Dell Inspiron 5160 display doesn't work

I recently acquired a Dell Inspiron 5160, service tag 2JVR461. The display didn't work so the previous owner took it on himself to disassemble the screen bezel and all in an attempt to fix it. He quickly realized he was in over his head and sold it to me, cheaply.

This laptop functions perfectly when connected to an external desktop monitor.

I removed a screen, bezel assembly, inverter and all from a working 5160 and put it on this one with the missing screen and it won't light up at all, not even a flicker.

With my limited laptop troubleshooting capabilities, I figure the video controller has to be good because it works with an external desktop monitor and the this laptop screen works on another 5160 so what could possibily be keeping it from working on this laptop?

 

mmmm...one first thought. Could it think that the laptop is closed, which would shut off the laptop screen and direct the graphics to an external monitor? Is there a microswitch that cuts off the display when it is closed, that switch could be broken (bad connection)?

 

Hey, that's certainly is a possibility, especially since the ham-fisted guy I got it from tore into it with no idea what he was doing.

It's late now (4:22 AM) and I haven't been to bed yet. I'll give that a try tomorrow . . . well, later this morning or afternoon.

Thanks.

 

I can't find such a switch. Does anyone know where it might be?

 

I found that switch. It's a magnetically-operated switch in the palm rest.

 

OK, good, can you short circuit it?

 

It works with the magnet. No need to short-circuit it. Still, there is no light in the laptop's LCD. There is probably something in that board that turns one monitor off or senses the presence of an external monitor. It must be that part of the board isn't working.

 

Only other thing I can think of is to see if there are any function keys that control the graphics output.

 

There are; but, it blacks the desktop monitor for one second or less and then it snaps right back on.