[ar1stotle]

Is there actually hard drive activity or sound as if Windows was booting and it's just not displaying properly? Anything seem to be out of order other than the white screen?

[JabbaPapa]

:( Is there actually hard drive activity or sound as if Windows was booting and it's just not displaying properly? Anything seem to be out of order other than the white screen?

You missed that when he uses an external monitor, he can run Windows with it.

I still think that testing the rig by installing a fresh copy of Windows on a separate partition (with the external monitor plugged in) would have been a sensible means to see if this is a hardware or a software issue.

[ar1stotle]

Ah, yea, guess I did miss that. And as far as testing with a fresh copy of windows, trying with a LiveCD would be about the same. But if he can't even see the boot menu or POST screens, I doubt that'll be any different. I wonder if anything actually changes if the laptop is booted with the video cable unplugged...?

[phileysmiley]

I'm confused though. If Windows loads perfectly, the boot menu and POST screens run fine and everything is normal with my software on the external monitor, how can it be a software problem? Doesn't it have to be a hardware problem?

[JabbaPapa]

I'm confused though. If Windows loads perfectly, the boot menu and POST screens run fine and everything is normal with my software on the external monitor, how can it be a software problem? Doesn't it have to be a hardware problem?

It is quite clearly most likely to be hardware, but software errors can sometimes be VERY strange ; mainly, it's just good practice to ensure that it's not software prior to any invasive attempts at a hardware fix.

But yes it's true, a Live CD is perfectly adequate to test this

[phileysmiley]

Gotcha. I'll try that, then.

[phileysmiley]

It boots into a live CD just fine.

[phileysmiley]

This looks like a good site. They seem to have just about every part for every laptop made. Here is the LCD screen page for my Toshiba Satellite A105-S2716

http://www.sparepartswarehouse.com/Tosh ... plays.aspx

Or I may just need an inverter:

http://www.sparepartswarehouse.com/Tosh ... rters.aspx

You can ship it to them and they will repair it and ship it back within 4 days.

[JabbaPapa]

It boots into a live CD just fine.

"just fine" = whitescreen or no whitescreen ?

You need to run the live CD with the external monitor or not ?

[phileysmiley]

It boots into a live CD just fine.

"just fine" = whitescreen or no whitescreen ?

You need to run the live CD with the external monitor or not ?

I'm confused.

1) When I run the live CD on the external monitor it boots the way it's supposed to.

2) When I run the live CD on the internal monitor I just get the white screen.