[Ham-Computers] Laptop video problems

[Philip, KO6BB]

Hi All,

I have an old NEC Pentium (first Pentium) laptop that I have been using to 
"key" my 10 Meter beacon in CW mode.  The Keyer program is a DOS program and 
to save wear and tear on the hard-drive I unplugged the drive and boot from 
a floppy containing the Keyer program.

It appears that my concern about saving wear and tear on the hard-drive was 
unwarranted as I just discovered that the video in the computer has gone 
belly up.  Yes, the backlight still works and can be turned on/off, but 
there is no other video what-so-ever!  In other words, it's a good thing 
that the program boots from a floppy as I would be unable to "click" an icon 
on the desktop to activate the program.

This machine has been running on the 12 Volt "station" battery 24/7 for the 
past three-four months with the lid closed (shuts off the video when down), 
it doesn't seem to run unduly warm as the case is just luke-warm to the 
touch.  It CAN'T get a power surge from the power-line as the 12 Volt 
station battery system is VERY stiff.

I KNOW the CPU/Memory etc. is working as it will boot from the floppy and 
run the Keyer program.  If I plug in the Hard drive it appears to also boot 
from that as I hear the drive being accessed and see the LED blinking. 
After a few minutes that action stops and I presume the computer has booted 
up.

Although I'm pretty sure that I know the answer already, is the video on 
these older laptops integrated into the MoBo, and is it usually economically 
repairable, preferably by me?  (my gut feeling says it's not feasible).  The 
machine already had an intermittent problem reading the CD drive, so it's 
really not worth putting much into it.

73 de Phil,  KO6BB
DX begins at the noise floor!

Ten Meter CW Beacon KO6BB/B, 20 Watts 24/7 on 28.248MCs.
Merced, Central California,    37.3N  120.48W  CM97sh