I’m currently writing this post on a Dell Inspiron 1300 that I bought a couple of months ago from the Dell Outlet Site. It’s not a top of the range laptop, but for doing websites, browsing the web, and general use, it suits me down to the ground.
Up until last night, I haven’t had a problem with it. That was until a suffered a Blue Screen of Death, (BSOD). But this was not a normal BSOD, the screen actually went completely blue, no text or error message. I know the rest of the system was working away, because I was downloading a file at the time, and the download completed while I was trying to resolve the problem.
I tried connecting an external CRT monitor and using Fn + F8 to swap over, but no joy. My only option was to turn off the system by holding the power button. When I restarted, it came back up as normal. Then earlier today, I suffered from the rarer, but much more lethal Red Screen of Death (RSOD). Once again I tried with an external CRT, with the same result. Unfortunately this time I was in the middle of typing up some website updates. Not being able to see my text editor meant that I wasn’t sure if I had said the changes or not, so I had to bite the bullet, and restart the system.
Once again, it restarted as normal, and I was lucky enough not to lose to much work. My problem is that as the problem has only occurred twice, I haven’t been able to do enough to check if it is graphics card or LCD related. I know if I call Dell Technical Support, they won’t be able to tell either, and I’ll probably be asked to do a full re-install – which is something I really do not want to do.
I thinks it’s time to do an image of the hard-drive, just in case.
Tags: 1300, blue_screen, bsod, Dell, graphics, inspiron, lcd, red_screen, Technology, whatithink
I have an HP DV9000 17″ notebook that has been behaving stangely as well. I works fine unless you close it up while it is turned on. If you do this then when you reopen it and it wakes up the screen it is all warped and eventualy turns completely white. If you manualy pwer it off (use the power button) and then turn it back on it works fine. Any clues?
Hi Thomas and welcome.
The fact that this happens when you close the lid could point to a problem with the cable that connects the LCD to the motherboard. In most laptops the cable runs behind one of the hinges, so if the hinges are stiff or damaged this can affect the LCD.
Warped images on the screen can also be caused by a heating problem, so check that the fans in the machine are working.
It might be worth your while to connect it to an external monitor to ensure that the graphics card is not at fault.
Regards,
Paul.