Dead laptop

[Aloys]

My laptop died on me yesterday.
Thankfully the HD is fine so I still have all my files (gotta buy a few DVDs, time for some back-up fun). I am now using a 7 years old desktop and for some reason it won't connect to my internet rooter (looks like the ethernet port is wacky, and I don't have another ethernet card handy. So I got myself a new smartphone (i really needed one anyway) and I hooked my computer to it to get some internet. (yay for tethering)
Not sure what is wrong with my laptop; it just won't boot.. It doesn't look like a hardware problem, but on the other hand I don't know what else it could be. It starts; electricity runs through it; it doesn't throw out any errors beeps; it just won't display the boot screen, no logo, no bios setup, no nothing, just a blank screen and the fan blowing.. Like the bios is dead or something like that. Really no idea.. It happened all of a sudden; the previous evening it worked fine.
It's out of warranty too. :/ So I'll have to scour some hardware forums see if I can get some help.
At least my current computer works, can access internet and can run Blender, so all is not lost.

[Wamduskasapa]

Did you do a BIOs update lately??

If so then when you try to Boot your Laptop try tapping F2 to access the BIOS
after entering
choose "optinum" setting and then "save"

[Aloys]

No, I didn't do anything of the sort lately; nothing unusual. Which is why I don't understand why it's dead. Might be a virus issue that fried the bios, but that sounds unlikely, especially considering I have an up-to-date antivirus.

[Wamduskasapa]

The only other things that I can think of is that the unit may have gotten dropped and the cable between the display and the unit was undone or the driver card came undone - Though that is unlikely because they are normalily glued...

[Tsar Hoikas]

The same thing happened to me when my laptop's HD started dying. I had to remember the boot mode selector hotkey, press that, then force it to boot from the HD. It worked for awhile, then it stopped.

[Aloys]

It looks like the HD is not at fault here, but I'll definitely back up my files just in case...

[Chacal]

Could it be your screen that died?

[Aloys]

The screen looks fine as far as I can tell, it does lit up (although it does stay black I can see that at least the backlight is working). It's the boot sequence that doesn't work at all. Usually when I start that computer it beeps and then goes through its boot sequence -- displays the boot screen, detects the hardware; RAM, drives etc and then proceeds to load up its OS. Here nothing happens at all: I switch it on, the power LEDs lit up, the screen lights up, but then it doesn't boot: it doesn't beep, and the HD LED doesnt' blink at all; it just stays there, waiting for something that won't happen.
Whatever the source of the problem, at this point I'm afraid it's a hardware issue, and that's something I can't fix. And since it's out of warranty it would cost me an arm to get it fix and it would probably take two weeks or more. Might as well get a new one. Except that: A. I don't have the money right now and B. I have set up a desktop computer with old parts which isn't great but it does the job; so that will do for now..
So I guess I'll just put aside that laptop for now, and come back to it later... :/

[semplerfi]

Can you get anything else to boot up?

Like a Partition Magic repair disk or something that loads its own OS. Try running "memtest86". It has its own OS.

Not sure of the proper name but - the CMOS battery might be going bad or has.

No beeps sounds or HD lights like something major has failed. Unless you have turned the beeps off like I do when I can.

[ZURI]

@Aloys: It sounds like you might have a bad lcd inverter. I repair laptops for a living - and see that a lot. If it's not the inverter, then it could be the cable, lcd, or at worst - the motherboard.

Even if the HDD died, it should still boot and show the bios post. Check on Ebay, you can usually pick them up for less than $15US.

"Edit: I re-read your posts... and missed something. Actually, it does seem like it's the motherboard. You can test this theory by hooking the laptop up to an external monitor - then after turning it on use the external-display hotkey. If the motherboard isn't fried, it should switch to the external. Hope this helps..."