[PointQ]

Hi all,

New to the forum. Hello to all.

I'm having a problem with my Dell E1705 laptop, and it's a problem I've seen others have in other forums, but I haven't seen a solution. So I bring it to you here.

Recently purchased a Samsung 2253BW LCD monitor, and intended to use it with my E1705 to run dual displays -- laptop LCD and new monitor. I have an nVidia GeForce Go 7900 GS video card (lets me have 1920x1200 on a glossy 17" monitor... sweet), so running dual displays is no problem. I was actually planning on purchasing a second 2253BW to have dual externals, but funding is limited at the moment. Anyway, plugged the 2253BW into the DVI port on my laptop, and ran dual displays for a couple hours with no issue.

Then I installed the software: MagicTune and monitor driver come on CD bundled w/ monitor (who needs a driver for a monitor??). Nevertheless, within I'd say an hour if not less of installing the software, laptop LCD display had died. I tried multiple things, initially of course rebooting my laptop without the monitor plugged into the back, with no luck. Also uninstalled and re-installed my video drivers and did a Windows system restore. Still no video to my screen at all, not when I boot up.. nothing ever. The backlight on the display is on, but it's as if it's just displaying a black image all the time.

External monitor still gives me video with no problem when it's hooked up. Likewise, laptop still runs normally.. only video on the laptop LCD is affected. Finally called Dell, and b/c I'm out of warranty didn't get much help. Was able to get it diagnosed as a hardware problem.. either LCD or video card (motherboard-integrated). Was able to toggle to external monitor while in BIOS, and noticed a native resolution listed as 0x0. Not good. Also, windows doesn't even recognize the lcd as an option for a display. nVidia settings won't even list options for dual monitors anymore.

Continuing story, did some research online, and came across numerous forum posts with people having the same issue, all with Samsung monitors and Dell laptops. All are saying that their laptop LCDs work fine until they install the software, and then LCD dies shortly thereafter. One guy even said he'd had multiple displays running for months, then installed the software on a rainy day, and had his display die very soon after.

Seems to be a pretty obvious correlation b/w installation of MagicTune and monitor driver from CD, and the LCD dying. Called Samsung.. they blame Dell, and gave an address to their Corporate Escalation department so I could write a snail mail letter. Yeah right.

I wonder if anyone has any insight to provide. I'm out of warranty, and Samsung is (predictably) not accepting blame. I've seen other posts with other people with the same issue, so I think I have a leg to stand on.

As far as the problem with the LCD, my only guess is that the software may have cranked up the refresh rate for the LCD beyond that it could tolerate, and eventually damaged hardware after a short time. Any ideas?

Sorry for the long situation. Any help you can provide would be very much appreciated.

[kris23]

have you tried reformatting to remove what remnants of the LCD drivers and utility remain?

if you restart the computer without the monitor connected, does the BIOS post screen come up or is that blank too?

welcome to DH PointQ!

[PointQ]

kris23 et al,

thanks for the fast reply. i have not actually tried reformatting. i will say -- and i didn't mention this before -- that when i first uninstalled the video driver (i.e. device manager --> display adapters --> right-click nvidia, uninstall), it asked me to reboot, which I did, but when I came up, I noticed that my native resolution was still there, which I thought was peculiar.. i would have expected a larger resolution due to a generic window driver being used or something. so i checked the device manager, and the adapter was still installed. i thought that windows might have connected to the internet to download the driver again based on detected hardware, so i disabled my wireless, uninstalled the driver again, and rebooted. still the adapter came up as installed, though I will say my resolution (on my external monitor) was larger than native, and corrected itself at the windows welcome screen after a few seconds. not sure what was going on with that.

as for the bios, i've been able to toggle to my external monitor when booting up using dell's built in fn+f8 key combo to toggle displays. i've successfully gotten into bios settings, and as i said before, noticed a native display res of 0x0. i'm not sure what you mean by the bios 'posting', but im not able to toggle displays fast enough to see any initial boot screens (i assume b/c bios hasn't posted yet to allow the key combo to work?).

again, thanks for the help.

[kris23]

post screen really just means the screen in which the Dell logo appears on.

try unplugging your secondary display and rebooting if the post screen appears, if it doesnt, you may have a bigger problem on your hands....

[PointQ]

when i unplug my external monitor and reboot my laptop, nothing appears on the lcd at any time. this is why i'm pretty sure it's a hadware issue. windows doesn't recognize it as a possible display, only the Samsung.

is it even possible that the software could have done something to the hardware? im just really trying to rack my brain to understand how all this happened.

[kris23]

it hardly ever happens but is possible.....

so no one who did the same thing as you ever found a resolution?

id just reformat now, probably wont do anything but it can clear the stuff off your system.

after that id try and clear the BIOS but that requires taking apart the laptop and possibly voiding your warranty

[GigaWatt]

i agree with kris, a hardware BIOS reset would be the best thing to do, after that, format the primary partition and reinstall XP (Vista... whatever...).

since your warranty is outdated, then you could try this (resetting the BIOS manually) without the risk of voiding warranty...