No picture.

[Geek]

I have a 3 yr old Toshiba Satellite M45-S3551. When I tried to turn it back on after using it all day the fan goes on but no picture or sound. Any clues and can I fix it myself?

[Maximiliam]

The backlight in your screen has probably gone out. Though there are ways for you to repair this by your own, it is not recommended. First, to determine if the backlight of your screen really has gone out. Connect your laptop to an external monitor. If you get picture at the external monitor, then it is safe to say it is the backlight that is the problem. If you still get a blank screen, then it might be your graphics card (most laptops prevent you from upgrading / changing the graphics card and you might have to turn it into a professional repair service to resolve the issue).

If you determine the backlight has gone out on your laptop screen, then you do have a chance to change it out by yourself. Have in mind though that it is quite an advanced procedure. Explicit instructions on how to replace an LCD backlight screen can be found at http://www.fonerbooks.com/laptop_4.htm

[phillie2008]

Hello, I am experiencing a similar problem. I have a hp pavilion dv 9022ea. The machine is 2 years old. I haven't had any issues with it for over a year now, but in the last two weeks it froze once or twice. On thursday something really strange happened. When i moved my hand over the touchpad, the screen went off, when i moved away again, the screen worked again. I powered the system off and didn't restart it till the next day. When i did restart it, windows was loading up, but then the screen went. I powered the system on and off again. The screen lit up and i could see big pixels in straight lines: this probably means the backlight works, right? I contacted hp, i did some checks with the technical agent. I disconnected the laptop from the AC power supply, i also removed the the battery. I then drain the capacitors by holding the power button for 30 seconds. I then restarted the system, same error. The agent said the motherboard most be defect. I'm not to sure about that. I mean, ive tried connecting it to a TV via S-video and also to an old monitor with no picture being the result. But the processesing indicator blinks when i start the system and today i remembered that i have a password, so entered it blind, much later as usual the annoying windows noise sounded. This time it wasn't so annoying. So the system is booting, the backlight works, right? Could it be a virus, how can i perform a recovery blind. Could the virus be affecting the BIOS? I'm thinking of taking out the RTC battery, but don't really want to rush anything.I'm only a novice, I hope some body can help? I would be very grateful.
Some info that may be relevant:
I updated the driver for the graphics card manually about a month ago, I've downloaded software on a filesharing site, with this software, it was required to add information in to the system registery. I hope this was a torough explaination, thx

[Maximiliam]

I am afraid that it does sound like a hardware issue. Laptops often overheat and that is the main cause why things break.

If you do not get a picture when you boot the system (if there is no picture at all or the screen is garbled with pixels), then you can eliminate the virus factor and will most likely have to turn in your laptop for service.

If you on the other hand can see the boot up sequence (bios) then there is hope that your system is corrupt and all that is needed is that your do an repair install or a new install using your cd's or dvd's that came with your computer.

Note! A new install will delete all your saved files. I would try a repair install first.