Laptop screen problem

[RonManager]

Yesterday, my screen suddenly went black. The computer seemed to carry on happily, sound ok etc etc, and no error messages.

 

I turned it off after about 10 minutes waiting to see if it would magically fix itself. I had to do this by pressing the on/off button for 5 seconds as I couldn't see the screen.

 

Turned it back on. The screen lit up ok but had pixel patterns and colours randomly arranged across it. Windows started to load as per usual, but just at the point where you normally get the 'welcome' music and your desktop homescreen would appear, the screen goes black again. This happens consistently, even down to the same pixel patterns. Again, after the screen has gone black, the computer seems to carry on booting successfully, the HDD light blinking away merrily.

 

I have booted it in safe mode, and it loads fine, the screen works ok and does not black out, albeit with a fine, blue pixel pattern cast across it, not enough to obscure text etc which is why I can post this. I even managed to watch Leeds v Chelsea on it, lol.

 

This is a new one on me, I presume it is graphics card related maybe?

 

Odd that the screen only blacks out in 'normal' boot mode.

 

Laptop is the humungous Acer Aspire 9813. I've had it for 5 years and no probs.

 

 

cheers for any advice.

[solentstars]

Yesterday, my screen suddenly went black. The computer seemed to carry on happily, sound ok etc etc, and no error messages.

 

I turned it off after about 10 minutes waiting to see if it would magically fix itself. I had to do this by pressing the on/off button for 5 seconds as I couldn't see the screen.

 

Turned it back on. The screen lit up ok but had pixel patterns and colours randomly arranged across it. Windows started to load as per usual, but just at the point where you normally get the 'welcome' music and your desktop homescreen would appear, the screen goes black again. This happens consistently, even down to the same pixel patterns. Again, after the screen has gone black, the computer seems to carry on booting successfully, the HDD light blinking away merrily.

 

I have booted it in safe mode, and it loads fine, the screen works ok and does not black out, albeit with a fine, blue pixel pattern cast across it, not enough to obscure text etc which is why I can post this. I even managed to watch Leeds v Chelsea on it, lol.

 

This is a new one on me, I presume it is graphics card related maybe?

 

Odd that the screen only blacks out in 'normal' boot mode.

 

Laptop is the humungous Acer Aspire 9813. I've had it for 5 years and no probs.

 

 

cheers for any advice.

could be the video cable attached to the lcd or motherboard screen being a bit loose

[saintbletch]

I'd bet good money that the video RAM has overheated...

 

You're not going to believe this Ron Manager but on the shelf behind me in my home office is an Acer Aspire 9304. Well it's actually the remains of an Acer Aspire 9304.

 

It died a dignified death after a relatively short number of years in the service of a friend of a friend, and in its death throes exhibited exactly the symptoms you've described.

 

The owner asked me to take a look at it as he wanted me to salvage some photos he had on the disk. I managed to get them off before it finally gave up the ghost. But now it is deader than Jesus (topical).

 

At the time I did some research and it was a common problem with certain Acers. Forums were suggesting that there was a design problem with the cooling on the video RAM. But as yours has been warming your lap for 5 years, you've probably been lucky.

 

I'd use the safe boot mode to salvage any data you need, and then I'd get a new one as the RAM deteriorated pretty quickly on the one I have here. I did look at costing a repair (there are a few companies if you Google) but it really wasn't economical.

[RonManager]

I'd bet good money that the video RAM has overheated...

 

You're not going to believe this Ron Manager but on the shelf behind me in my home office is an Acer Aspire 9304. Well it's actually the remains of an Acer Aspire 9304.

 

It died a dignified death after a relatively short number of years in the service of a friend of a friend, and in its death throes exhibited exactly the symptoms you've described.

 

The owner asked me to take a look at it as he wanted me to salvage some photos he had on the disk. I managed to get them off before it finally gave up the ghost. But now it is deader than Jesus (topical).

 

At the time I did some research and it was a common problem with certain Acers. Forums were suggesting that there was a design problem with the cooling on the video RAM. But as yours has been warming your lap for 5 years, you've probably been lucky.

 

I'd use the safe boot mode to salvage any data you need, and then I'd get a new one as the RAM deteriorated pretty quickly on the one I have here. I did look at costing a repair (there are a few companies if you Google) but it really wasn't economical.

 

Ok matey, thanks for that, much appreciated.

 

I was thinking of getting a new one anyway and presumed that any repair would be uneconomical. It does get incredibly hot top centre directly above the keyboard, almost too hot to touch, which has always struck me as strange. It's had very heavy usage over the last 12-18 months.

 

It's been a tax deductable item so I guess I've probably had my money's worth out of it.

[mightysaints]

Same thing happens to my dads acer laptop. Loads of these on eBay broken