Hi Gang, I've been pulling my hair out on this one. Gateway Laptop M6316 with a 15.4" monitor, running XP media center. The back light is out. I tied two inverter boards and even replaced the bulb and still nothing. I checked the wires all looks good. I am at a loss.

Does it work on an external monitor? Can you see a faint image when you look at the screen in an angle? How did it die anyway?

Does it work on an external monitor? Can you see a faint image when you look at the screen in an angle? How did it die anyway?

Yes the video card is fine and I can see a faint image. As I said before i replaced the inverter board and the bulb and still nothing.

I'd say the replacement inverter is dead or the video chip driving the inverter has been struck also. Repacement CCFL's don't die that easily unless broken. CCFL wiring is pretty simple, small soldering job. Measured the CCFL leads for bad contacts?

Case you have an high voltage meter (0-5000 Volts), try to measure the inverter output. Be careful though.

I'd say the replacement inverter is dead or the video chip driving the inverter has been struck also. Repacement CCFL's don't die that easily unless broken. CCFL wiring is pretty simple, small soldering job. Measured the CCFL leads for bad contacts?

Case you have an high voltage meter (0-5000 Volts), try to measure the inverter output. Be careful though.

That's what I thought so I ordered a second inverter board from a different company and still nothing. I spoke to the customer about how this happened and she informed me (described to me) that she saw a large spark in the wall outlet. I figured an ark hit it.

Thanks

Did you ever figure out what was wrong with your laptop?? Im having the same problem all i can see is the mouse and my screen saver !!

I have a Toshiba Satellite A215. Yesterday the screen went black during shutdown and computer did not switch off. I switched it off manually by holding the power button down. The monitor would not switch on after that and the computer would not enter the boot sequence. After reading this thread I tried removing the battery and holding the power button down for 60 seconds. This seems to have fixed the problem and the computer switches off and on just fine.

Thanks for the great suggestion and post!

Is this a sign of things to come? This has me a little worried about the remaining life of my machine. It is about 3 years old.

hi my problem is that it switches on and off with the screen remaining black. the i pressed ctrl alt del and the it remains switched on but the screen is still black. i tried that 60 sec fix but it still is black screen.

any ideas?

My Toshiba laptop decided that today was the day it was going to play up.
I turned it on today and the screen was black and I thought it just wasn't turning on, then realised I could still see the screen behind it. I restarted it a few times and it didn't work.
However, it's not jsut staying black anymore. It will start up full colour, then a few seconds in it will drop back to black.
I tried doing what has been said here, but I don't think it's working or I'm just not doing it right.
Can someone please give any other options in what to do?
I don't reallly want to take it to anyone because of the prices, and I need it right now for an assignment. >.>

help please someone, my laptop acer 2410 first started flickering but when i pushed the screen or moved it, it stopped flickering and worked but it coming back an i repeated the process and sometimes turned it off an it would work. now its gone black screen an nothing i do can fix it, everything else is working i can hear windows starting and and can also hear the sound. i can just about make out the icons whats the screen but have to flash a light on the screen an look really carefully as the screen is black screen. the root of this problem has started from my hinges and laptop cover breaking but no damage to laptop. or what moniter is compatible with acer travelmate 2410 tried my pc moniter but says not compatible and no signal . can anyone help please. thankyou

i recently got a friend to upgrade my home pc, they changed my ram from 256mb ( i think) to 2gb on a e machine base unit with 40 gb hard drive, wireless card (new up grade) and this no signal sign came up on the moniter. put the old 256 mb back still didnt work. really need help as essay and exam time an no pc in house and work saved can ayone tell me the problem please thank you

Here's a new one...put a new inverter in and thought it didn't work, but with a bright light or flashlight you can see the start-up screen. After logging on with a user id, and using fn+f8, lights up just fine. Any ideas??

my acer lap top screen goes black when on and off line.but if you look good you can see the screen i was on then you hear good by. how can i fix this? dont know much about computers please help.

i have an acer aspire 7535 and the screen is black but the laptop is still running it is brand new and the screen worked until we installed norton anti virus onto it then it just froze can anybody help me pls?

Just for those who may run across this problem in the future, and are viewing this on a working laptop, well if you can read this, it might help one day so remember it. I'm on a "black laptop" right now. And I'm using it without even looking aaat the laptop's screen, if you happen to have a spair desktop monitor, simply connect that and it should serve well for a temporary screen.

Aside from that. I tried the trick proposed by many including Justadash when you unplug the battery, turn power button on, etc. and I saw on another forum to do it for just 30s. I did it for 35 (just incase I counted a bit fast) Justadash mentioned to do it for 60s, and I also read that you should wait a little while afterwards, and then try to work the laptop.

