I recently bought a Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop for really cheap, however it does have a problem. When you turn on the laptop, the screen turns on, but only projects white. Each pixel works perfectly to project that white screen. It even flickers at the appropriate times for when it's done with the post screen, and loading Windows Drivers.
I didn't stop there. I plugged the laptop into my KVM and I got a picture! I was able to go into the BIOS, but the option for projecting it on both LCD and VGA out was already selected, but I tried selecting VGA out only, didn't change anything(thought I'd try it).
The previous owner says that it just "stopped working" one day, or at least that's what his client reported. He tells me the LCD is dead. I say that if the LCD is projecting all of one color perfectly, it's not "dead". Unfortunately, I have very little knowledge of LCDs, and even laptops for that matter.
This is where it gets a little complicated. I said that it was working fine on my KVM, but past the post screen made problems. I saw the Windows Loading bar just fine. Screen flickers after loading VGA drivers, but then it's just black(still white on LCD of course though). I thought that since my KVM's monitor is old it might have been a resolution problem, so I tried it on my Envision flat CRT, but it did the exact same thing, and the Envision shouldn't have a problem with any resolution.
I just had an idea to try loading windows in safe mode, skip the fancy VGA drivers. In the past I've seen video cards have problems in certain things like 3D only, Direct X only, OpenGL only or even the normal drivers for it.
My guess and hope is that it is the video card. This model actually has a removeable video card that goes for about $15 on ebay, which isn't bad at all. I would think that the video card could be messed up to the point of displaying nothing on one output, and nothing at all regardless of output once it loads the drivers.
Do you think it could be somethin else like the LCD's inverter, or maybe even some cable? Do you think that the two problems are being created by the same thing, or are they two seperate problems? I think they must be related, and I hope it's the removeable video card.
Before purchasing anything, I just wanted to ask the experts who see this sort of thing more often than I.
Thanks for the help.
Edit: I performed a second examination of the laptop just now after my post. I was playing around with the function keys. Once it was in Windows, I hit Function-LCD/CRT, and to my surprise, I saw Windows on my KVM, but the LCD is still completely white, no change except for the flickers at the same time as my CRT.
The mouse is set to default, however the only thing visible are two very small horizontal flickering lines. When you look at it you immiediately say "Uh oh, I just overclocked my video card too high and killed it!"..... I remember the feeling. Haha.
It was very annoying because the pointer of the mouse is up and to the left of the flickering lines. I turned off hardware acceleration on the 845G, and walla! the good ol' mouse pointer is back to its healthy state.
I am fairly certain now that it is infact the video card, and I am not worried about gambling the $15 on a replacement.
Anyone have any recommendations for me?
I didn't stop there. I plugged the laptop into my KVM and I got a picture! I was able to go into the BIOS, but the option for projecting it on both LCD and VGA out was already selected, but I tried selecting VGA out only, didn't change anything(thought I'd try it).
The previous owner says that it just "stopped working" one day, or at least that's what his client reported. He tells me the LCD is dead. I say that if the LCD is projecting all of one color perfectly, it's not "dead". Unfortunately, I have very little knowledge of LCDs, and even laptops for that matter.
This is where it gets a little complicated. I said that it was working fine on my KVM, but past the post screen made problems. I saw the Windows Loading bar just fine. Screen flickers after loading VGA drivers, but then it's just black(still white on LCD of course though). I thought that since my KVM's monitor is old it might have been a resolution problem, so I tried it on my Envision flat CRT, but it did the exact same thing, and the Envision shouldn't have a problem with any resolution.
I just had an idea to try loading windows in safe mode, skip the fancy VGA drivers. In the past I've seen video cards have problems in certain things like 3D only, Direct X only, OpenGL only or even the normal drivers for it.
My guess and hope is that it is the video card. This model actually has a removeable video card that goes for about $15 on ebay, which isn't bad at all. I would think that the video card could be messed up to the point of displaying nothing on one output, and nothing at all regardless of output once it loads the drivers.
Do you think it could be somethin else like the LCD's inverter, or maybe even some cable? Do you think that the two problems are being created by the same thing, or are they two seperate problems? I think they must be related, and I hope it's the removeable video card.
Before purchasing anything, I just wanted to ask the experts who see this sort of thing more often than I.
Thanks for the help.
Edit: I performed a second examination of the laptop just now after my post. I was playing around with the function keys. Once it was in Windows, I hit Function-LCD/CRT, and to my surprise, I saw Windows on my KVM, but the LCD is still completely white, no change except for the flickers at the same time as my CRT.
The mouse is set to default, however the only thing visible are two very small horizontal flickering lines. When you look at it you immiediately say "Uh oh, I just overclocked my video card too high and killed it!"..... I remember the feeling. Haha.
It was very annoying because the pointer of the mouse is up and to the left of the flickering lines. I turned off hardware acceleration on the 845G, and walla! the good ol' mouse pointer is back to its healthy state.
I am fairly certain now that it is infact the video card, and I am not worried about gambling the $15 on a replacement.
Anyone have any recommendations for me?
