Fun with laptop repair

[ArkieDukie]

As you may recall from LTE, I dropped my laptop and broke the screen. I ordered one online (not exactly the same but supposedly compatible). The replacement itself was surprisingly easy but I can't get the new display to work. I initially got a white screen so I hooked it up to an external monitor. It started once in safe mode but now I can't even get Windows to start. Ideas, anyone? Typing from my iPhone is getting old!

[ArkieDukie]

Good afternoon, all! I'm posting from my slow as molasses, almost 10 year old PC. Got the new monitor installed on my laptop and have only a white screen. My highly uneducated guess is that it's a driver problem (new monitor not same brand as old one, but supposedly compatible). Computer will start in safe mode with external monitor, but if I try to do a regular start hooked to an external monitor I only get the glowing white screen on the laptop. I'm in the process of downloading driver updates to transfer to the laptop, hoping this will fix the problem. Please send vibes that I can get the laptop to work!

[CameronBornAndBred]

Regardless of what your screen is doing, you should be able to boot up with an external monitor in regular mode. (I've never not been able to, and I've had to do this LOTS with clients' laptops, all different models). It seems you could troubleshoot then.

[ArkieDukie]

Regardless of what your screen is doing, you should be able to boot up with an external monitor in regular mode. (I've never not been able to, and I've had to do this LOTS with clients' laptops, all different models). It seems you could troubleshoot then.

Yeah, that's what I thought, too. Maybe my laptop is possessed by demons. It's really, really strange - the Toshiba logo will appear on the external monitor, and then it will go away and the laptop screen will turn white. Only way I can get the laptop to boot with the external monitor is in safe mode. That's what I get for trying to fix it myself!

[Miles]

CBaB, what do you think about updating the drivers for the display or the motherboard chipset? Perhaps the new display is a slightly different model that isn't automatically recognized by motherboard?

[CameronBornAndBred]

My problem with the driver theory is that I've installed XP (and Linux) with clean installs on literally hundreds of laptops and never have I have an issue with the monitor driver. At the point of a clean install...there are no drivers except for those that are built in, and it still works. It really sounds to me as if either the replacement screen is faulty (a white screen is a symptom of that) or it is not installed correctly physically. Are you able to go into the BIOS settings, or is white from the point you boot up? If you can see the BIOS info, then I guess the screen is ok.

[ArkieDukie]

I just got off the phone with someone from the store where I purchased the monitor. He came to the conclusion that the monitor is faulty. I'm sending it back to get a replacement. I never even had the option of getting to bios with the laptop - it always goes straight to the white screen. Fortunately I learned how to make the external monitor work in something other than safe mode.