Blank Screen -- Laptop

[GeoffreyS]

My computer boots into windows fine but the screen is black. The backlight is on but there is nothing on the screen. If I open and close the lid multiple times, sometimes taking an hour or so, the screen will come on and will stay on. I ran PC Doctor software and it shows nothing wrong with my computer. Is it possible I just need a new screen?

 

[fenix1186]

This is a tough one. It all hinges on if you actually get into windows or not. I've had screen issues where the screen would go black before windows booted which points to a possible bad RAM stick which is cheap to replace and easy to diagnose if you have 4 DIMMs. Just take two out and try to boot, if nothing, try the other two.

If it gets into windows, it could be a graphics issue, be it a bad driver or a bad graphics card. Have you tried booting into safe mode and updating drivers for your card?

 

[2danny9]

My computer boots into windows fine but the screen is black. The backlight is on but there is nothing on the screen. If I open and close the lid multiple times, sometimes taking an hour or so, the screen will come on and will stay on. I ran PC Doctor software and it shows nothing wrong with my computer. Is it possible I just need a new screen?

Hiya,

My opinion, it could be:

Graphics driver issue (could you try updating the driver)?

When it is blank, can or could you connect it to an external monitor, TV or so forth...do you get video output at all?
or:
when it is blank, have you tried changing the angle of the screen (tried in all angles)?

Do you have the make and model? We could check if this may be a problem already been made a ticket for and a fix posted?

See ya soon,

Dan

 

[GeoffreyS]

This is a tough one. It all hinges on if you actually get into windows or not. I've had screen issues where the screen would go black before windows booted which points to a possible bad RAM stick which is cheap to replace and easy to diagnose if you have 4 DIMMs. Just take two out and try to boot, if nothing, try the other two.

If it gets into windows, it could be a graphics issue, be it a bad driver or a bad graphics card. Have you tried booting into safe mode and updating drivers for your card?

I can get into windows. When I restart my computer after a windows update or whatever, it goes through the process of starting up but I cannot see anything on the screen. The volume is on so I know when it boots into windows and it gives me the entering chimes. At that point my computer is still black, so I close my lid and wait until it goes to sleep. Then I open my screen, if nothing comes up then I close it again and wait and reopen until the screen comes up and I log in. After I log in with the screen on it will stay on even if I put it to sleep again and open it later. The problem only exists when I restart my computer again.

I may try the safemode and update the driver if I can get the screen to come on during restart so that I can see what I am doing. But every hardware diagnostic I do show that there is no problem with the card. When the issue started, I thought it might be the RAM too so I replaced it with new RAM but the problem persists.

Thanks for the reply,
Geoff

 

[GeoffreyS]

My computer boots into windows fine but the screen is black. The backlight is on but there is nothing on the screen. If I open and close the lid multiple times, sometimes taking an hour or so, the screen will come on and will stay on. I ran PC Doctor software and it shows nothing wrong with my computer. Is it possible I just need a new screen?

Hiya,

My opinion, it could be:

Graphics driver issue (could you try updating the driver)?

When it is blank, can or could you connect it to an external monitor, TV or so forth...do you get video output at all?
or:
when it is blank, have you tried changing the angle of the screen (tried in all angles)?

Do you have the make and model? We could check if this may be a problem already been made a ticket for and a fix posted?

See ya soon,

Dan

That is something I am going to try next. I asked my brother to bring an external monitor with an hdmi port over so that I can test whether I get a screen up with a second monitor or not. I will let you know what happens.

BTW if anyone is interested it is a Toshiba Qosmio X505 Q885. I don't have the computer in front of me so I can't give exact specs but it is an i5 processor with 1.0G Nvidia M....Graphics (can't remember the number) and 4G RAM

 

[2danny9]

This is a tough one. It all hinges on if you actually get into windows or not. I've had screen issues where the screen would go black before windows booted which points to a possible bad RAM stick which is cheap to replace and easy to diagnose if you have 4 DIMMs. Just take two out and try to boot, if nothing, try the other two.

If it gets into windows, it could be a graphics issue, be it a bad driver or a bad graphics card. Have you tried booting into safe mode and updating drivers for your card?

I can get into windows. When I restart my computer after a windows update or whatever, it goes through the process of starting up but I cannot see anything on the screen. The volume is on so I know when it boots into windows and it gives me the entering chimes. At that point my computer is still black, so I close my lid and wait until it goes to sleep. Then I open my screen, if nothing comes up then I close it again and wait and reopen until the screen comes up and I log in. After I log in with the screen on it will stay on even if I put it to sleep again and open it later. The problem only exists when I restart my computer again.

I may try the safemode and update the driver if I can get the screen to come on during restart so that I can see what I am doing. But every hardware diagnostic I do show that there is no problem with the card. When the issue started, I thought it might be the RAM too so I replaced it with new RAM but the problem persists.

