- Joined
- Jul 17, 2003
I'm posting this as I only found one person through Google who understood the problem. When you turn on the laptop, it boots up fine with image on screen. When windows comes up, the screen goes black. It was not the LCD. It was not the inverter. It was not the bulbs.
Turns out to be a reed switch in the palm rest under the left mouse button on the laptop.
Symptoms: Turn computer on and you get a good picture. Then, as the video driver kicks in, the screen goes dark.
Many places diagnose this as bad bulbs. This may be true if you never get light. Since I did get a well lit picture, the bulbs are good. Further, if you look at the LCD at an extreme angle, (nearly 180 degrees) you do see the image. Image = good inverter/LCD. No image = bad inverter and/or LCD.
On the Dell, there is a magnet in the lid. When the lid is closed, it forces a reed switch to close/open telling the video drivers to turn the bulbs off to save power. With the reed switch being stuck, the video driver always thinks that the lid is closed and turns the bulbs off.
Work around: With the laptop turned on, place a magnet over the reed switch. You can't see the switch. In this case it is under the left mouse click. Then quickly remove the magnet. The machine comes up normally as if it were in standby.
I hope that this helps and saves some one a lot of money.
Turns out to be a reed switch in the palm rest under the left mouse button on the laptop.
Symptoms: Turn computer on and you get a good picture. Then, as the video driver kicks in, the screen goes dark.
Many places diagnose this as bad bulbs. This may be true if you never get light. Since I did get a well lit picture, the bulbs are good. Further, if you look at the LCD at an extreme angle, (nearly 180 degrees) you do see the image. Image = good inverter/LCD. No image = bad inverter and/or LCD.
On the Dell, there is a magnet in the lid. When the lid is closed, it forces a reed switch to close/open telling the video drivers to turn the bulbs off to save power. With the reed switch being stuck, the video driver always thinks that the lid is closed and turns the bulbs off.
Work around: With the laptop turned on, place a magnet over the reed switch. You can't see the switch. In this case it is under the left mouse click. Then quickly remove the magnet. The machine comes up normally as if it were in standby.
I hope that this helps and saves some one a lot of money.
