Screen Failure in Dell 5150

[2muchreality]

I have a very old Dell 5150 laptop and last day when I tried to close the screen and after sometime opened it, it stopped working and the screen will just remain black all the time. If I try to test it with a external monitor then it works fine? I dont know for sure whether its the LCD screen or the graphic card is at fault? What other hardwares can I test for this issue? So if anyone can help me out it would be great. Thank you

[Hockson]

I have worked on this similar problems, so first try to check Device Manager for problems and IRQ conflicts then check that you have the right chipset, video, and display drivers for your particular model and video card and then also ensure to check BIOS settings and disable display management features that are also managed by windows. As for the display closed switch I seem to recall reading that a proximity switch is used-not a mechanical switch.

[T.J.]

If you are telling me that if the LCD goes dark then I am considering the laptop is still running. You may have a backlight or inverter problem. There is a slim chance that the video card is to blame. Can you still see a very faint image on the LCD display after it goes dark?

[techman]

Do you have an extra VGA port that you could first try with? If the VGA port is working then it is possibly the inverter problem. Basically what the inverter does is provide power to the backlights in the LCD panel. There are pretty much two connections on the LCD. One connection is for the signal of what to display, the other is for the inverter to power the backlights.