Posted on 08/14/2016 5:17:25 PM PDT by PJ-Comix
My Compaq laptop has crashed. When I turn it on, all I get is a black screen. I tried pressing the F8 key when turning it on but I still get nothing on the screen.
So how do I restore my computer?
Should I try running it with just the power cord and battery out?
Do you have recovery discs, or can you borrow a Windows distro disc to boot from? Have you updated to Win 10 yet?
Compaq?.....
I cant run disks on this. It is windows 10.
Yes.Compaq.
After of course trying a live CD boot to see if the hardware is OK.
Is the computer connected to anything? Even a wireless mouse? I’ve had computer failing to boot because of a bad keyboard or from having a Kindle connected during startup.
You could have a corrupted driver or bad video hardware too. Esp if you can’t make it boot in safe mode.
My Sony Vaio just started doing same thing today!
Finally isolated it as a loose wire to the screen inside the right hand hinge!
I’ve had great experiences with the Geek Squad.
I can hear my drive moving so I think it is just the screen but not sure.
Also try tapping on either the Del key or Esc key as it starts to boot.
My wife bought that and another one (one I am on now) from aa private tech guy a year ago. She said she can take it in next weekend for repair if she finds his phone number.
Those are my typical steps on flaked out laptops for getting data.
Between a caddie with a USB connector and some Linux live distro, I’ve done a fair amount of saving stuff for home people and a few times on the job.
No other symptoms: it’s been working fine...
Well, after checking the things you’ve been told to, remove the battery and stick it in the freezer for 20 minutes then quickly start it up. Helps sometimes with board probs too.
Good that you have a tech to call.
Are you logged in?
stick the computer in the freezer- not the battery LOL!
How old is the laptop?
Not sure which “Function” key it is but one of them toggles between:
Your screen only
An output screen jack and your screen
An output screen jack only
Maybe you (or your cat) accidentally hit the Fn key and the screen key and shifted it to output jack only?
44 mag and a 1000.00 bucks...
I'm currently working my way through a messed up Linux Mint 17.2 update that hosed the video drivers. Linux has no undo update function. So far I loaded Mint 18 on a spare SSD to get the comouter up and running. Much is on Virtual Boxen so transferring *.vdi files should regain most functionality whilst figguring out how to fix the broken files.
I learned in 1992 that one needed to have a second comouter to be able to look stuff up to fix a "broken" primary computer.
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