having trouble with display on external monitor

No need to repay me, I come here to help people. I am very glad things worked out for you.

Usually when I see a screen flickering like that it's because it's switching from battery mode to AC mode rapidly. Check the BIOS and see if it does it if the brightness for on battery is the same for on AC. If not, you might have some power issue (is the laptop charging properly?)

As for the drivers, not sure - ME is garbage, I'd look into ditching it ASAP. You can try hitting FN+F8 to swap display mode.

 

Hep!

The laptop is purely running on AC as the battery is dead and I haven't replaced it. I updated the BIOS with the dead battery in the laptop which was another dumb thing to have done not too long ago and ended up losing the green AC light indicator on the laptop (not the green light indicator on the power box on the AC cord though). The green AC indicator light no longer wants to light up on the laptop (whether the laptop is on or off) even though the AC power cord is plugged in as a result of updating the BIOS.

Thanx for the tips!

I hope you were kidding about not having much of a life. I at least added to your reputation. Thanks again so much. And the total only cost me $16.95, $10 for the inverter and $7 for the screwdriver set.

One more thing...the 4 rubber screw covers on the bezel of the display assembly...they don't want to stay on. Should I use glue or should I just trash them?

tom

 

I trashed mine, gluing will be fine if you're sure you won't need to remove them (to take the laptop apart again) in the future. If you're really into aesthetics but might need to remove them in the future a dab of superglue should do you fine.

Do you have a UPS in your house anywhere? If I were you, I'd update the BIOS again, even if it's just overwriting with your current version again. It could do nothing, or it could fix your problem.

Either way, take out the battery and run just on AC (I know the battery is dead, but trust me). See if it keeps flickering. Also, does the flickering ever stop? Does it happen at regular intervals, or seemingly randomly?

Lastly... only half kidding about the life.
My life:
Work... work... work... some working adult schedule college classes in between... work... studying for classes... wasting time here... some video games... work... work. I work a lot. I don't go out often, long story short, I am unable to participate in the social events I most enjoy, so I just don't go out too often. I don't mind it, I quite like my life, I am a man of simplicity. I do also have a steady girlfriend, which helps.

Oh, and thank you for the rep.

 

I usually keep the dead battery in to keep out the dust particles. But when I put everything back together and booted the laptop with the new inverter, I left the battery out. I just checked the BIOS. Yeah, it still flickers from time to time. It's not bothersome though.

I know Winme is horrible, but for this laptop, 2000 is the latest I can install without any mishaps or crashes, with the firewall and antivirus installed, at least i was told that. If you think installing 2000 is worthwhile, let me know and where i can find a cheap win2000 upgrade install disk.

I don't want to full around with the system anymore right now, at least not until I get everything off of the drive first. Updating the BIOS shouldn't affect anything on the drive, but I just got the display working again which is good enough for me right now.

Glad you have 'some' life, and a gf. And you're welcome about the rep. The least i could do. You deserve it. If I have any more problems, I'll know where to come. Take care and thanks again.

tom

 

You might consider gutting the cells from the battery to make it lighter as a placeholder. I've done that on my Latitude CPxH which uses the same style battery. My Inspiron 4000 (1GHz PIII-M, 1GB PC133) is running XP SP3 smooth, but Windows 2000 would be the best choice for someone looking to use the laptop as their main computer. You can check craigslist for Windows 2000. Also, I occasionally throw out W2K licenses at work, if you want to wait around I can save the next one for you.

 

Right now, I basically use the laptop for music storage/editing and occasional d/ling. It's a 700Mhz P-III, with 128mb ram, so it has it's limitations. My desktop is what I use most of the time. That's why win2K is probably the best way to go for the laptop if I updated windows.

The flickering on the laptop seems to come randomly. I'm just gonna view the laptop through the external monitor. The external monitor doesn't show the flickering. Unless I'm mistaken, I don't think it would be a good idea to try and update the BIOS again simply because I don't have a good battery. If there was a power outage during the update (with my rotten luck), I'd screw up the system even more. The fact that the battery was either dead or left in the laptop dead during the BIOS update probably screwed up the system in the first place and ended up killing the power indicator on the laptop in the process. I was lucky there wasn't a power outage during the update in the first place, else I would have killed the motherboard. What do you think?

 

I think it's unlikely that you'll destroy the laptop, but do you run your desktop on a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply)? It's a good idea to have a UPS on your desktop regardless, might consider getting one. Then just plug the laptop into that while doing the BIOS update.
You should also consider getting more memory for that laptop. What's your configuration? 2x64 or 1x128? If it's 1x128 you can probably get a second 128mb module or a 256mb module for under 10 bucks. Would be a nice kick for the system. I agree though, W2K is probably the best choice for you... though I did run XP SP1 on a 500MHz P3, 256MB ram.

 

Hep!

You know what? I'm a simple man who's simple-minded and thinks in simple terms! I never thought about upgrading or making changes to the laptop. As long as it worked, that's all I care about!

No, I don't have a UPS on the desktop. And I was told by a few online 'experts' elsewhere and read online that the motherboard would blow during the BIOS update if there were a power outage with no good working backup battery. But your UPS solution would cover that.

I don't know what the config is. I'd have to check the memory modules. I'm sure it's easy to check, right?

 

Hep!

I don't know how far you're willing to take this thread, but I thought about what you said. I may be a simple man, but if you're willing to teach me how to upgrade my laptop, and if you still think it's worth it, even for a 700Mhz CPU, then I'm all for it, just as long as the cost is low. This I got from memoryx.com:

CPU: Intel Pentium III 700Mhz
Installed Memory: 2 slots: 128 MB, empty
ECC: No

MEMORY THAT MATCHES YOUR COMPUTER
Maximum Memory 512MB

Memory Slots 2 Install individually
non-removable base memory 0MB

 

Hep!

