[Ham-Computers] Laptop video problems

[kd4e]

Phil,

    The keyboard on a laptop is frequently calculated as part of the
cooling system, you may not have noticed the heat when it was closed
but there may have been considerable heat trapped in there.

    Any chance this laptop has an external monitor connector on the
back?

    Any chance something weird happened, heat or some other cause,
which switched your video to *external* rather than internal or
both video outputs?

HTH ... doc

> 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!

-- 

Thanks! & 73, doc, KD4E
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