FabSwingers.com forum: Laptop Black Screen Help

By *sobella Fox OP Woman
over a year ago

Leeds

Hi folks

I'm at the end of my tether with my laptop and need some advice please. Four nights ago the screen just went black (I was actually on here at the time) and now it just won't boot up. I've searched the net for advice and tried nearly everything going. i've done the take the battery out and hold the power button down tip, the F8, F2, F10, F11 suggestion, been in a dark room to see if there's any screen display, only thing I haven't tried is hooking up to an external monitor and that's simply because my HDMI port went kapput about 6 months ago (not having much luck am I)? Anyway, I'm trying here as a last resort, dont want to take it to PC World or anywhere else because I have sensitive things on it including piccies (even naughtier than those on my profile) and so I don't want the tech guys snooping.

For info purposes its a Toshiba Satellite C50-B Windows 10 (not thru choice either with the new Windows update) oh and also before it went completely which was Sunday, (prior to Sunday I was still getting the Toshiba logo coming up flashing about three times before it just went black altogether) it was coming up with the warning "The RTC battery is running low" now nothing shows at all, no logo, no RTC warning or anything, is this something that is causing the problem? When I turn it on I get the white light at the front showing that it's plugged into the mains, the power button glows white around it, it whirs like it always does when it boots up (plus does that little chugging noise on boot up which its always done) and the cooling fan is going as normal?

So there you have it ... my laptop is knackered and until I get it fixed I'm afraid there's no fun for me with camming or chatting in the rooms, I can't manage on here with my ipad I much prefer laying on my bed using my laptop

Any help or advice would be appreciated please.

Isobella

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By *avid_C78Man
over a year ago

Fife

Hi, you need to remove the battery, unplug from the mains so that the laptop has no power. Once you've done that, hold down the power button for thirty seconds to clear the memory.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Hi, you need to remove the battery, unplug from the mains so that the laptop has no power. Once you've done that, hold down the power button for thirty seconds to clear the memory. "

She says she already tried that sounds to me like processor troubles rtc battery low is just the cmos battery stands for real time clock and should not affect the start up

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Either that or a northbridge/ chipset problem

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By *unFilledWorldMan
over a year ago

Leeds

hi Izzy

hope what David says works, I am on Windows 10 on this machine, have black screen of death occasionally with the start up, and it goes into hibernation but holding down the on button for long enough and starting again seems to work, so its a terrible annoyance but nothing more thankfully so far.

I would recommend Leeds Hackspace on their open hack night on Tuesday if you are still having no luck, I am sure they would be happy to help

good luck!

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By *sobella Fox OP Woman
over a year ago

Leeds

Thanks, does that mean it's knackered for good or fixable? (If thats such a word lol) I back up docs quite often but I've got about a month worth of stuff on there plus some holiday snaps which I didnt get around to backing up yet and I'd hate to lose it all.

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By *sobella Fox OP Woman
over a year ago

Leeds

Thanks for that advice I'll bear it in mind xx

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By *ecretDaddy1Man
over a year ago

Leeds

There is a shop I use that can fix it, I have known them for years and can vouch that they won't snoop through your stuff (unless you ask them to). If you go in and let them know what has happened and what you have done to try and fix it, they should have it fixed in no time. They helped me out with mine a few weeks back after mine started with the black screen. All they will ask is to bring a memory stick just as a last precaution but other than that, they should happily do it for you

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Even if laptop is naffed hard drive will still be ok could remove it and insert it into an external caddy they about 10-15 squid them could plug them in via usb onto new machine if needed i have most kind of caddy i do a lot of data recovery from knackered hds etc sure bloke in computer shop would pop it into caddy for ya without even looking at the contents

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

There is a chance you have a loose connection between the laptop and screen. If you can, try separating the two and securing the wires before putting them back together.

You should be able to find a YouTube walkthrough if you have another way of accessing the Internet.

