N5010 display now only works when an external monitor is connected

Question

Can anyone help? My lap-top was working correctly and then I booted up one day, the bios worked fine but then the screen went black. I connected an external monitor to the lap-top and the lap-top display works fine. As soon as I remove the external monitor, again, I get a black screen on my lap-top.

I have run the full system option of the Dell diagnostics and have 2 errors, battery and dvd flash rom. I have ordered a new battery. I have also noticed that my lap-top does appear to get quite hot.

I have Googled but have not found any solution.

Please help....?

faizalenu · Accepted Answer

If your LCD display works outside out of Windows (i.e., Dell Splash, BIOS, Diags), it sounds like you MAY have a video driver problem.  Try safe mode -- if that works, try rolling back the driver and/or reinstalling it.

DELL-Sujatha K · Answer

Hi michellecooper,

I request you to run a test on the display. This test will help in diagnosing if the issue is with the LCD panel or with the controller. If the colors are displayed across the screen without a problem then the issue lies outside of the LCD. To test the display shut the system down, next press and hold the letter ‘D’ on the keyboard and press the power button. This will initiate diagnostics on the display. Check the status of the display and please revert.

For the system running hot, I recommend you to clean the air vents with a can of compressed air and place the system on a flat hard surface where there is good ventilation. Also flash BIOS from the following link:

http://dell.to/ZVEHMG

Note: While flashing BIOS connect the Ac adapter and make sure the battery has minimum 15% charge as this needs uninterrupted power supply. Do not use the system till it restarts and comes up to the desktop.

michellecooper · Answer

Thanks Sujatha.

The LCD is fine - as I mentioned earlier, the lap-top display is perfectly fine IF I have an external monitor connected - the external monitor doesn't even have to be switched on. If I don't have any external monitor connected, when I boot up, the lap-top monitor is fine up to the point of saying installing windows and then it goes blank - it looks as if the backlight may be on.

I also tried flashing the BIOS but got an error saying that cannot flash with same version of BIOS.

Start-up is painfully slow over the past two days - not sure if this is related.

michellecooper · Answer

Safe mode worked! :). Pls excuse my ignorance, I have no idea about how to identify what driver I have or how to roll it back......I tried going to the Dell drivers and inputting my service tag so that it will analyze which drivers are out of date and I got an error so I wasn't able to do this.

michellecooper · Answer

I opened the device manager and updated the driver but the problem still exists - the roll back option was not highlighted.

michellecooper · Answer

Problem solved! I needed to uninstall and reinstall the video driver.

michellecooper · Answer

Thank you so much faizalenu!

faizalenu · Answer

Awesome Michelle!

Locked Topics – Laptops General

N5010 display now only works when an external monitor is connected

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