There's something wrong with the laptop. The touchpad drivers were missing, so I reinstalled them. That's why the pointer was going wacko on me and wouldn't sit still. But once i reinstalled the drivers and rebooted, the LCD doesn't want to stay lit anymore. I tried a cold boot and reboot and I get the same result. The dell and windows splash screen will light up, but that's it. The external monitor is working perfectly.

I had noticed prior to reinstalling the touchpad drivers that the LCD was starting to go out after only a few minutes on after windows finished loading.

 

What you're telling me sounds like it MIGHT be a software thing, tap FN+F8 and see if you can get it to switch back to the laptop's LCD. I'd also try booting that GParted CD I mentioned earlier, just to see if the LCD stays on throughout that now.

IF NOT...
Trash the laptop, it's the screen [well, the backlight bulb, which usually requires replacement of the whole screen].

Oh, and consider buying a UPS for your desktop... at the same time, you can use it to get a known good BIOS flash on the laptop. I would make getting a good flash on there a priority.

 

Hep!

I tried Fn + F8 and it switched to the laptop LCD, but the screen was orange and only stayed on for a few seconds. Is it the bulb? The funny thing is that the LCD seems to be acting exactly the way the external monitor did when I was having problems getting the external monitor to display. The dell and windows splash screens weren't visible, but the screen came on normally (not orange) just as the desktop screen was starting to appear and then went off.

The other thing I noticed was that when i went into the BIOS, the battery settings for display off when idle was 3 minutes. That's seems about right when the laptop LCD display went off when it was working. Before that when I had just started the laptop with the new inverter, I opened up an old copy of Roxio cd creator, and the LCD stayed on the entire time the program was open (at least 20 minutes), but no other activity on the system other than the program being open and displayed on the screen. But there is no working battery and I haven't put the dead battery back in. And there is no battery charging in the system. The display off when idle using AC is currently set to 15 minutes.

If I can still view the laptop through the external monitor, I'm not gonna scrap it just yet...

I wonder what would happen if I disconnected the external monitor? Would the LCD go back on or is the orange screen telling us that the bulb is dying or dead?

 

I'll do the gparted boot when i find the disk. I misplaced it and put it somewhere where I can't find it. If I can't' I'll just download another copy.

 

A red, orange, or yellow tint to the laptop's screen is an indication of a dying bulb. So... yes, (very) sadly, your LCD's lamp has most likely burned out...

For all testing purposes it's a good idea to keep the external monitor disconnected. If you later need to use that as an emergency method for getting data off, so bed it.

When the LCD goes out, can you see anything on the screen if you hold a bright flashlight up to it?
Does the LCD power off if you change the BIOS time for idle LCDs?

 

Oh yeah, I can see in the background the desktop icons in broad daylight without the flashlight just like before.

I believe the LCD was powering off at the 3 minute mark (battery time) when it was working because it happened at least twice.

I can go back in and change the setting and let you know what happens. I'll set it for 5 minutes on battery and 15 for AC.

 

Set it higher, to like 15 or 30 minutes, or even never on battery.

 

I set the BIOS at 15 for battery and 30 for AC for display idle. I rebooted to make sure the settings were saved, which was what I didn't do when I updated the BIOS (I turned off the laptop and I moved it to a different location so I had to unplug it). Anyway, believe it or not, the display never went off in both instances. And get this. The power settings in control panel is currently set at 30 AC and 30 battery to turn off monitor.

Well I believe you that it's the bulb, but if it was burned out all this time because it never stayed on with the old inverter, why come on for an extended period of time with the new one? As a matter of fact, not only did it stay on when I opened Roxio, but also when I posted a couple of messages here? My best guess is the bulb was working for at least 1 hour before it decided to give out. Last gasp just to try to please me?

 

I often see inverters and bulbs go in pairs... the inverter goes and kills the bulb. Since the inverter doesn't work at all, you get nothing at all, period. When you replace the inverter, it can power the bulb... but like fluorescent ceiling bulbs, a dying bulb cannot maintain enough current to stay on for long periods of time, and will flicker. That's what you were experiencing with the flickering. Also like any other fluorescent bulb, eventually it will no longer turn on for long periods of time, and eventually not at all. That's the sad fate of your laptop's screen unfortunately.
I have an extra Inspiron 4000 screen and 2x128MB of RAM I could send you for about the cost of shipping, so long as you give me your word to take your old parts to the proper recycling facilities, not just put it in the trash can.
No guarantees though - it works now, but it's old. Cannot tell you how long it will actually last.
Or... you can forget about the whole thing, depends how much you care about the system. Netbooks are cheap these days

 

Are you kidding me? It's a deal! THANKS! Let me know here or through my email addy what to do. If you need it, let me know. Thanks for the explanation. I've learned a lot coming here.

 

Heh, I actually have a screen, inverter, and cable here.
Hitachi part number tx36d74vc1caa on the screen, so it's SXGA+ (1400x1050, the best screen you could get for this laptop).
I need to quickly confirm that this will not work in my friend's T42 who has the same issue as you, otherwise it's yours.

 

Ok. I'll check back here and my email later. I'd get another laptop, but I'm poor. Don't sweat it though. I still have the external monitor I can use. If anything good came out of this, at least we got that to work again. Which come to think of it, why did it decide to work again?

 

Don't know why it decided to work again.
Dug up a copy of Windows 2000 at work today.
Working on memory and LCD.
PM me your address and I'll ship it out later on. Will try to find the other stuff first to save on shipping costs.

 

Hep!, just PM'd you...