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How i fixed blank screen, lid closer sensor, reed switch problem
The lid closure sensor on my inspiron 6000 , was faulty and kept turning off the screen while it was open.(it should only do this if I close the lid of the laptop).
I searched online for a solution and realised many people have this problem , with many thinking their screen is not working (if there you can see the windows XP logo while the comp is booting up then u don’t have a screen problem) many people have paid out lots of money to attempt to fix this.
I was also shocked that Dell hadn’t put up any solutions and that many people where left in the dark (literally).
So I decided to fix the problem myself with no help from Dell.
PLEASE NOTE I am not responsible for any damage that occurs if you copy what I did and that my solution may have a yet unseen problems , and that this is how I fixed the Dell inspiron 6000 and that other laptops may have different mechanisms .
I located the area near the touch pad where the lid closure sensor must be ,, it is opposite the magnet in the screen.
I did some research on the actual device itself , its also know as a reed switch , this means its two slithers of metal that are held in a vacuum, when the magnet in the screen comes close to the reed switch it pulls the two pieces together , completing a circuit and this then switches off the screen. This is also used to put the laptop in standby when you close the lid.
So what I did was:
Take the laptop apart to the reach the area that the reed switch is in,, take a record of where every thing goes , put the screws in Tupperware boxes or some thing similar so you don’t get confused.
The reed switch on my inspiron is just to the front left of the touch pad, once I got into this part I had to take off the touch pad circuit board part , as the reed switch is connected to the top of this ( you cant even see it until you get the touch pad off).
The reed switch is about 15mm long slither/tube of glass, you can see the two pieces of metal inside it , I took a small pliers and carefully cut the whole thing off the circuit board. This means that the screen will no longer shutdown when you close the lid and that the laptop will no longer go into stand by when you close the lid (I can live with that) but the faulty reed switch will no longer shut the screen down either. Ie problem fixed !
I then reassembled the laptop and I have had no further problems.
I hope this helps those struggling with this problem and the cost of attempting to fix it.
Arth ritis
7 Posts
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September 28th, 2008 15:00
now this iswhat forums should be about, a simple solution to a potentially expensive fault. Many thanks, I have just located where the magnet is on my 'Studio' just in case.
Arth.
rdx
2 Posts
0
March 21st, 2010 09:00
Hi unispiron66. Yours was one of the most logical and to-the-point posts I found regarding the banlk-screen issue. However, it did not work for me unfortunately [I have now removed the reed switch following above instructions]. To recap I have the same problem as you:
1) On startup the laptop lcd works fine until the ATI drivers are loaded, whereupon it goes blank.
2) An external monitor if attached after windows has loaded the drivers and started up does not work. However, an exteral monitor plugged in from the very start works perfectly.
3) Fn+F8 brings up the 'monitor' icon only. It seems as if the laptop simply cannot 'see' the lcd.
Previously, when I have had my laptop connected to the TV while wathcing a movie etc, if the lid was ever closed completely the system would go to stand-by. This indicates that if the reed-switch is tripped, even while an external monitor is connected, the stand-by is initiated. The point being, if as in your experience the switch had been causing the problem; the external monitor should not have worked in the first place.
This led me in another direction - what if the connection between the graphics card and the LCD is disrupted... This would cause all of the symptoms above. The LCD would work normally as long as the drivers are not loaded; an external monitor would work, irrespective of the reed-switch since the system does not even acknowledge theLCD; and Fn+F8 would yield no alternative to the external monitor.
I am now at a loss as to how to test this and even as to wether there is any way to remedy it. [I am assuming ofcourse that the graphics card has parallel outputs to the VGS output and the internal LCD].
Can anyone please shed light on this; it will be much appreciated.
(other posts point to inverters/backlights but should either of those be the underlying cause the LCD shouldnt work without the ATI drivers loaded either ...for example, in the Safe-mode.)
Thanks
crouz
2 Posts
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August 4th, 2011 17:00
@unispiron66: Thanks for a great post!
@rdx: Your problem is not the same, as your screen works fine while your computer is booting.
If you have problems with this sensor you can also use another magnet and move it around close to the sensor to cure it. I had a problem with my screen constantly flashing and using the magnet trick I was able to partially cure it. It still flashes occasionally but mostly it is fine. Maybe I will try breaking into the netbook some day and then I'll know what to expect. Thanks again!
mkranju
1 Message
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January 6th, 2013 23:00
please help me..how can find the lid switch in laptop motherboard.
crouz
2 Posts
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January 7th, 2013 05:00
I used a magnet to locate it on my motherboard. It was a black rectangular fellow, roughly 5x2 mm, with three legs. Good luck!