MSI GT60 Laptop screen not powering on

[mikegiansanti3]

Hello there, hopefully I can get some help with this issue!!
So my laptop will power on, fan turns on but the screen remains completely blank with no backlight at all. I've tried removing the battery and draining the power multiple times with no luck, I've also switched the ram sticks around and replaced them with confirmed working ones but still nothing. Ribbon cable is connected and doesn't appear to be loose or damaged. I tried connecting it to my tv with an hdmi cable but that did not work out either (although the hdmi cble isn't in the best of shape, I've ordered another one and a vga to test a separate monitor) I've also tried booting the machine without the hdd installed and again this did nothing. I'm worried it's the motherboard but it doesn't appear damaged and I am not sure how to test that. So, any advice or tips would be appreciated. The laptop is cleaned regularly and does not run hot so I don't think it was caused by overheating. It was dropped once and suffered some damage to the back left corner of the machine but has worked fine for many months since. There was seemingly no trigger for this error, laptop ran fine one night and would not work the next morning.

update: thanks for the answers guys, after unsuccessfully connecting to a monitor I sent it in for an out of warranty RMA and they confirmed that motherboard was shot. I'm still unsure how it managed to get so damaged after only 1-1.5 years of use. But what can you do, I'm taking this opportunity to upgrade.

 

[webworkings]

Try this...

1. Turn the laptop off (not sleep or hibernate but off).
2. Connect an external monitor to the laptop.
3. Turn on the external monitor.
4. Turn on the laptop.

NOTE: You may have to press an "external monitor" button. Could be the f4 button or a button with two monitors on it, for the external monitor to work.

If you can see fine on the external monitor, then your attached display, or the ribbon cable that connects it, are your problem.

If you can't see on the external monitor at all, or the problem occurs on the external monitor as well, then it is probably the graphics card/GPU that is the problem, which may require the motherboard be replaced.

 

[1shado1]

Yeah, if you're getting no picture on the internal or an external display (try shining a flashlight on it to see if you can see a faint image), it is most likely your graphics card has puked out, as webworkings has already mentioned.