[BigChiefHH]

I might have posted something about this back when it first happened, but I'm not sure. So forgive me if I did, it's been several months.

I have a Toshiba Satellite A105-S1712 laptop. One day I shut it down (full shutdown, not forced or hibernation) and left for a few hours. Computer worked fine up till then. Came home, turned it on, and there was nothing on the screen. Powered on, gave startup sounds, acted as if it was ready to go, but still, nothing on the screen, not even getting brighter.

Hooked up external monitor and that worked fine (has ever since, unfortunately). Tried using Fn + F5 to switch the screen view, and that wouldn't bring back up the lappy monitor. Took it to a comp guy I know, and he figured it was the inverter (after testing to see if there was power flowing through the inverter, and there was none). So we finally got a new one and just put it in. Still nothing on the lappy monitor, still works externally, even trying Fn + F5 to switch back.

Computer is now almost two years old, with normal everyday use. Of course, back when we originally tried to contact Toshiba about it, it was two weeks out of warranty.

I believe the comp guy took the RAM out and put it back in (in the whole process, not specifically) so it should be seated properly. The connections and such to the LCD are all ok, no loose or cut wiring. I'd hate for it to be the motherboard.

Help, I'm tired of being tethered to the desk, I want to be mobile again.

Also, it'd be great if someone could link me to a repair manual or configuration manual online. Toshiba's website doesn't (or I'm not finding it) have a repair manual. I know someone who might be able to find the problem and fix it if he could see where to look.

Thanks

BCHH

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Hello, and welcome to Geeks To Go.
It sounds like your back light is burned out.
First, it is not your motherboard! Do not let an unethical repair shop tell you it is.
Being able to use an external monitor eliminates the motherboard, video card, and RAM.
Please go here and read this fine article, from Toshiba, on how to change the back light.

[hfcg]

Hello, and welcome to Geeks To Go.
It sounds like your back light is burned out.
First, it is not your motherboard! Do not let an unethical repair shop tell you it is.
Being able to use an external monitor eliminates the motherboard, video card, and RAM.
Please go here and read this fine article, from Toshiba, on how to change the back light.

[BigChiefHH]

Thanks for the greeting and the info. You might be right. I'll have to look into getting the backlight fixed. The computer guy I know didn't mention the light itself. Hopefully that'll be the fix, and I can get back to mobile computing.

[jeffk813]

Another thing you might look at to verify whether or not it's the backlight is to look very closely at the LCD panel while the unit is powered on. Without the backlight it will be difficult to see, but you should be able to make out an image on the screen, even though it will be very dark.

If you can't see anything at all, it MAY be a problem with the cable connecting the LCD panel to the motherboard. I've seen issues with video cards where the LCD output section went out but the external video port still worked, so I can't rule the video card out completely, but it's not very likely to be the problem. If you can make out the faint image of what's supposed to be on the display, it's definitely the backlight / inverter.