Averatec 6100 - black screen

I have an Averatec 6100 series laptop I bought back in 2004.
It has worked great until the other day the screen just went BLACK.
My wife was using it and it just all the sudden went black. It was still on and running but you could not see anything on the screen.

I tried to hook it up to my monitor and it showed the bios averatec splash screen but would not do anything else.
Hitting F2 or FN-F5 does nothing.

Since I could see this Averatec splash screen I thought it might me a bad hard drive. So I bought a new one and put it in today and still nothing- BLACK SCREEN.

Could it be the video card?
Can you replace them on laptops? I did some searching and I read that video cards cannot be replaced unless it is a special type of MB.

Any of you have any idea on what I can try next.

Also if the video card is bad, trying to hook up another monitor won't work will it?

Thanks

 

My old 6100 used to be kinda screwy in the monitor at times. I got the monitor replaced and never had a problem but i wish i could help here.

 

If you can still see an image on the screen under strong light (albeit one without illumination), you probably have a bad (or burnt out) LCD inverter; this was a known problem with the 3270 series. Switching it out is not a problem, provided you know how to remove the LCD bezel -- inverters are normally mounted just below the LCD screen, within the bezel.

 

Dear David, The symptoms you described are exactly what's happening with my 6100. I just wanted to ask if this problem would exist if I plug a monitor and switch it with (fn+f4). I tried with mine and it didn't work. In both cases I can see the AVERATEC BIOS page and then windows loading, but then the screen is just the way you said before it turns blue (when the login info should pop up).
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

Hi there it may either be your lcd inverter or it may be your lcd screen i would suggest you take a flashlight and shine it on the screen if you see any words slightly then you know it is the inverter or the backlight of your screen is not working properly, however if you see nothing at all then you might need a new screen. i have had this problem with my toshiba a215 series laptop, and i have looked around i found a great website which seems to be new it is called
laptop maven they have many assortments of laptop screens from many company's they have dell,hp,compaq,toshiba,sony,apple,gateway,they have glossy screens as well, all you have to do is ask them for what you are looking for and they will help. their customer service is great! just figured ill let you all know any how have a great day

 

I would not spend any more money on such an old laptop. But it sounds like the lcd or inverter. The LCD screen is not cheap....

 

I just recently had this issue. It was fine when I went to bed and when I woke up the screen was black. When I connect it to a exteral screen though I get nothing. Are LCD inverters hard to replace?

 

king12yan:

Replacing an LCD inverter (I've done it several times) by itself isn't that difficult, since there are just two connectors on either end, and it's usually held in place with a weak glue or a single screw. The tricky part is getting the bezel over the screen removed so that you can get access to the inverter. Normally, there will be a screw on each corner covered by a rubber grommet that you need to carefully remove first. The bezel will still be held in place with plastic snaps, which you need to carefully pry apart. Unfortunately, it can take a lot of force to make them start un-snapping, and while there were numerous times when I feared I would break the plastic in the process, it hasn't happened yet. These are designed to be disassembled -- in theory at least.

David A. Reed

 

So if the screen is black and when I attached a differnt monitor to it and I get nothing, that would normally be a LCD inverter? If the LCD monitor went out then I would still be able to attached a different screen right? If I didn't have to buy a screen that would great because a power inverter is much cheaper.

 

king12yan:

I think you might have put your finger on something which suggests that the ultimate problem may not be the inverter in your 6100. If it were just the inverter, then you should still be able to see the screen on an external monitor, assuming the VGA connection is correct. The inverter simply makes it possible for a CCFL screen to light up, but since the external monitor will have its own inverter (unless its LED-backlit, a newer technology), if there's still no image, that fact suggests a deeper problem I don't really have any insight to. Could be a motherboard problem.

David A. Reed