Dell Studio 1558 Black Screen

Question

Just as the title reads, my laptop of almost four years has began to display a black screen.

For the past few days it had been working sporadically; it'll work for a few hours, heat up, screen would then become pixelated with colours, and then it would switch off. Currently, it isn't working at all. When I press the power button, I can hear the system booting up, but the screen is still black.

So far I've attempted the following:

I have ran the LCD BIST Test, the multiple coloured screens will flash, but straight after the screen will revert back to its black image and the laptop will turn off.

Removed the battery and AC adapter, and pressed the power button for 30-60 seconds. This worked previously for a short time, but not anymore.

I've tried the running the hardware diagnostics (F12 + power button), it everything seemed to pass, though the screen was lightly pixelated. I then accepted to run the memory test straight after, which after running for a while then became heavily pixelated, and ultimately switched off.

I have re-tried the hardware diagnostics test, but at this point nothing is being displayed, bar the black screen.

Any advice on the matter will be greatly appreciated.

ejn63 · Answer

These are classic symptoms of a dying GPU -- replace the mainboard.

ejn63 · Answer

If an external monitor does work, it then suggests the display panel is at fault, not the video chip (I suspect it'll show the same fault as the internal screen, but it's worth trying).

If that works, you can copy your files over to an external drive. However, no matter how you make the backup, ONLY the files can be copied - you cannot copy programs already installed on the hard drive to another system without reinstalling them from the original installer files or CD/DVD media.

If you can't get an external image, you can always remove the drive and mount it in an external case, so that you can then copy the files to another system the same way - subject to the same limitation that only the data files, photos, etc. can be copied -- installed programs cannot be moved from one system to another without reinstalling them.

Viola11 · Answer

If that's the case, I'd rather just invest in a new laptop, which brings to mind my next question.

Would it be possible to temporarily access my account, via an external monitor, so I can back up any relevant data?

Or is there any way I can transfer all data (not just personal files) from the hard drive, onto a another laptop or desktop?

If this is viable, a step by step guide would be helpful.

Viola11 · Answer

Thank you.

I'll only need relevant data such as videos, photos, assignments etc., no programs.

I presume a HDMI cable will suffice in order to connect to the monitor?

In the case I do need to remove the hard drive, what device would it need to be attached to, in order to be transferred onto another computer. I suppose I'm asking what are the essential items that I will need in order to complete the process and how to access it?

Viola11 · Answer

Thanks! That's extremely helpful. I'll be trying this out in the next couple days.

ejn63 · Answer

If your system has an HDMI output and your monitor has an HDMI input, that will work.

Something like this will work if you need to recover the data to another system

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=0VN-0003-000H1

You can then keep the drive for use as a backup device on your next system.

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Dell Studio 1558 Black Screen

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