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Inspiron 5100 video problem
A few seconds after I turn on my inspiron 5100 the screen brightens up, but remains blank. I never see anything on the screen at all. When I connect an external monitor it displays properly without any problems. Could this be a graphics card problem even though the external monitor works? I'm confused because the screen does brighten up (the backlight turns on?). Any thoughts? Thanks!
- No. The inverter is the power supply for the backlight. The LCD controller is the driver for the LCD matrix, on a control board behind the screen.
If you're getting light, the inverter and backlight is fine - if the screen is all gray or all white, it's the matrix controller that has a chip that needs replacement. - Yeah, thanks. That's what i was thinking, because it seems to be switching between the two symtoms, sometimes the screen gets all burnt out and it won't start, but then you reseat it and it will start up, but after a bit of use you'll get a screen full of artifacts then it will crash, which is obviously the video card.
As it turns out, it didn't cost anything to repair. I plugged in a different lcd panel into the laptop and it worked. Then when I returned the original lcd panel it also was suddenly working. I'm not sure why this resolved the problem since I had already tried reseating both the screen and the graphics module numerous times. Time will tell if the problem recurs... Thanks again for your help and advice!
ejn63
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Posted March 5th, 2006 13:00
If you're under warranty, have Dell replace the display panel. If you're out of warranty, you can have an LCD expert repair the controller board for far less than the cost of even a used panel.