Solved Blank Laptop Screen

[werdnarolyat]

Hi,

I have a laptop which when switched on has a completely blank screen. No Windows, BIOS screens are shown.

Occasionally the screen will be white then go blank/black. If the battery is low, it will display a message saying "Battery low, press F1 to continue" on a blank screen with lots of red dashes.

An other observation is that the fan seems to be running quite hard when the laptop is powered on.

Details of the laptop:
- Dell Inspiron 15R
- Model no.: 5010-8306
- Windows 7
- Approximately 8 years old

My fear is the hard drive is gone - is it worth removing the hard drive, putting it in an enclosure and connecting it to a working computer?

Many thanks.

 

[phillpower2]

Welcome to PCHF werdnarolyat,

Occasionally the screen will be white then go blank/black. If the battery is low, it will display a message saying "Battery low, press F1 to continue" on a blank screen with lots of red dashes.

First thing that I suggest you try if you can is hooking the notebook up to an external screen using one of the notebooks video ports, the above suggests a problem with either the screen itself or the MB to screen video cable/ribbon, if the external display works ok with the notebook it suggests that the internal hardware is good and the screen and associated components need investigating.

I will be heading off out soon but will try and check back later.

 

[werdnarolyat]

Thanks for such a quick reply phillpower2.

The laptop just switched itself off (perhaps due to overheating? The fan sounded like it was running hard) and when I restarted it allowed me to run startup repair.

I ran the repair and it has now loaded to the desktop.

First thing I'm going to do is make a full back up.

After that, is there hardware tests I should run? Check hard drive health, investigate why the fan is running so hard, check temperatures etc.

Thanks.

 

[phillpower2]

Some good news at least, get your back up done asap and then see the below.

Dell diagnostic tool info here

You are welcome btw

Will try and check back later but need to go out for a few hrs now, good luck with the backing up meanwhile

 

[werdnarolyat]

Thanks heyanil673 and phillpower2.

I ran the Dell diagnostics and it confirmed the hard drive is failing. The BIOS also requires updating.

I am making an image of the drive at the moment so that I can restore the data on a new hard drive.

 

[phillpower2]

Good call on backing up but only update the BIOS as a last resort, if something goes wrong you will end up with a bricked MB.

Download and run CrystalDisk info standard edition from here

Run the program, grab any screenshots and attach to your next reply for us.

To capture and post a screenshot;

Click on the ALT key + PRT SCR key..its on the top row..right hand side..now click on start...all programs...accessories...paint....left click in the white area ...press CTRL + V...click on file...click on save...save it to your desktop...name it something related to the screen your capturing... BE SURE TO SAVE IT AS A .JPG ...otherwise it may be to big to upload... after typing in any response you have... click on Upload a File to add the screenshot.

Screenshot instructions are provided to assist those that may read this topic but are not yet aware of the “how to”.

 

[werdnarolyat]

I'm still in the process of creating an image of the hard drive. I ran out of time yesterday so I'll finish it tonight or tomorrow.

The reason it's taking so long is I keep getting a bad sector error when creating the image. The software (Macrium) advises to resolve this by using the chkdsk c: /r command until the error is corrected.

I could still post the screenshots from CrystalDisk in the meantime though; I could do that later tonight.

Regarding the BIOS update - I recall reading somewhere that updating the BIOS can help resolve an overheating issue? The laptop is hot and the fan is always running hard. I'll also make sure the air vents are clear.

 

[phillpower2]

I could still post the screenshots from CrystalDisk in the meantime though; I could do that later tonight.

Always worth getting a second opinion and if the notebook is getting overly hot the heat could be affecting the HDD.

Post to a link to any potential BIOS update so we can take a look, I can`t seem to find anything that addresses an overheating problem only for CPU security issues.

Off out for a few hrs now but will check back later time permitting.

 

[werdnarolyat]

I also ran a Seagate tool to check the health of the hard drive and it failed on one test, something like the Short test as far as I can remember.

The BIOS update was recommended after running the Dell diagnostics tool you provided a link for. I can re-run the test and post a link later tonight (at work just now).

Thanks.

