Hi Guys, hopefully you can help me out with this question.
Basically a friend of mine gave me a Dell laptop thats less than a year old. Problem is it's broken or half broken at least.
I didn't ask him how this happened to it but I took it just incase it can be saved some how.
It's as if the laptop was snapped backwards with power. So when I turn on the laptop power, I see the screen is totally damaged, not scratched, just broken as you can see a multicolour screen but no picture at all.
So we know the screen is gone and also I can see two wires are snapped that lead from the laptop keyboard area to the monitor.
when I hit the power button on the laptop it seems to power up so what I want to know is, could I get a new screen for this at a fairly cheap price? Or is there any way I could possibly hook this laptop up to a pc monitor? I can't see any monitor connection on the laptop, but could I buy a special connection or something?
There usually is a way with Dell laptops that you can run the picture out to a VGA monitor (less likely a DVI). If you post the model number of this laptop, I can tell you if/where the button would be. Usually it is a secondary fuction of another key, I.E. Hold the little blue button that says FN and press F8, or something like that.
Yes, I think you could buy a new screen for it, however Dell would need to install it (at a price that probably wouldn't be worth it) and its still no guarentee that there isn't more extensive damage to the unit.
I didn't actually cop what dvdsndict was talking about when I had a quick read of the reply this mornin but now I had a better chance to go over it and yes I found the "FN" button which I had never herd of and once pressed at the same time as dvdsndict said with the "F8" button, it powers off the laptop monitor and starts the actual monitor I have plugged into it.
So thanks very much guys as now I have a desk top :-)
Just one more question I want to ask. The laptop works perfect with the new monitor but looks ugly with the broken screen still attached.
So would I be able to screw the laptop screen off? I ask this because there is still a thick wire connecting the actual laptop to it's screen and Obviously this wire is powering up the screen itself when the laptop is turned on, so if I cut this wire, could it affect the working of the laptop ?
You should be able to unscrew or unmount the monitor in some way, im not really sure what it looks like so I couldn't tell you. I don't think cutting that wire will effect the way your laptop runs, except that you'll never use that screen again : )
Glad I could help.
I don't know if its a universal, but in my experience most, if not all, Dell laptops have the ability to run VGA out. I'm sure it varies by the manufacturer.
