DELL laptop screen won't turn on...

[toaogatortfc]

Hey guys....
I own a DELL XPS M140 Laptop that I bought roughly 7 months ago (warranty expired now). This notebook has given me the opportunity to do many things on the go and have never had any problems with it until now. Recently, I decided to take my laptop on a flight with me. During my flight, the laptop's screen was working 100% without any problems. That did not last long until I decided to close down the lid while at the same time I was playing music with the control keys at the bottom. I have the setup like this: "when you close down the lid, the monitor turns off completely, computer runs 100% still....when you pull the lid back up, it should turn back on instantly." Well after about an hour I decided I was going to do some other things with my laptop so I decided to open back the laptop screen lid to have a display. Unfortunately, the screen decided to not turn itself back on. I tried restarting it over twenty times and had absolutely no luck with it. I even did the complete restart by pulling out the battery and connecting the power cord instead; however, no luck. I then decided to turn it back on and press FN + (+Brightness) key to see if that worked; nothing! Finally I decided to press FN + F8 to switch from LCD/CRT to see if that was going to work; nothing again! I started to worry whether the screen no longer functions or if even the computer itself didn't as well. After my flight I hooked it up to a TV using the s-video slot and perfectly managed to get a display on the TV and not the laptop's screen itself. It seems to me that the laptop's screen is........:
* burned out (85% doubt it!)
* somehow the magnetic sensor is misfunctioning and no longer tells the laptop/screen to turn back on upon opening the lid (since I heard that this one does not have a button.....it is "magnetic" or something like that).
* something else is wrong
I went over DELL's website to follow instruction to take the laptop apart to see if anything was disconnection. As I follow each step carefully, I found out that everything seemed perfect and that there wasn't any button (magnetic again??? :|) that was stuck. I then decided to put it all back up and hooked it up to s-video to TV in order to type this post. I hope someone around here has an idea of what could be wrong and guide me to the right direction. If it is something beyond what I could do, then perhaps I should take it to some computer tech that wouldn't charge much just for a checkup (I live in Fort Worth, TX btw...suggestions?). Please post your suggestions/opinions/help so I can once again enjoy my portable laptop. Thanks for reading :)....now help please ;)

DELL XPS M140
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsnb_m140?c=us&cs=28&l=en&s=dfb

Inside and Out of the Laptop of Screen
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xps140M/en/sm/display0.htm#wp1006390
Could it actually have a button or is it that "magnetic" ??

[CStradling24]

Hey, I got your p/m and read through all of this and your problem sound exactly 100% the same as mine with my M1710. I know it is not my switch because when I close the laptop with the sound on (Vista Installed) I get a little ding (lack of a better word) and when I open it I get a dong. This just lets me know it think the monitor is connected (internal LCD). Either way the sound happens every time I close or open the lid so the switch obviously works.

I use my laptop as more of a desktop I just like the ability to close it up and go. My laptop sits on my desk ALWAYS on, and at night it sits on with the lid closed but the LCD off. This captures a lot of heat at the LCD. A good argument why this would not be bad, is if it was a bad thing, why would they make a dock and a shelf for the dock which in would mean the lid would be closed but the laptop would be on. Exactly what I do.

I know have the external monitor working perfectly and I am typing on it now. I can even see the BIOS with the external monitor now. Its basically a full fledged desktop now.

You said you 85% doubt that the LCD is burned out but I would say I am 90% sure that the LCD is burned out. Then about 9% of me says it is the video card. The other 1% of me thinks it may be my mother board because my VGA and USB ports have a little more play in them then they used to but I highly doubt its that. I called Dell and they are sending a tech out to me with a new LCD within the next 48 hours or so. I will make sure to let you know what the problem it. If you can, at least wait until I get my LCD in before you take yours to a tech and pay him. If we are having the same problem you might be better of buying an LCD yourself and putting it in. You would save a fortune over actually paying a tech to get you an LCD and install it. Please let me know if you yourself has any suggestions and I can try them out. Like I said though I am almost convinced it’s the LCD. I actually go to college right now to be a Computer and Electronic Engineer at ITT Tech so I have some background. I don’t know, it’s all very depressing if you ask me. I debated taking the laptop and braking it over my knee and really using that Complete Care I have :saywhat:

[Skillz]

Well if it is the backlit that burned out, you could take apart the LCD and shine a light through it to see if it's working.

Just make sure your careful when takin' apart the LCD. I've never done it with a laptop, but I did take apart a desktop 19" LCD for the same reason.

[CStradling24]

The back light works fine. The screen is just black...

[CStradling24]

I called Dell about 24 hours ago to tell them about this problem and a Dell tech just left. He replaced my LCD and the cables for the LCD. The new one works fine now with no problems at all. The LCD was my problem.

[Yoob@NBF]

In the case of the OP I would say the LCD is also a problem however im confused about his first msg about how he bought the system 7 months ago and his warranty is out all XPS systems can only be configured with 1yr+ warranty and Inspirons are 90day+

[toaogatortfc]

Was a mistake...was from Jan 1st 2006 to Jan 1st 2007 :( expired
by the way...the problem persist

[CStradling24]

Confused by your last post??

[Yoob@NBF]

What you could do is have DELL trouble shoot it and once you find out the issue see if it will be cheaper to have dell to fix it or if it is cheapr to aquire the parts on your own.