 

[phillpower2]

If a HDD fails either of the two Seatools tests it is normally a sign to back up and replace, we can still take a look at what CD info reports if you like.

If the BIOS update is recommended by Dell then that is good enough for me and no need to post the link, updating/flashing the BIOS is always a last resort and should only be done if the update is intended to resolve a specific issue that a computer is having.

You are welcome btw

 

[werdnarolyat]

I have attached details of from CrystalDisk.

This is just the information that was displayed when I opened CrystalDisk - do I need to run anything else?

 

[phillpower2]

Screenshots support what Seatools reported, you will note that your first screenshot is also telling you that the HDD is overheating.

 

[werdnarolyat]

Should my course of action from here be to finish backing up the hard drive and then purchase a replacement?

I wonder if doing a clean install followed by a manual data transfer would be better than cloning the existing hard drive? I mean that from the point of view that it is the original Windows 7 installation from ~8 years ago. Would it be best to take this opportunity to start fresh?

 

[phillpower2]

If me I would back up important data and then try updating to Windows 10, folk are still reporting that they have still been able to upgrade for free, it may not work being that it is a brand name computer (OEM) but you have nothing to lose by trying, you will need to have your Windows 7 product key, let us know if you have it or not.

As an asides, support for Windows 7 ends next year so you would need to upgrade at some point in any event, worth trying now for free rather than definitely having to pay for Windows 10 further along the way.

 

[werdnarolyat]

Thanks phillpower2.

I'll try updating to Windows 10. I've got the Windows 7 product key.

Should my plan of action be:

1. Back-up important data from existing hard drive
2. Purchase replacement hard drive and try and install Windows 10 - is it possible to do that on a blank disk by booting from a USB or DVD?
3. If Windows 10 installation works, copy across important data from external hard drive
4. If Windows 10 installation doesn't work, install Windows 7

Or is it worth forgetting step 4 and just get a new laptop?!

 

[phillpower2]

Back up all important data.

Save all your drivers to a USB thumbdrive.

Create a new system restore point.

See info here please be sure to read the Q & As at the link.

The reason why you need to try and upgrade from 7 to 10 is because you need to enter the product key and the product key must correspond with the OS that is running on the computer, this would obviously not be possible with an out of the box new HDD that had no OS on it.

If you are able to upgrade for free, download yourself a Windows 10 ISO, you can either burn it to a DVD or create a bootable USB device for which you would need an 8GB minimum storage capacity thumbdrive, once done, the product key that has been used will be stored on the Microsoft database along with the notebooks MB details, this means that when you swap in the new HDD you would be able to install Windows 10 to the new HDD as the MB details would be recognised by Microsoft's database check.

Too soon to be thinking of getting a new computer imo.

 

[werdnarolyat]

Thanks for the detailed information. I'll hopefully have time to look at this tonight when I get home.

I tried upgrading to Windows 10 when it first came out but it kept returning an error message and I eventually just gave up on it. If I get the same error message again I'll let you know.

 

[phillpower2]

You are welcome

Before trying to upgrade, make sure that Windows 7 is fully up to date and temporarily disable your AV protection, if still no go, try the "create installation media" option, worse case scenario would be to try installing the Windows 10 media to a new HDD, never tried this myself and avoided suggesting it just in case it does not work out.

 

[werdnarolyat]

Just a quick update.

I've been having trouble getting chkdsk c: /r to run successfully. When the laptop restarts I get a message saying it has been cancelled automatically.

Is there a way of forcing this command? Should I just focus on manually backing up the data? i.e. copy and paste to an external drive.

I also successfully updated the BIOS. Possibly just coincidence but the fan is not running as hard and the temperature dropped 7 deg C in CrystalDisk.

 

[phillpower2]

I've been having trouble getting chkdsk c: /r to run successfully.

You should not be running chkdsk on a drive that is suspect as the drive could fail at any time with the loss of all data on it.

Should I just focus on manually backing up the data? i.e. copy and paste to an external drive.

Definitely, in case you are not already aware, you can only copy the likes of music, photos/pictures and videos and any programs have to be clean installed on the new drive.

Any drop in the temps is welcome.