[rogerarthur]

My wife's laptop has just stopped working. When the power button is pressed, the hard drive spins briefly then stops and the screen stays black, looking the same as when its switched off, no flickering or indication of a backlight. I have looked for online help via my desktop, and have tried:

 

• powering up without the battery, just the mains lead.
• plugging in an external monitor, which just goes into / stays in sleep mode (blue power led goes orange).
• starting with a recovery disk in the dvd drive (drive spins up and it sounds as though the disk is being read)
• pressing F8 at startup

 

None of this has helped. To my mind this means:

• it could be a software issue (permanent sleep mode)
• it could be a hardware issue (component failure)  but probably not a failed screen  or broken wiring at the hinge.

Where to start? I'd be glad to hear from anyone who has had a similar experience and/or the know-how to advise if it's a feasible/economic repair.

[Advertisements]

  rogerarthur

 

If you do not even get a BIOS screen then it is not software related, a few questions if I may;

 

When you tried the external display did you toggle between screens by using the Fn and one of the F1 - F12 hot keys.

 

Do you at any time hear the internal cooling fan working.

 

Does the computer normally beep once when it has booted into Windows, if yes is it beeping at all now.

 

Is the notebooks power or any other LED remaining lit

 

Service manual for reference  here

[phillpower2]

  rogerarthur

 

If you do not even get a BIOS screen then it is not software related, a few questions if I may;

 

When you tried the external display did you toggle between screens by using the Fn and one of the F1 - F12 hot keys.

 

Do you at any time hear the internal cooling fan working.

 

Does the computer normally beep once when it has booted into Windows, if yes is it beeping at all now.

 

Is the notebooks power or any other LED remaining lit

 

Service manual for reference  here

[rogerarthur]

hello Phillpower2. Thank you for your reply. I had not tried to toggle the monitor function key, but when I did, it made no difference (but not sure I was doing it correctly, see below). Beeping was not something I'd noticed before, but it certainly isn't beeping now. I can hear a sound which I think is a cooling fan, which becomes audible when the hdd stops spinning. The only visible light is the power led on the front edge, which stays white.

 

Re: the monitor toggle key (the one shared by F1?), I wasn't sure how to use it so I tried it

1. on its own
2. simultaneously with the Fn key
3. simultaneously with the shift key
4. simultaneously with the Ctrl key
5. simultaneously with the Alt Gr key

but the external monitor stayed in stand-by mode throughout.

[phillpower2]

Hello rogerarthur,

 

Sorry if my post was not too clear 

When you tried the external display did you toggle between screens by using the Fn and one of the F1 - F12 hot keys.

 

Not all notebooks are the same but I believe pressing down the Fn and the F8 keys at the same time on many Dells is how the screen is toggled between onboard and external.

 

Try the above first and post back, can you also let us know if you have been getting a BIOS screen or if the Dell logo appears, the error beep/s we can come back to if need be.

 

You are welcome btw 

[rogerarthur]

Hi Phillpower2.  On the 1750 there are white graphics above the blue function key numbers (for example,above the F8 label there is a graphic symbol indicating "reduce volume" whilst F9 has an "increase volume" symbol). On the F1 key of our laptop there is a graphic symbol which almost certainly represents the toggle between the laptop and an external monitor which you brought to my attention. This is why I tried the F1 key, both on its own and in a variety of combinations as previously described.

 

In the past, I know that, unnoticed by us and accidently, the F2 key would occasionally switch the wireless connector off (it has a graphic of an antenna on it) but I can't remember how we set it back on i.e. if it required the simultaneous use of another key. Is there a Dell keyboard guide anywhere? I can't find one.

 

There are no beeps coming out of the laptop now, and I can't remember if it beeped before (one gets so used to these things).

[rogerarthur]

P.S. As previously mentioned, there is no screen activity whatsoever, no bios, no logo, nothing. The screen looks dead.

[phillpower2]

It doesnt sound too good at present but in case a loose or bad memory module is causing the issue try removing and reseating the memory securely, see page 36 here

[rogerarthur]

The memory module(s) appeared to be in their correct place but I did as you suggested, with the same outcome. The only visible indicator light is the power led on the front edge and there's definitely a cooling fan at work (and its blowing out quite warm air). I've noticed that if I leave the laptop "running",  the hdd sometimes spins up again briefly (once) some minutes after start up, still with no visible activity of any kind. Your earlier remarks about the bios would suggest that its a hardware issue, might it be the hdd? Would this stop it booting up from a cd?

[phillpower2]

Please remove both memory modules and power up the notebook to see if the behaviour changes as in any possible error beeps etc.

 

A bad HDD would not stop you from getting a BIOS screen and because you cannot get a BIOS screen you cannot check or change the boot sequence.

 

Have you tried continually tapping the F12 key when you restart the notebook.

 

Depending on your update I fear that the video chip may have failed 

[rogerarthur]

I did as you suggested. The result on power-up was that there were 2 beeps in rapid succession, continually repeated after a pause of 2-3 seconds. Have we moved forward? 

[rogerarthur]

Also, tapping F12 on start-up has not changed anything. Thank you for your interest in this matter.

[phillpower2]

Sorry to say that it is looking more and more like the video chip has failed, an explanation, as the MB beeps when the Ram is removed it means that the problem is after the Ram with the next item of hardware tested as part of the "power on self test" (POST) being the GPU.

 

It is worth trying one stick of Ram at a time in each slot but the totally blank screen throughout and the error beeps when the Ram is removed does suggest that the video chip has failed, I am not suggesting that you use the services at the following link, it is for information only purposes and you will note that it is stated that your notebook display issue is a common one, see here

[rogerarthur]

Thank you for your continuing assistance, Phillpower2. I have asked CreativeIT for an estimate of the likely repair cost to weigh up whether or not to buy a new laptop/notebook. Trouble is, there is stuff on the 1750's hdd that my wife wants. I'm wondering if I should find a working s/h 1750 and install our hdd in it so that she can access her stuff (photos, documents). Alternatively, I might ask a local repairer with the necessary hardware/expertise to extract the data onto a memory stick. In the meanwhile, thanks again for your time, I'll post an update once I have an estimate and have decided what to do.

[donetao]

Hello! I don'i want to Hi-Jack this thread or Step on Phillpower.  I'm learning about computers every day. I'm sure Phillpower can answer your questions much better than myself.

Would a external USB graphics card help you with your graphics issue?? This would only work if your monitor is good.

Also there are ways to recover your data without paying a computer repairman

http://www.displayli...gy_overview.php

[rogerarthur]

Hello donetau. Thank you for getting involved. I'm fairly certain phillpower2 won't mind or see it as a hi-jack as this is surely what forums are for! He may not agree with you, however so I'd be glad to see what he has to say, I am certainly in no position to question your advice. To be honest, I wasn't aware that external graphics cards existed, but it certainly sounds like a reasonable idea. My only comment is that the money I spent on buying the device would have gone towards the repair.

 

I did a bit of surfing (do they still call it that? Are people like me still known as silver surfers?!!) and found a supplier of motherboards on eBay in the US who is selling a new MB for about 85 dollars, plus about 15 dollars postage. This will have a new graphics chip installed on it, so for $100 it might be "job done". This is only about £58 at the current rate of exchange, which sounds very reasonable to me.