Thanks for the reply,
Geoff

Have you tried video drivers? updating to the latest one from the manufactures website and try a previous version too.

It wouldn't be RAM but good on you trying that option.

Try this, slowly close your screen until you get to the point where it shuts off, once it does instantly open it (any luck)? Do this in safe mode too.

When it is black, try hitting control alt del at the same time? Anything?

Try disabling your computer going to sleep when you close the lid (you say you have to do it multiple times to get it to appear?):

type into Windows search (just press the windows button and type): choose what closing the lid does
and make it do: nothing.
Close the lid, will it come up straight away?

Then do this in safe mode and reboot once in (same thing?)

If not you have a monitor issue, the cable connecting the motherboard to the monitor may be faulty or the screen itself. Difficult to tell until you try all options.

Restarting is the problem eh , update everyone with your findings
Dan.

 

[GeoffreyS]

This is a tough one. It all hinges on if you actually get into windows or not. I've had screen issues where the screen would go black before windows booted which points to a possible bad RAM stick which is cheap to replace and easy to diagnose if you have 4 DIMMs. Just take two out and try to boot, if nothing, try the other two.

If it gets into windows, it could be a graphics issue, be it a bad driver or a bad graphics card. Have you tried booting into safe mode and updating drivers for your card?

I can get into windows. When I restart my computer after a windows update or whatever, it goes through the process of starting up but I cannot see anything on the screen. The volume is on so I know when it boots into windows and it gives me the entering chimes. At that point my computer is still black, so I close my lid and wait until it goes to sleep. Then I open my screen, if nothing comes up then I close it again and wait and reopen until the screen comes up and I log in. After I log in with the screen on it will stay on even if I put it to sleep again and open it later. The problem only exists when I restart my computer again.

I may try the safemode and update the driver if I can get the screen to come on during restart so that I can see what I am doing. But every hardware diagnostic I do show that there is no problem with the card. When the issue started, I thought it might be the RAM too so I replaced it with new RAM but the problem persists.

Thanks for the reply,
Geoff

Have you tried video drivers? updating to the latest one from the manufactures website and try a previous version too.

It wouldn't be RAM but good on you trying that option.

Try this, slowly close your screen until you get to the point where it shuts off, once it does instantly open it (any luck)? Do this in safe mode too.

When it is black, try hitting control alt del at the same time? Anything?

Try disabling your computer going to sleep when you close the lid (you say you have to do it multiple times to get it to appear?):

type into Windows search (just press the windows button and type): choose what closing the lid does
and make it do: nothing.
Close the lid, will it come up straight away?

Then do this in safe mode and reboot once in (same thing?)

If not you have a monitor issue, the cable connecting the motherboard to the monitor may be faulty or the screen itself. Difficult to tell until you try all options.

Restarting is the problem eh , update everyone with your findings
Dan.

I am home now on my laptop. I tried shutting the lid enough to let it go off and then open it right away to no avail. After opening and closing it 23 times the screen finally came on and I logged into Windows from the logon screen. I changed the settings to do nothing when I close the lid. It comes on fine when I close the lid and reopen, but it did this when I had it sleep as well, just not the initial opening after restarting the computer. I checked my drivers on my video card and they are up to date. I wanted to post this before restarting again and trying to get into safe mode since I don't know how long that will take. I will then try to update the driver to a previous version if needed. Now that I have it open I can list my specs:

Toshiba Qosmio X505 Q885
i5 CPU M450 2.4GHz
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 360M
8.0 GB RAM (forgot that I doubled it when I bought new RAM)

If I can get my computer back up I will update what happened.

 

[GeoffreyS]

Ok. Something interesting happened. I went directly to the NVIDIA website to get an updated driver, (as the system kept telling me that my driver was up to date) downloaded and installed it. At one point during the installation my screen went black, flickered and then would not come back on. I opened and closed my lid, as usual, numerous times and the screen eventually came back on and I could see that the update finished installing.

Now I am thinking that the issue may be the video card. Does anyone know of any other hardware diagnostic tools (I used PC Doctor) that would tell me if that is what I need to change or not...Also I am having the most difficult time finding a replacement video card. Do I need to call Toshiba directly? I can't even find the video card on their website under parts.

Still need to get a second monitor to make sure that the video card is the issue but I am thinking that is going to be the solution now...Arg.

 

[GeoffreyS]

I got a second monitor to test my Video card and the screen came on and stayed on completely through the boot up and start of windows. I had no issues either. So, New LCD screen for my laptop was the answer. I ordered one and it should arrive tomorrow and I will replace it and all should be well in the universe again.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Prostar Computer]

If it's not the screen itself that's the problem, it could be the signal to the monitor; perhaps a faulty video cable or poor connection.