Good luck

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By *sobella Fox OP Woman
over a year ago

Leeds

"Even if laptop is naffed hard drive will still be ok could remove it and insert it into an external caddy they about 10-15 squid them could plug them in via usb onto new machine if needed i have most kind of caddy i do a lot of data recovery from knackered hds etc sure bloke in computer shop would pop it into caddy for ya without even looking at the contents"

Thanks that does sound promising xx

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By *sobella Fox OP Woman
over a year ago

Leeds

"There is a chance you have a loose connection between the laptop and screen. If you can, try separating the two and securing the wires before putting them back together.

You should be able to find a YouTube walkthrough if you have another way of accessing the Internet.

Good luck

Thanks, it does sound a bit scary for me to attempt but I'll certainly look into it xx

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By *andAukCouple
over a year ago

leeds

If no power or not even attempting to boot up it sounds like motherboard issue . I gave up on laptops after two boards went pop. The HD is easy enough to remove and if you have a desktop you'll more than likely have a spare sata and molex power plug in there so could plug it straight in and pull what you need off of it. Easy job to do , I've done it with a couple of old drives .

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By *sobella Fox OP Woman
over a year ago

Leeds

"If no power or not even attempting to boot up it sounds like motherboard issue . I gave up on laptops after two boards went pop. The HD is easy enough to remove and if you have a desktop you'll more than likely have a spare sata and molex power plug in there so could plug it straight in and pull what you need off of it. Easy job to do , I've done it with a couple of old drives . "

I have power because theres a white ring of light around my power button and it kicks up with the little chugging noise but the screen just stays black and when i turn it off it makes the small high pitched ping. If I can't get it fixed I'm goin to look into the hard-drive plug in. Thanks for your message x

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By *andAukCouple
over a year ago

leeds

Just seen you only have iPad, things start getting complex when fixing laptops . Unless you have basic soldering skills and basic tech knowledge it's quiet difficult and a minefield when opening one up.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I had problems with my first laptop, turned out that the screen wasn't getting a signal to come on... unfortunately it got buggered when I updated it to windows 10 and never worked properly after that, so traded it in for another one, this one came with windows 10 and has been great. hope you get the problem solved

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By *sobella Fox OP Woman
over a year ago

Leeds

"Just seen you only have iPad, things start getting complex when fixing laptops . Unless you have basic soldering skills and basic tech knowledge it's quiet difficult and a minefield when opening one up. "

Yep thats why I'm hoping its a simple quick fix lol but its looking unlikely

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By *sobella Fox OP Woman
over a year ago

Leeds

"I had problems with my first laptop, turned out that the screen wasn't getting a signal to come on... unfortunately it got buggered when I updated it to windows 10 and never worked properly after that, so traded it in for another one, this one came with windows 10 and has been great. hope you get the problem solved"

Thanks me too in fact my HDMI port stopped working after the windows 10 update come to think of it

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By *andAukCouple
over a year ago

leeds

"If I can't get it fixed I'm goin to look into the hard-drive plug in. Thanks for your message x "

If you go down this route and are unsure drop us a message and I'll try to help . I have a caddy sat around somewhere doing nothing or I can install it in another machine for you . I'd just install it while you're there and then let you pull everything from it in privacy, no need to even look at the contents.

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By *obbytupperMan
over a year ago

Menston near Ilkley

I wish I could help Isobella as I have long admired your profile.

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By *sobella Fox OP Woman
over a year ago

Leeds

"If I can't get it fixed I'm goin to look into the hard-drive plug in. Thanks for your message x

Thanks I'll definitely bear it in mind if I get no joy xx thanks for your messages x

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By *ellatemenowMan
over a year ago

near you.....!!

