Dell Latitude D510 - Broken Screen - Windows XP Repair Blind Assistance

Hi, to boot from CD, press F12 several times after startup to get a chance to enter boot menu.

By default, the options order is: hard drive (first) then CD/DVD drive (second) and so on. As default selection is first option (hard drive), you have just to press Down once to select CD/DVD drive and Enter to launch boot from CD/DVD drive.

Regarding your issue, if you have access to an USB keyboard and the legacy USB is activated (YES  by default in BIOS), you have just to close the lid and to connect the USB keyboard to the laptop (and of course to connect the display yo mentionned). Closing the lid will redirect video output to the external display. It does work for me, it should for you. Doing this way, you will get a kind of desktop and you can troubleshoot anything. Of course, you can also plug a mouse in an available USB port.

Hope this will help! Do not hesitate to ask for details and further actions.

Kind regards from France.

Thanks for the info Peter_Pan_7

I eventually managed to get the boot from CD. I think I had already changed the boot order before but just wasn't hitting the 'any key' quickly enough. In any case I managed to repair XP and get the laptop booted again. It was one of those 'one last shot' moments and the laptop gods were smiling on me :)

With regards to closing the lid could you expand on this? With Windows booted when I close my lid the laptop goes straight to standby. Is it something that can be done just after the DELL logo flashes up but before Windows boots (where options are available if the Recovery Console is installed)? If you could break it down step by step that would be great in case this happens again. I might need to access the Recovery Console as the virus that started this messed with my MBR (I'm paraphrasing wht the people helping me said here so I can't really expand on that).

Merci beaucoup (despite 3 years of French in high school that is the extent of my 'parlez', maybe it's because it was so long ago ;))

Hi,

Regarding boot from CD, ya, I missed this important detail that you have to confirm it hitting any key otherwise the PC would abort booting from CD.

Having the video output redirected to external video connector when the lid is closed is hardware-designed on any laptop. If you PC is not docked you will have to switch it on by pressing the power button above the keyboard, i.e. by opening the lid a little bit to access the button. So you will close it immediately after pressing the  power button in order to have the  hardware detecting it closed on POST and to have the output video redirected this way. Of course you need to have plugged a monitor on the external video port and a keyboard and a mouse on any available USB ports :) By default BIOS is configured to support this kind of use because a lot of people use their laptod with external display, keyboard and mouse at home or at the office (without using a docking station).

Doing this way, the POST status and boot sequence will show up on the monitor. You can do anything, even pressing F2 or F12 keys on time to go respectively in BIOS setup or Boot menu.

Having the PC going to standby upon lid closure is software-designed, i.e. it is a Windows setting and of course you can change it through Power Management options. I Personally prefer have nothing happening when I close  my lid, except to have to screen switched off for battery saving and display life extension.

Hope it would help in case but I wish you would never need to use it ;)

My congratulations for your French!

Peter_Pan_7, you are a star!!

You wouldn't believe how long I spent googling looking for an answer to this question yet failed to find one. I even read a post on some random forum where a poster (who sounded like he knew what he was talking about) claimed the lack of POST screen on the external monitor had to do with the motherboard and was just the way it was.

I'm going to have to be pretty nimble if the need ever arises. It took me many attempts to get the timing right when booting for the first time. Thanks also for the Power Management tip. I had forgotten all about that and it means I just have to close the lid and select restart using the keyboard to get the POST to appear on the HDTV. I'm saying POST but the truth is I had no clue what that was until you posted it (no pun intended).

Again many, many thanks. Hopefully this walk down memory lane will put a smile on your face after a miserable month in South Africa :emotion-2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZqp5m-NMaQ

Hi, to boot from CD, press F12 several times after startup to get a chance to enter boot menu. By default, the options order is: hard drive (first) then CD/DVD drive (second) and so on. As default selection is first option (hard drive), you have just to press Down once to select CD/DVD drive and Enter to launch boot from CD/DVD drive. Regarding your issue, if you have access to an USB keyboard and the legacy USB is activated (YES  by default in BIOS), you have just to close the lid and to connect the USB keyboard to the laptop (and of course to connect the display yo mentionned). Closing the lid will redirect video output to the external display. It does work for me, it should for you. Doing this way, you will get a kind of desktop and you can troubleshoot anything. Of course, you can also plug a mouse in an available USB port. Hope this will help! Do not hesitate to ask for details and further actions. Kind regards from France.

yes this is great to see too...

my D510 laptop screen is showing a few hair fine color vertical lines...and otherwise all works good...how could I get rid of these?

please help me if you know how and care to...