Right now my laptop screen is nearly pitch black. If you put your eyes half an inch away from the screen on reboot you can see the Windows xp loading window. The laptop is a Lenevo model 0768.

that thing happened also to my hp laptop. i will try what justadash suggested :)

hi.
i bought the light on ebay for 3.50

Hi,
I just read your answer (quoted below). I am feeling my way around my lap top and don't really see where/how to remove the screen bezel. If I do figure that out, I'm not sure which connections to tighten - will it be obvious? I think this might be clear if I could figure out how to remove the bezel... I have a Toshiba Satellite and your answer seems to make the most sense. The problem has been showing for months, but all I had to do was change the angle of the screen for it to return to full light. It does sound like a connection issue. If you get this - (anybody? somebody?) Thank you in advance for your reply!!

I had a similar problem with my laptop, an IBM X24 Thinkpad. The light would frequently go out, making it almost impossible to see (although you could still make out some details without the light, it was extremely difficult). The problem went away, but one day I dropped the computer and the light never came back on.

The problem turned out to be a loose screen inverter. I took off the screen bezel and tightened the connections, and the light's been fine ever since.

mi laptop is a fujitsu amilo li 2727 it boot up but thers no screen and i cant c anything i have even tryed to connect it to mi monitor and it just sez no signal can sum1 help me plz

Have you tried removing the RAM, cleaning the contacts and putting it back in?

I'm currently using my iPod to post this but my toshiba laptop (2005 model?) has gone through the same problem as most of you where the screen goes black but I can still faintly see my desktop... This happend while i was watching some dvds on it... And I have tried taking out my batteries and unplugging the laptop and pressing down on the power button for 60 seconds... But nothing seems to work! Any advice?

help? my screen on my presario f500 is going crazy,it boots up but stays black or sometimes it wants to come on then it shuts off and back on again,is it the video card or what?

Hey. I have a hp compaq 6715s and i'm running win7 on it, updated and all. Right in the middle of using it the screen turns black(the LCD is still working, it's sort of grey) and the laptop is still working. Still, if i was watching something the sound stops and i cannot see or do anything. After I press the power button it's back to normal and it works just fine. It happens every day. When i had win XP it happened once or twice. What could be the problem?


Dana

The screen on my Toshiba Sattelite Laptop M305D-S4830 goes black or into sleep mode if I tilt the hinged screen up or down a little, or pinch the border that encases the screen, or jiggle the lap top too much. To bring the screen back I have to hit the power button to take it into full sleep mode. Then it comes back up after I log in. Does anyone have a cure?

I have a compaq presario laptop that when plugged in i get nothing. just a black screen and the power lights flash off and on doesn't even sound like it's running any ideas?

Had this problem in a Toshiba M30 SP309 long time ago. I contacted the tech support, they told me it was "a expensive little thing that gives energy to the LCD screen" as I am a 6 y-old kid. I just asked how much would cost to repair it, they told me somethin like U$200, but as the computer ment to be in a desktop all day long I just connected a 17'' LCD to it and for got about the issue (I have many).
Now some friend bring me his computer, a very old but lovely Compaq NX7400 with exactly the same problem, and I found this "releasing extra power" solution, wich solved the problem perfectly. But the beauty thing is not just that. When the laptop started right, I went to an not-that-old navigation equipment that I had stored , wich involves a GPS, a ecosound and a radar in just one display. Very expensive and rare, and with a problem like this. I user more or less this technique and also solve this other problem. So, thank you very much.

by the way, couldnt solve the problem in the SP309. Seems to be hardware problem in this case. Not worried tho.

My toshiba laptop screen suddenly turned black,but if looking closely you can still barely see what is on the screen, like the screen saver turned it self on, but I restarted my computer many times and it loads up but still no results.
I had this problem about 4 months ago, so i called toshiba helpline and they were very helpful and gave me instructions while on the phone. The guy on the phone told me to shut down the system, unplug it, take the battery out and press ON button for 20 seconds, then realise the finger and wait another minute, and it worked perfectly until now.

This saved my life! I thought this dell laptop was finished until I found this post, tried it, it worked like a charm! THANK YOU

I also have the same problem in my lenovo laptop, I face this problem about 2 month. I formatted it 3 or 4 times, system unable to install window. I was very much worried about it. finally I got that this problem was due to a virus attack. now my system is free from virus. & I would like to suggest you that if you have sufficient space in your hard disk for Linux/Unix OS than load it along with windows.

Hi, my HP 530 laptop LCD screen recently started by freezing and then just yesterday it turned totally black. Although it powers up,there is no single sign of anything being display of the LCD or even a sucessful POST. Please help me.God Bless U'all..

I have an HP tablet laptop (tx1000). A few weeks ago the screen started flickering, then going black. If I put it to sleep and woke it up again, it was fine. This week, it started going black after just a few seconds or a minute or so. I tried the unplug and disconnect the battery trick. It worked for an hour, then went black. Somewhere I saw that it might work on DC power, or an external monitor. True in both cases, but that doesn't completely tell me what part is going bad. On DC power only, the screen is dim by default as a power saving thing. If I use the function key to brighten it, the screen goes black after a couple seconds. Can anyone tell me what part might cause this?
TIA
Tearose49

help my toshiba is has a black screen but i can see a bit of the desktop... i tried the holding the power button for 20 sec and waited but still no success... what do u recommend i do?

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