Sounds like a knackered motherboard issue to me if its getting power and not booting I would look in to that as a possibility xxx hope you get it fixed soon x

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By *sobella Fox OP Woman
over a year ago

Leeds

"Sounds like a knackered motherboard issue to me if its getting power and not booting I would look in to that as a possibility xxx hope you get it fixed soon x

Thanks for the advice xx

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Did you try powering up with the battery completely out . Sometimes that works and let's you start it , I couldn't tell from reading the thread. If you need a new one , I've got 2 older kids and laptops coming out of my ears lol

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

[Removed by poster at 27/09/16 07:46:04]

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Isobella,

I was also going to suggest removing the battery and just using the power cable. Sometimes a faulty battery can cause the problem

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By *ootballFlowerCouple
over a year ago

Ollerton

Looking at the base model on the Tosh website your laptop has a VGA socket on it. (right hand side middle, D shapped with 15 holes in it). Any normal monitor will plug in to it. Plug a monitor in and boot up up laptop. After about 5 mins (to ensure it has booted). Press and hold the Windows key then press P one and let go of all keys - this will then tell you laptop to duplicate the screen on to the monitor.

If you get an output on the monitor then it just means there is an issue with the screen (cables, backlight etc) and should be easy to fix. If you dont get an output it could be because the drivers are not installed or indicative of a bigger problem.

Hope this info helps - Feel free to PM me if you want more info.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I put a status up asking guys to help me fix my laptops, 2 came round and sorted them for me. And a lot more offered to help with no expectations, which helped restore my faith in men too.

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By *nerealman100Man
over a year ago

Cambridge

I had something similar happen to mine and it was the motherboard that had gone, there was holiday pics on it and some other files and they were recovered to disk without been looked at by the person who checked it over so don't worry I'm sure you have most of your photos and files recovered even if you have to get a new laptop, good luck.

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By *sobella Fox OP Woman
over a year ago

Leeds

Thanks to everyone for their helpful advice and knowledge, I followed lots of good advice on here and still couldnt get it to work, so decided to pluck up the courage and take it to a computer repair shop - keeping fingers crossed there'd be no snooping - turns out needn't have worried cos the laptop is completely dead and they couldnt snoop anyway!

Found out I can buy a decent cheap caddy for my hard drive from a local store so at least I can pull off my documents and pictures in privacy, thanks to the kind peeps on here for this idea - next step is go buy a new laptop then its all systems go on Fab for me!!

Thanks again to everyone for your help. Its most appreciated

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By *2000ManMan
over a year ago

Worthing

cmos battery (small internal silver one looks like watch battery) could need replacing. Sometimes it can stop a pc/laptop from booting. Would be interested to know what the problem is for us techies!

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By *andAukCouple
over a year ago

leeds

"Thanks to everyone for their helpful advice and knowledge, I followed lots of good advice on here and still couldnt get it to work, so decided to pluck up the courage and take it to a computer repair shop - keeping fingers crossed there'd be no snooping - turns out needn't have worried cos the laptop is completely dead and they couldnt snoop anyway!

Thanks again to everyone for your help. Its most appreciated

xx"

At least you know now , this is the reason I gave up with laptops and now stick with desktops that I build myself. I got frustrated spending a fortune on a lappy and it going pop and ending up as a £600 doorstop . Hope you get back up and running soon though , J.

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By *hortieWoman
over a year ago

Northampton

is the mouse pointer visible after a few minutes??

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By *sobella Fox OP Woman
over a year ago

Leeds

Thanks again to everyone for your help. Its most appreciated

Thanks

I am now the proud owner of a new laptop

... working on the hard drive enclosure tomorrow but I'm half way there !

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By *sobella Fox OP Woman
over a year ago

Leeds

"is the mouse pointer visible after a few minutes?? "

No unfortunately nothing is visible as it's completely dead ...

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By *sobella Fox OP Woman
over a year ago

Leeds

"cmos battery (small internal silver one looks like watch battery) could need replacing. Sometimes it can stop a pc/laptop from booting. Would be interested to know what the problem is for us techies!"

Not sure what the technical name is ... but in my terms it's what you would call - completely knackered !!! thats what the computer shop said anyway !!

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Not sure what the technical name is ... but in my terms it's what you would call - completely knackered !!! thats what the computer shop said anyway !!"

Thought it would be least you got a new one now only way is up

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