Lessons Learned - No Display

[db]

just thought I would share
this lesson learned, in case
the question came up in the
future.

out of the clear blue my
laptop had no display upon
power up.

seemingly I thought that it
was the backlighting because
the acer logo was very faint.

I connected an external
monitor to it, and visually
regain the desktop.

however, upon rebooting
I noticed that I was not
seeing the memory tests
anymore.

so I entered the bios
to disable the silent
boot.

then I found a setting
for the display which
was set to "auto".

so I figured what the
heck and set it to "both"


and viola, the primary display
became functional again.

it is odd that this occurred.
and I was ready to buy
a new laptop, since replacing
the backlighting was going to
cost as much as a new laptop.

but fortunately it was only
a bios setting. perhaps, its
time for a new cmos battery.

so if there are postings in
the future regarding no display,

perhaps, its best not to rule
out using an external monitor
and double checking the bios.

without an external monitor,
there is no way for anyone to
view the bios settings.

incidentally, it should be noted
that getting the laptop repaired
would be at least 219.00 in
addition to parts and labor.

imagine paying a few hundred
dollars for a technician secretly
resetting a bios adjustment.



--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- Microsoft Partner
- @hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~"share the nirvana" - dbZen

 

[Lil' Dave]

Something I ran into when I first tried my digital output from my
analog/digital output video card. I have the normal onboard bios, a Promise
add-on ide card bios, and an Adaptec scsi card bios that normally are
visible with the analog after turnon. With the digital, the onboard bios
routine is visible. Blank screen when the other 2 bios run. Went back to
analog as some pertinent message from the other 2 bios may appear, and I
would never know.