Hi Guys, hopefully you can help me out with this question. Basically a friend of mine gave me a Dell laptop thats less than a year old. Problem is it's broken or half broken at least. I didn't ask him how this happened to it but I took it just incase it can be saved some how. It's as if the laptop was snapped backwards with power. So when I turn on the laptop power, I see the screen is totally damaged, not scratched, just broken as you can see a multicolour screen but no picture at all. So we know the screen is gone and also I can see two wires are snapped that lead from the laptop keyboard area to the monitor. when I hit the power button on the laptop it seems to power up so what I want to know is, could I get a new screen for this at a fairly cheap price? Or is there any way I could possibly hook this laptop up to a pc monitor? I can't see any monitor connection on the laptop, but could I buy a special connection or something? Thanks Sandisk
There usually is a way with Dell laptops that you can run the picture out to a VGA monitor (less likely a DVI). If you post the model number of this laptop, I can tell you if/where the button would be. Usually it is a secondary fuction of another key, I.E. Hold the little blue button that says FN and press F8, or something like that. Yes, I think you could buy a new screen for it, however Dell would need to install it (at a price that probably wouldn't be worth it) and its still no guarentee that there isn't more extensive damage to the unit.
Hi thanks for the reply guys. Ok the laptop is a Dell Inspiration 1300 Celeron D. As for model no, is the service tag the model no? If so it's "15tq82j". Guy's there was a little plate that popped off at the side and there is a connection the you can plug a monitor into. So a couple of minutes ago I plugged my tft monitor into the laptop and powered it up. But the monitor on the laptop just lit up but not my monitor, it just came up no signal. Should the laptop monitor be disconnected at first or is the laptop just fit for the bin ? Thanks for the replys. Sandisk
Just a quick update on this guys. I didn't actually cop what dvdsndict was talking about when I had a quick read of the reply this mornin but now I had a better chance to go over it and yes I found the "FN" button which I had never herd of and once pressed at the same time as dvdsndict said with the "F8" button, it powers off the laptop monitor and starts the actual monitor I have plugged into it. So thanks very much guys as now I have a desk top Just one more question I want to ask. The laptop works perfect with the new monitor but looks ugly with the broken screen still attached. So would I be able to screw the laptop screen off? I ask this because there is still a thick wire connecting the actual laptop to it's screen and Obviously this wire is powering up the screen itself when the laptop is turned on, so if I cut this wire, could it affect the working of the laptop ? Thanks very much Sandisk
You should be able to unscrew or unmount the monitor in some way, im not really sure what it looks like so I couldn't tell you. I don't think cutting that wire will effect the way your laptop runs, except that you'll never use that screen again : ) Glad I could help.
Yeah, the monitor can be unscrewed alright but there is a wire running up into it from the actual laptop. It does look ugly with the broken screen so I'm gonna take off the monitor and cut the wire so fingers crossed lol. Thanks for the help Sandisk
Yep, done and dusted. Took off the monitor and cut the wire and it's running fine. Once again thanks very much for the help guys :-0) One final thing, can all laptops be used with a seperate monitor or "some can, some can't" Sandisk
I don't know if its a universal, but in my experience most, if not all, Dell laptops have the ability to run VGA out. I'm sure it varies by the manufacturer.
