..This loses power as well,both lights on it go off. I even tried using the laptop without the PCI card thinking it might be shorting it out but still screen goes blank. I thought it was the video driver that might be the problem.. I always have to restart my computer when it goes black,so when i do that i would get the report this error to Microsoft,i do and i get this message that my video driver stop working. Since then, i thought i found the correct driver but the screen still goes black but now i don't get the error message about my video driver stop working.I even loaded windows 2000 pro on this thinking maybe that XP is clashing but still having the same old problem.I even connected it, to my LCD TV to see if it was the LCD screen itself.Could this be a motherboard or video card issue? Is there some kind of program out to to scan your pc to see whats wrong?Thanks in advance.
So, what happened when you connected it to an external monitor? Did the screen still go black? This would tell us if it a motherboard problem. Does this model have intergrated graphics? Have you check for updated BIOS and system drivers through DELL? Is this a Hibernation problem?
Originally posted by rayals: So, what happened when you connected it to an external monitor? Did the screen still go black? This would tell us if it a motherboard problem. Does this model have integrated graphics? Have you check for updated BIOS and system drivers through DELL? Is this a Hibernation problem?
When i do connect it to a external monitor it still goes black.No,i think the video card you can replace,since i seen replacements for this model on Ebay.I tried updating the bios but i keep getting a error message and i went on dells website on my other computer for the correct drivers,still no luck.. You know what,i was thinking it was a hibernation problem myself but i have that turned off. Thanks for your help.
I would then first try replacing the video card. If you know that you have the correct drivers, and video still fails on an external monitor. I am sorry that I fo not have that model video cord available. Sometimes as a Dell Remote Tech, I have used parts available. Are you confident in your abilities to replace a Laptop video card? I could send you the info for that model.
Originally posted by rayals: I would then first try replacing the video card. If you know that you have the correct drivers, and video still fails on an external monitor. I am sorry that I fo not have that model video cord available. Sometimes as a Dell Remote Tech, I have used parts available. Are you confident in your abilities to replace a Laptop video card? I could send you the info for that model.
Yeah that would be great.. I usually do all my own work on desktops but for laptops i take it into the shop.
OK i am running a diagnostic test right now.I already have 3 errors,i can only see what one of them is now.. Supposedly my floppy failed,however this is what i used to make the 4 diagnostics floppy's.. The other two i can see,nor i cant scroll up.. Will it give me a log when done?
Originally posted by rayals: I would then first try replacing the video card. If you know that you have the correct drivers, and video still fails on an external monitor. I am sorry that I fo not have that model video cord available. Sometimes as a Dell Remote Tech, I have used parts available. Are you confident in your abilities to replace a Laptop video card? I could send you the info for that model.
I ran a complete diagnostic scan,which took a long time. However i did get a few errors but they were for my floppy and CD-ROM. Could this be the problem that causes my screen to go black.. Funny thing is,my screen didn't even go black once, doing the scans and it was scanning for at least 5 hours.
This sounds more like a driver problem. have you installed the original drivers? Not all updates for drivers are good. The old trem 'If it Aint broke, don't fix it' works well.
Go to:
http://support.dell.com/support/download...c=us&l=en&s=gen Type in the service tag and download the specific drivers. It would be a good idea to update your bios at the same time.
