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Toshiba laptop has black screen

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dallasr   08-23-2009 at 12:35:02 AM

I have a Toshiba Satellite A215 with a screen that won't come on at all. I hook it to an external monitor and it works just fine. I have tried replacing the screen, the inverter, and the actual cable that hooks the screen to the motherboard.....NONE of these things have worked! I even updated the bios to the latest version. However, I still get a picture if I hook it to an external monitor.

Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong that I have missed? Any suggestions on what to do to fix it? Thanks!

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katrisaf   09-10-2009 at 03:31:11 PM

I have the same model with a similar problem? My problem is the screen goes out intermittently and I have to reboot to get it to come back up. Were you able to get an answer.

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dallasr   09-10-2009 at 09:15:36 PM

katrisaf wrote :

I have the same model with a similar problem? My problem is the screen goes out intermittently and I have to reboot to get it to come back up. Were you able to get an answer.



no! I'm just going to sell it on ebay as defective and let people know exactly what I've stated here. It works perfectly other than the screen. Someone might have use for it as an HTPC to hook to their LCD TV for watching movies or surfing the net. Anyway, laptops are so cheap now that it's pointless to waste so much time and money on trying to figure it out. I bought a replacement laptop for the customer on Newegg for $380

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katrisaf   09-10-2009 at 11:04:21 PM

dallasr wrote :

no! I'm just going to sell it on ebay as defective and let people know exactly what I've stated here. It works perfectly other than the screen. Someone might have use for it as an HTPC to hook to their LCD TV for watching movies or surfing the net. Anyway, laptops are so cheap now that it's pointless to waste so much time and money on trying to figure it out. I bought a replacement laptop for the customer on Newegg for $380




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Thanks for responding. I the mean time I found a website that shows how to replace the inverter, which I think is causing the problem. If that doesn't work then I'm going to scrap mine too or use as a DVD player when I travel. If you're interested the website is as follows: http://www.irisvista.com/tech/lapt [...] nel-1.htm.

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katrisaf   09-10-2009 at 11:05:07 PM

dallasr wrote :

I have a Toshiba Satellite A215 with a screen that won't come on at all. I hook it to an external monitor and it works just fine. I have tried replacing the screen, the inverter, and the actual cable that hooks the screen to the motherboard.....NONE of these things have worked! I even updated the bios to the latest version. However, I still get a picture if I hook it to an external monitor.

Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong that I have missed? Any suggestions on what to do to fix it? Thanks!



I just noticed that you already stated you replaced the inverter, sorry about that.

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pcfixed   09-12-2009 at 01:48:22 PM

maybe the stuff you replaced with doesn't work either.. remove battery, remove external monitor, remove ac and plug everything back on "except external monitor" nothing should be hooked up to the vga not even the cable by itself

start the laptop and after few seconds press FN key along with the monitor output key "f5, f8, f4 depends...)

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pcfixed   09-12-2009 at 01:49:26 PM

also, check the bios for priority output makesure built-in is selected as primary
also lower the shared video ram.

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katrisaf   09-13-2009 at 08:51:01 PM

pcfixed wrote :

also, check the bios for priority output makesure built-in is selected as primary
also lower the shared video ram.



Thanks, but I think I'm going to give up on this laptop and get an HP, Asus, or Acer; hopefully, HP has fixed the problem with laptops not booting up on occassion.

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pcfixed   09-14-2009 at 12:31:55 PM

it could be the socket on the motherboard, if it has pins makesure they're not bent all the way or broken it happens sometimes when the cable wont go in first time then you force it then it bends, its defently the connection on the board, if the inverter didnt work you'll still get some display without backlight.

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bikerbob   10-29-2009 at 02:59:28 AM

i replaced a cracked screen and it worked for a couple hrs than went out. thought i had a bad one and was sent a replacement but same thing so i put a new inverter in. still no backlight but screen does works as you can see it with a flashlight. only thing i can think of is the cable from the board to the inverter. i cant find the cable anywhere to replace it to find out if that is it.. might be your problem too unless you dont have the screen working at all which you didnt say if it was just the light or not.

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pcfixed   10-29-2009 at 11:05:57 AM

yes you're doing well sofar, change the cable and see what happens.
ebay.com
search for the model number on the cable, or if your laptop is for example "sony"
type "sony screen cable" look at all the screen cables on ebay and maybe one from anoher model matches yours

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bikerbob   11-02-2009 at 09:28:28 PM

thought i had a cable that would work but the company said that number i had isnt listed for my model nr. but its the cable that came with it. still looking. might have to call toshiba on this one.

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bikerbob   11-05-2009 at 05:36:50 PM

just replaced the cable and same thing. cked pins on board and they are fine. dont know where to go from here as all been replaced. hate to think its the mb when everything works great except the backlight.also works ok on ext monitor.

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