Max

Hi, the most likely cause is the cable ribbon that connects the LCD display to the video card embedded in the motherboard. But the root cause could also be the LCD display. You can do the following to check:

- if the vertical lines appearance is impacted when you move the screen back and forth, this means that the video cable connections may be too loose or the cable may be damaged => cable to be firmly resettled or changed if damaged

- if the vertical lines appearance do change when you slightly press the screen borders, the CCFL (fluorescent light) that back-lights the LCD display may be worn or even dead => screen to be changed

You will need to open the laptop for repair (but first to confirm your diagnostic before any repair tentative). Quite easy but you may just need to pick up the Service Manual on Dell site before to manage operations easily.

Hope it helps. Cheers from France

Hey Pierre, might you still be around a year later since your last post? I don't come on this location (first time now) so I'm not sure if answers can find their way back to me. I also have a screen/monitor problem like what was being mentioned. I currently am using my desktop monitor to by pass the bad view of the laptop screen. The bottom half freezes what is being shown while the pc continues to work just fine behind. I have applied different kinds of pressure/twisting/bending to the sides of the base of the screen and it permits it to work temporarily until I let go. It seems  that there is less problem, the longer the pc has been on (like warmed up). I have been told about the cable and taken the screen apart and tried tightening anything up that could use it and after putting it all back together it still worked the same. There are no lines to worry about, just the bottom half that freezes. Now for the confession.... I have had a fall or two while carrying this laptop in a bag and fear that the crash of the fall may have damaged it or caused this freezing to happen. Remember, It doesn't show problems on the other monitor at all and when gotten past the short in the laptop then it shows fine too. I just am needing to get it to work consistantly continuous. I fear that any cost involved in fixing this would be better spent towards a new, better one. What are your suggestions about possibilities to fix this versis replacement instead. On the way to this page I passed some page saying something regarding actual replacement that looked maybe possible. Thanks for your trouble here. I'm unemployed so home and available most of the time. Your fellow friend in computer problems, Tom.

Email and phone removed per privacy policy by natakuc4.

Hi TomKat7793,

if you have subscribed to be notified for next coming replies, you will receive this reply and the following ones. As I did receive your post :)

Well, as pressure on screen does do the trick, it's likely your screen that is damaged. I would say it's the CCFL (fluorescent light) as the problem seems to vanish when the PC is "warm". But you would be on the way to have your CCFL to die suddenly quite soon and to have just a dark screen with a a very dimmed display of your Windows session.

This is why anything you managed with the cable didn't solve your problem. And the two falls of your laptop should have damaged or weakened the CCFL.

As display on an external display is OK, you can say your video chip is OK.

So you have to choose to change your screen or your laptop. If you own a Dell Latitude D510, you could get a screen in USA for 30-50 bucks on eBay.  A D510 working laptop would cost 50-100 bucks, depending on its actual grade. As I live in France, I did not check prices on US eBay but  actual prices should match the ranges above.

If D510 is OK for you (office automation and Web surfing for the most time), I would go to change the screen. Just because you will retrieve your laptop just as you left it one hour earlier. Without anything to backup, reinstall or restore. If you had in mind to upgrade this quiet old horse, your broken screen would be the right opportunity to go. If you like the D Latitude series, you would get a quite new D630 or D830 for about 200 bucks. Much powerful machines than the D510 and very reliable. I am currently writing this post with a D630 I have upgraded a lot at low expense.

To change the screen, download the Service Manual and be patient and tight to the given procedure. You need to be comfortable with a screwdriver and PC connectivity. But changing a screen is really easy with Dell machines. For your first time, you should have changed it within one hour and a half.

Come back here if you have further questions (DELL part to be ordered, etc.) and let us know more about your progress on this.

Cheers from France