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Dell white screen of death?

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  #1  
Old 08-18-2008
Newcomer, in training
 
Member since: Jul 2008, 16 posts
Dell white screen of death?

Hi,
I have a dell x200 . The lcd has suddenly gone all white.
So far I have done the following.
Checked the conections.
Changed the lcd.
Removed the lcd.
Put in a new (spare) lcd

Now with an external monitor I get an all black screen that shuts off after about two seconds. In the time of those two seconds I can clearly see a flashing prompt ( - ).
The screen seems to shut off as the laptop starts to read the cmos.

I have disasembled the entire laptop and still no change.
I have frozen the video chips with cool spray and still no change.

It apears to me that I have a corrupt bios or cmos but I cannot try to correct it because I can't see the d*m screen. Oh , I almost forgot, I just finished re installing winxp when all this happened. The laptop apears to run normally exept no video.

I would apresiate any constructive thoughts on this problem.
  #2  
Old 08-18-2008
Newcomer, in training
 
Member since: Jul 2008, 16 posts
I have also removed and repaced every single removable part . ie ram,harddrive,modem,ect
  #3  
Old 08-21-2008
TechSpot Addict
 
Location: Germany
Member since: Aug 2006, 829 posts
System specs
is it possible to attach an external screen and see if it shows more?
does the white screen appear right after you switch the laptop on or when it starts loading windows? did you try to boot from an alternatifve os or pe?
  #4  
Old 08-24-2008
Newcomer, in training
 
Member since: Jul 2008, 16 posts
Hi,
The screen turns white immeditly upon startup, just white and nothing else.No bios load or anything
When using an external monitor the screen is black. The black screen will stay on for about 3 seconds and I can see a prompt (-). The screen then shuts off.
The external monitor shuts off before the laptop loads the bios or cmos.
  #5  
Old 08-24-2008
TechSpot Addict
 
Location: Germany
Member since: Aug 2006, 829 posts
System specs
sounds like a dead video chip. can you change the display mode (fn+f8)?
  #6  
Old 08-24-2008
Newcomer, in training
 
Member since: Jul 2008, 16 posts
Hi, well I tryed the fn-f8 comand and no change.on either lcd or standard monitor.Everything else seems to be working fine. The keyboard works, all of the drives work and you can even hear the hard drive.

I think it may be time to find a new motherboard.
Thank you for your help.
  #7  
Old 08-27-2008
Newcomer, in training
 
Member since: May 2007, 13 posts
just my exp

Quote:
Originally Posted by grc1 View Post
Hi,
The screen turns white immeditly upon startup, just white and nothing else.No bios load or anything
When using an external monitor the screen is black. The black screen will stay on for about 3 seconds and I can see a prompt (-). The screen then shuts off.
The external monitor shuts off before the laptop loads the bios or cmos.
your laptop videocard is malfunctioning or dead
or it can be because of PSU failure... check by changing the laptop power adapter...if still problem psu is not either giving enough power to hardware like videocard or ram...
change the RAM it can be cuz of ram aswell.

remove hard drive/ remove ram/ remove dvd/cd and then power it on.. if still no bios screen then ur mother board is problem...

in some cases if ur laptop heatsink is not ventilated then at the end of the day ur processor dies of over heating n can cauz this symtoms....

check for ur self from these angles may be they are of any help to you...
good luck
  #8  
Old 09-03-2008
Newcomer, in training
 
Member since: Jul 2008, 16 posts
Found the problem

Well, with the help from a pro tecky, it has been determined that the problem is the video chip. The video chips are actuly quite cheap but installation it very expensive. So I think this motherboard will be put in the scap parts shelf.

Thank you to all who have helped me with this pain in the *ss motherboard.
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