blank screen on laptop

When I boot up my Dell Inspiron with XP media center edition, I get a black screen now. All the little indicator lights flash as normal and I can hear the mice inside scrambling around doing something. IF I wait about 10 to 15 minutes and then hit ctrl/alt/del the screen will activate and the computer will finish the boot up and work fine. If I try ctrl/alt/del too soon it has no effect.
I checked the powersaver option and nothing odd; I changed the screen to never shut off but that didn't help. I'm on AC power so it's not a battery.
Wazzup?

 

Hi,
If you choose Restart rather than Shutdown (Turn off computer) do you see the Dell splash screen when it restarts? If so, go into the configuration/startup settings. If there is a setting "Quick Boot" or "Quick POST ", set this to Disabled (No). If that does not work, find the setting "load defaults ", use that. Save settings at Exit.

You will find it is easiest to look at the BIOS listings in the User Guide/manual.

If you cannot get to the Dell screen, you will need to "Clear the CMOS ". If that works once or twice, but it starts happening again, you will need to replace the CMOS battery (again, see the User Guide).

Maybe I am reading too much into the problem. Look up blank screen at the Dell support website (use Internet Explorer)
http://support.dell.com/support/top...rt/en/product_support_central?c=us&l=en&s=gen
or ask at the Dell Community Forums if you cannot find an answer.

Matt

 

Did the laptop come installed with the xp media center or was it an add on install ?
This program is notoriously very models specific.
Check all your video settings on the keyboard just to make sure nothing simple was turned down accidentally.
Does the screen appear on bootup - good sign.
Does the windows startup screen as it starts to load ?
If it blanks out after that then it is most likely a driver issue. > start in safe mode.
Perhaps there is a setting for an external monitor in the bios or windows.
XP media center Lol

 

update

mattman
how do you 'clear the cmos'?
The Dell site didn't offer any solutions that worked.

vision
the laptop came with media center installed. the display is blank from the beginning, it will come up normally and finish boot up in random fashion after some time. sometimes cntr/alt/del will get it going and sometimes it won't.

 

I had a look at the Dell forums. The suggestion visionof made about it being set to run from a secondary monitor was one I noted. As soon as you are able, connect a monitor to the VGA output, if you can see the Dell screen, go into the BIOS settings and look for that setting or reset to "defaults ".

I checked around Dell sometimes during the day and came up with a few dead ends. I still don't know if Inspirons might have a CMOS battery (it may be built in or run from the main battery). Same with "clearing" the CMOS.

Now I wonder if it might be more useful for you to do the searching, it is better that you learn more about your machine than me.

Try starting here:
http://search.dell.com/results.aspx...1&cp2=-1&si=&spf=&ssysid=&ssysn=&stag=&~srd=f

Of course, post back if you are not getting results and as I said, the Dell forums will have more background resources than we do.

Your graphics is starting incorrectly. A BIOS setting like, umm, Boot from VGA (a guess), could be the reason. You either need to change the setting or reset all the settings.

Matt

 

short?

I'm now able to get the computer to fire up consistantly...I take all my fingers and press down randomly on the center of the keyboard, activating many keys and the screen pops up. This works at any time after I hit the power on button. Evidently when I was hitting cntr/alt/del I was sometimes activating whatever this is.

What puzzles me is that if this is a short, why so predictable? It never starts without this and never shuts down with any keyboard activity. I would think that if there is a problem under the keyboard then typing or mashing a bunch of keys might cause some glich. Doesn't, once I'm up, all is good (for now!).


Update...Just poking the K key in the middle of the board seems to work. Poking other individual keys didn't...

 

Dytrog

remove your battery and see if it will run on power plugin. if so you may have a bad battery. if it works replace bat. & remove a few times then charge it for 2 hr's. maybe bad contact.

 

don't think that's it

Dytrog
Same problem with no battery in the laptop.

 

Dytrog

did you try F-12 diagnostics test?

 

diag

Dy
I did run a complete diag. I'm actually not sure how I got into it! But it checked out every key on the keyboard and tons of other stuff. Nothing.
How do you get into the 'F12 diagnostic test'?

 

Dytrog

turn power on holding or tapping F-12 bit also has the bios there to look at.

 

Iwas using my wifes laptop to remember how it worked. it has been pluged in all nite. after about 20 min. it told me i needed to charge it LOL

 

Pressing some of the keys starts the graphics. To me it would seem like a connection problem (although I might expect it work in reverse and stop working rather than start working).

When I looked at the Dell technical information for some of the Inspirons I saw the instructions for removing the keyboard. It did not seem very hard (lever off a cover and remove some screws). You should be able to find the instructions by going to the Technical Support page, in the left-hand pane look for "manuals ", go to "Service Manuals ", there you will see "Keypad ".

If you removed the keypad you should be able to find what may be causing the problem (it should be directly below the K key by what you say). Even if you cannot find a connection to reseat, you may be able to keep continuous pressure on that area by putting in a thin layer of foam rubber.

Worth investigating in my opinion.

Matt

 

fixed????

I did change some settings for power management but not much else, although I was looking around for solutions. All of the sudden, it went away...boots normal!
I suspect something loose in the board under the keyboard and poking the keyboard must have set it better. Not sure because it should have had some random shut downs as well as difficult start ups if it was something loose. I hope I'm OK but I suspect it will come back sometime...
Thanks to all for the help.