IBM X31 - Blank Screen

Hi,

My IBM X31 has come up with Blank screen. I had shut down the laptop before going on holiday and when I came back, powered it up, but all I can see is the power coming to the laptop and the hard disk being accessed. The screen comes black. Checked the display brightness, connecting to a different monitor, but nothing helped. Can you please help me troubleshoot and get this right.

How do I check for hardware issues?

Thanks in advance.

 

When you press the power button, does the IBM splash screen come up?
If it does not, you have a problem.

When you plugged the system into an external monitor, did you press the hotkeys on the keyboard, to output the video signal to the external?

If nothing happened, than here is what you could do:

Unplug the ac power, and try powering it up from battery power alone, and see if the situation changes.

If you can see the harddrive light blinking, than the system is getting power.
It seems that when the system was sitting unused, something happened to it, like overheating (if placed next to a radiator) or something of that nature.

Here is what you are going to have to do, if the simple power issue is not the problem:

You are going to have to dismantle the laptop, and get to the memory compartments. Take the memory out of the system, and then try booting without any memory installed.
If the system makes a beeping noise, than that means your motherboard is working. If no beeps occur, than your motherboard may have died.

Then, try powering it up with one memory card at a time. One of the memory cells may have died, causing the system not to boot properly.
If the system powers up with both cards (assuming your system has two memory cards) than the memory is not the problem.

While the system is apart, locate the Bios battery, and remove it from the system. Than try powering the system up without it. Doing this will clear and reset the CMOS/BIOS. Than shut the system off by holding the power button down for about 5 seconds. Than put the bios battery back in, and try powering it up.
If it still does not turn on, than the only other user fixable thing is connection issues.
Strip the system down, and make sure all of the connections are connected properly.
Than put the system back together and power up. If it works, you fixed the problem, but if not, you will have to either replace the motherboard (has an onboard graphics card) or get a new laptop.

I hope this helps,

K-TRON

 

Thanks for the detailed reply. Will try it this weekend and post back.