Laptop video screen problem

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Anathema

Anathema

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Heaven's Fence
Anathema-Kure
Justin Jectlol
I'm looking for some advice here, and hoping that there's a solution to this mess (that isn't too expensive...)


I bought an Acer Aspire 5560-7414 around... a year ago? I was needing a computer for school (plus some minor gaming) and the old desktop wasn't cutting it (had numerous issues even after a OS change from Windows 7 to Ubuntu.)

I adore the thing - it's never given me any problems, and I've managed to keep it in near-perfect condition. I use it with a good degree of frequency, but take care of it to the most I can.

The only gripe I could ever have would be the keyboard design; there's gaps between the keys, meaning dust and detrius gets into it.

My sister ended up getting another Acer Aspire (I'm unsure of the model as she took of the little information thing on the right side) but I know it's newer than mine is. Hers is having the same problem as mine - the laptop screen isn't working anymore. I can plug in an external monitor and it shows up fine, but the laptop's screen just isn't displaying.

I know that hers might be from abuse it suffered; I just have no idea why mine gave out so close to when hers did. I'm unsure why it's doing this, and am not sure of the possible problems that are causing this (or how to solve it.) If there's any advice anyone can give me, I'll gladly take it and see if it works.

Computer Specs:
~Acer Aspire 5560-7414
~AMD Quad-Core Processor A6-3420M (with Turbo CORE Technology up to 2.40 GHz)
~AMD Radeon HD 6520G with 512 MB Graphics System Memory
~15.6" HD LED LCD
~4 GB DDR3 Memory (4 GB RAM)
~500 GB Hard Drive
~Acer Nplify 802.11b/g/n
~OS: Windows 7
 
It may well be that the screen is working just fine, but is not lit. Shine a bright flashlight onto it and have a look, see if there aren't your regular desktop features there.
Replacement lighting is much cheaper than the entire screen, but will require som serious disassembly to install.
 
It is probably the back light. This happened to my Dell laptop after 9 years of use. I was told it will be more expensive to fix that it is worth, so I bought a new Dell for 300$ from Bestbuy and it is great.
It is a Inspiron 15 and it is good for surfing the net and casual stuff.
 
I have indeed confirmed that it is the backlight - but most likely a loose connector, as I've found that pressing gently in on the lid of the laptop (almost where the Acer logo is) will turn the backlighting on.

How I found this out was by hooking up an old monitor (it had last been used when Windows ME was out :lol:) and: Right click -> Screen Resolution -> Advanced Settings -> Color Management -> Identify Monitors. The moment I hit that, due to it registering that I had a dual projection setup going on (or something like that) the screen on the laptop came up as normal for a second, and then the backlight shut off. I touched the top of the lid, trying to see what closing the lid would do... and the backlighting came on again.

After a bit of experimentation, I realized that by pressing gently on the lid near the Acer logo turned the backlighting on (but to keep it on, I have to release the pressure on the lid as slowly as possible.)

I will open the thing up with my dad's help to see where it is (the apparent loose connector or whatnot); but for now the problem is solved (until something else goes wrong.)

On the subject of my sister's laptop... that's going to need a screen replacement. Opening it up and finding some damage (from where, we don't know), the only fix is a replacement screen. At least mine is working again... was reminding me of the old GBA for a while.
 

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