The home Dell Inspiron 8600 has developed a problem with the screen, which it exhibited ages ago once then came good. Basically on boot up you don't see anything, once it gets to Windows the left half of the screen is all blue with no icons or anything. If I wait until the disk stops spinning and type in my password it changes a bit and I still only get the left half with a green bar down the left.
Obviously a problem with the graphics (and I suspect if I take it into work tomorrow and borrow an external monitor that will work fine).
Has anyone had any experience with this sort of problem. I guess it is likely a problem with the wiring between the motherboard and the LCD screen.
Is this likely to be fixable at home by someone with tools and a fairly good knowledge of electronics? Or is it worth taking to a PC shop? Or just try and get the data off it and throw it in the bin?
And no, before anyone says anything rude I would never have bought a Dell. Inherited it from the company I used to work for that went broke. So the price was right.
The main reasons were
1) The unreliabality of their Desktop SX240 boxes, we had 6 out of 10 motherboards replaced under extended warranty in 3 years. Dodgy capacitor in the power supply chain.
2) The laptop use of a special power supply that sends a signal to the motherboard telling it that it can change the battery off it. So a generic power supply can't be used. Scenario 1 - power supply chip fails, get new power supply. Scenario 2 - motherboard chip fails - get new motherboard (ouch).
Dell laptop display problems
Screen replacement is about a 20-30 minute job which is not too complicated and doesn't need much more than a small phillips screwdriver, however the part may cost you more than a new laptop, especially given that it is a 5 year old model.
I've had a similar problem with my display on an old IBM that turned out to be the graphics chipset, and necessitated a motherboard replacement. In other words, it isn't necessarily the screen or cabling.
I suspect given the age of that model, the best bet is to copy off what data you can, and sell the beast for $50 on eBay as a non-working chassis for parts (without the hard drive, of course).
I've had a similar problem with my display on an old IBM that turned out to be the graphics chipset, and necessitated a motherboard replacement. In other words, it isn't necessarily the screen or cabling.
I suspect given the age of that model, the best bet is to copy off what data you can, and sell the beast for $50 on eBay as a non-working chassis for parts (without the hard drive, of course).