Solved! Acer black screen after bumping laptop

[Mwb88]

I have an acer aspire v5. A bit of history, sometimes when i pick it up if it flexes, the screen gets all crazy. Like green lines and complete distortion and I have to hard restart it.
Here is what happened recently. I dropped my cell phone on to it. Right aroumd the front left corner nearest the user. The screen went black. It turns on and off and the lights in fron light up but no screen. Seems to be no hdmi output either. The hdmi port is right around the area i struck it.
Any ideas would be great. The biggest issue here besides being a poor single father is that all my pics and some important documents are on this laptop. So if i cant fix it can i access the hard drive some how?

 

[webworkings]

NOTE: If the laptop is under warranty, then you should contact the manufacturer about a repair and not do anything that would void the warranty.

It could be a few things, but I would start with the cable that connects the display to the motherboard. It likely runs through the area that you hit. If that cable is bent, pinched, torn, burnt, loose connection (either end), etc., it can cause the display to act oddly or stop working at all.

Should the cable not be the problem, then you are looking at either the display itself, or the GPU.

As to your other question, about the data, none of these kinds of issues would effect the data on the computer. As long as the drive isn't damaged then the data will be accessible. Either once the damage to the cable/display/GPU is fixed or the drive is removed and connected to another device to access its data.

 

[Mwb88]

Thank you. So tear it down and take a look at it. If i cant fix it how do i go about connecting the hard drive to something?

 

[webworkings]

You can either get the external parts needed to connect it (adapter, etc.) externally to another computer (laptop or desktop) or connect the drive internally to another laptop. But in the case of the second option you would need to make sure it is a device that can actually hold the drive.

Option 1 is obviously better, you just need the parts.

 

[Mwb88]

So i have taken it apart and i dont see anything obvious. Can you tell me where the gpu is located or give me some ideas on what to do next? And if the gpu is shot then should i buy a new one?

I dont see how to add a picture...

 

[webworkings]

Since you only gave minimum info on the device, I can't give you details on what is where. That said, there are disassembly instructions (with images) for two versions of that laptop model found here... https://www.myfixguide.com/manual//?s=Acer+Aspire+V5

Should those not be the ones you need, then I would suggest a search through Google or other search engine for internal images, instructions, etc. You can also try contacting Acer or looking at the Acer site.

 

[Mwb88]

After i submitted my last response, i poked around some more . There was a ribbon coming off the mother board that had some of its cables going to the screen. Im not sure but i think it was a fraction of a hair out of place at the connection. I took it out and put it back in. I put everything back together and it works.

So maybe it was slightly loose and thats why the screen messed up when you flexed the laptop. Maybe the phone dropping on it pushed it just enough to stop the connection. ???? I guess i dont really know.

Im definetly grateful for your input. Thank you much.

 

[webworkings]

That could easily cause the problem. I believe I mentioned a loose connection in my original reply. Glad you got it sorted.