7 year old Dell Inspiron 4150 has black screen. If I plug old crt monitor to serial port I get picture there fine. Computer is fine but monitor shot? Do I need a new LCD? Can I get one for $100 or less?

Hi,
The cell inspiron you are using has a s-video port , for conneting external dispaly.
If your lg TV has and s-video port , you can connect the laptop to the tv susing an s-video cable.

In case not, then you would have to buy and install an S-video to RCA cable, which cab bought from click to buy.

Thanks for using Fixya
Proton

No picture when? What are you doing to have sound but no picture? Are you playing a movie dvd?

If you are saying when you boot the computer it seems like it is running because you heard sounds, but the display is blank then try the steps below.

Shine a flashlight on the dark screen to see if you barely see the icons on the desktop. If so, then the LCD Inverter is bad.

Plug in an external monitor and see if the display shows up on it. It can be any kind of monitor even the old big fat crt monitors as long as it has a vga cable to connect to your computer's vga port. If so that proves your video card is ok. The video will show on most systems when you reboot without you having to do anything. Some systems will require you to hit the FN (Function key) + F1 thru F12. Hold down the FN key then hit the correct key for displaying on the monitor (F1 thru F12). The correct key will normally have CRT/LCD on it or it will have the icon of a display.

If you see no icons by shinning a flash light and the external monitor works, then your screen is bad. If you see no icons by shinning the flash light and nothing shows on the external monitor, then most likely your video card is bad.

No Display? If the laptop seems to boot up except the screen is black try this:
Shine a flashlight on the dark screen to see if you barelysee the icons on the desktop. If so, then the LCD Inverter is bad.

Plug in an external monitor and see if the display shows up on it. It can beany kind of monitor even the old big fat crt monitors as long as it has a vgacable to connect to your computer's vga port. If so that proves yourvideo card is ok. The video will show on most systems when you rebootwithout you having to do anything. Some systems will require you to hit the FN(Function key) + F1 thru F12. Hold down the FN key then hit the correctkey for displaying on the monitor (F1 thru F12). The correct key willnormally have CRT/LCD on it or it will have the icon of a display.

If you see no icons by shinning a flash light and the external monitor works,then your screen is bad. If you see no icons by shinning the flash lightand nothing shows on the external monitor, then most likely your video card isbad.

I would try creating a start-up disk on either CD or some other portable media and see if the machine will boot to that. Before you decide to use the computer for a door stop Take it to a Dell Service center to have it checked. It could be a simple switch has gone bad or something more serious, you never know. There is no real need to lose the data on the computer. You can always remove the hard drive and put it in an external box to get the data that way. Just remember to tell the service shop you take the computer to that you do not want the drive erased, Deleted or formatted when repaired.

Hi,

You will need to take it for repairs.

Sorry

Cheers
TeaCii
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First of all, check that the laptop is set to output video to the LCD. There should be a function key which will determine whether it is outputting video to the built-in LCD, the external monitor, or both. That should be holding down your "FN" key and hitting "F8." If it is on CRT ONLY, it should switch within 1-2 keypresses.

Secondly, take a good bright flashlight and shine it directly at the LCD panel from about 1-2 inches away. If you can actually see the graphics on the screen faintly in the background, your backlight is not turning on. The backlight is literally a bulb which lights up the screen, and they can burn out. It is repairable, and shouldn't cost more than $150.00 from a reputable repair shop.

Hi ,

1. You can check the display on external monitor>If the display is blank on external monitor also, its pretty clear that there is an issue with system board

2. If the Exernal monitor comes up fine, it will be an issue with the display of the laptop, you can cross check the issue by booting the computer to BIOS, IF you get same response on BIOS as well. Its an issue with the Display itself you can replace the display panel.

Hopefully, its covered under warranty ;)

Vertical section problem

change all caps in vertical sec and replace vertical IC

Can you hear the Windows startup noises but can't hear it?

Does it work plugged into an external monitor? (Any good CRT or flat screen should work.


Be sure to plug in the screen before you turn it on.
If it doesnt output to the LCD automatically you may have to hit FN-F8 to switch to external.

If it works on external monitor you are just dealing with a screen problem of some sort - either a bad inverter or backlight in the LCD most commonly...

Let us know.

CRT monitors can last way past 4 years if taken care of. Please give more detail of your problem since there's not much we can tell by your description. What colors? what was the progression of the problem? can you attach a screen shot? Please comment back