[donetao]

Hello ! To be honest I have never had the need to use a External Grafics card, so I have no real experiences to share with you. IMHO the mother board would be the way to go; if you're good at putting things together. Lap tops are pretty delicate to work on. I was looking for the easiest way. You would want to make sure it's the grafics card causing the trouble. I use a HDMI cable to connect my Toshiba laptop to my flate screen TV. It works verey well. Just make sure the sourse is correct.

Here's a vedio that covers all the ways! You might get more advise from others also!

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=WDQCXOSJGM0

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Hello Rogerarthur! I don't want to take over your thread. I would just like to add some of my thoughts.

If you are not able to boot into safe mode or pass the POST; and to get into the BIOS to set the boot sequence to boot from CD/DVD as first choice, it can be very difficult to find and solve your problem.

There is a POST test card, which I have never used that might give you some help???

If you can boot from a live CD, there are several choices you can use to help you with your problem, but you probably will have to set the boot options to boot from CD/DVD. Live CD's below!

Seatools Dos

Mentest+86

System repair disc; which you should have made on day one. That will give you several recovery options to try. Including a start up repair mode.

Pupply Love Linux

I'm sure you are well aware of all this, but those are my thoughts! I have used all the above live CD's and can help you with them.

http://www.techrepub...ailed-hardware/

 

https://www.google.c...card for laptop

Edited by donetao, 23 June 2014 - 04:57 PM.

[donetao]

Hello Rogerarthur! I don't want to take over your thread. I would just like to add some of my thoughts.

If you are not able to boot into safe mode or pass the POST; and to get into the BIOS to set the boot sequence to boot from CD/DVD as first choice, it can be very difficult to find and solve your problem.

There is a POST test card, which I have never used that might give you some help???

If you can boot from a live CD, there are several choices you can use to help you with your problem, but you probably will have to set the boot options to boot from CD/DVD. Live CD's below!

Seatools Dos

Mentest+86

System repair disc; which you should have made on day one. That will give you several recovery options to try. Including a start up repair mode.

Pupply Love Linux

I'm sure you are well aware of all this, but those are my thoughts! I have used all the above live CD's and can help you with them.

http://www.techrepub...ailed-hardware/

 

https://www.google.c...card for laptop

Edited by donetao, 23 June 2014 - 04:57 PM.

[rogerarthur]

As previously discussed, I can't boot from a cd for the reasons stated by phillpower2. Thanks for the offer of help, but in view of his analysis, I am likely to go down the hardware repair route, and to that end will be seeking a second opinion from a local specialist. I won't tell him what phillpower2 has said, so if he comes up with the same diagnosis, that's the way I'll go. If a new MB is needed, maybe I'll source one as previously mentioned and get him to fit it. As you imply, repairs like that are best left to those with the tools/knowledge to do them properly.

[donetao]

Good luck!! As I stated" Not being able to boot from a live CD, makes it pretty tough". My guess would be hardware related also.

Come back and give us a up date when you get it lined out!

PS I have heard that a HD can cause your PC not to go into BIOS on very rare cases. I have never seen that happen, only read about it. I'm a silver suffer also.

You could remove it and see. Not hard to do.

[phillpower2]

Hello folks,

 

The best course of action is as has been stated by rogerarthur, have CreativeIT take a look and get an independant hands on appraisal as to the cause of the issue, this will be cost effective in the long run, the outcome of the CreativeIT inspection will determine what your best option is.

 

Regarding the USB video device, if the MBs integrated video chip is bad the computer will fail the power on self test (POST) and shut down so the device will not help, also keep in mind the following that I have highlighted from the link;

 

How It Works

 

DisplayLink USB graphics technology is a unique approach to USB graphics, allowing smooth video playback and providing a low latency connection that feels very much like a traditional monitor while providing the "plug and display" simplicity of USB. DisplayLink USB graphics technology allows for high resolution, full 32-bit color graphics, at resolutions up to 2560x1600 (depending on chip used). Here's how it works:

 

1. DisplayLink software is installed on the PC and uses resources available in the CPU and GPU to process the graphical information from your USB connected display.

 

 

Software cannot be installed when looking at a blank screen and resources cannot be used from a failed GPU which is strongly suggested by the previous checks made by rogerarthur, the alternative being a failed CPU.

 

As an asides, helping the OP is the objective and any member is welcome to chime in if it helps   

[donetao]

Thanks for the great information phillpower. Now I know!!

 

Software cannot be installed when looking at a blank screen and resources cannot be used from a failed GPU which is strongly suggested by the previous checks made by rogerarthur, the alternative being a failed CPU.

 

[rogerarthur]

A final update: I have decided that repairing the laptop isn't really cost-effective:

• A local repairer uses a 3rd party who quote £80 for re-soldering the chip,  plus his labour
• a new MB will be about £100 after postage from the US, plus labour.
• For the record, CreativeIT want about £150 to repair the chip.

That sort of money would go a substantial way towards a new bit of kit (e.g. an iPad).

 

Thanks to the contributors to this topic for your time and interest.

 

[phillpower2]

Thanks for the update rogerarthur 

 

You went about this the correct way and so have lost nothing but your time, fwiw, had you decided to purchase the MB from the states it could have gone the same way in no time at all and so I think that you have been wise to also reject this as an option 

 

Let us know what upgrade/replacement you decide on and any questions along the way let us know.