# Dell Inspiron 1420 blank screen on startup



## bobanaichaa (Jul 24, 2010)

I'm not very techy but I'll try to describe the problem as best as I can. Thanks in advance for any help.

Summary of problems:
-no display on laptop lcd on bootup, but displays fine (though dimly) after windows boots up. Display on external monitor is ok.
-display very dim

back story:
I got this laptop about 2.5 years ago and it worked fine until about a couple months ago. One day I turned on my laptop and all I got was a blank screen with some really weird spots. Display was working fine just a few hours prior. Got home, hooked it up to an external monitor and everything worked except the laptop lcd. Laptop lcd would work occasionally and display images properly but was definitely not consistent. A friend suggested that maybe the lcd had problems refreshing since sometimes it would display but then freeze.

Laptop acted as desktop for a month or so while attached to an external monitor. Recently, I decided to get a replacement lcd. It came yesterday and I installed it but ran into some more problems. On bootup, new lcd would display a blank screen (backlight was on). I would switch over to external and it would display windows bootup fine. After windows' bootup, new lcd would display ok, but very dimly. I shut it down and tried it again at least 7 or 8 times and got the same experience every time - werid blank screen on initial bootup but displays fine after windows boots up (only viewable on external monitor). The weird thing is that when I boot up but don't toggle over to external moniter, lcd would be blank and then go black (not lit at all) after about 15 seconds and at this point I can no longer switch over to the external moniter. I would also have to wait a few seconds after pressing the on button before it let me toggle. My friend says maybe it's a bios problem?

One more problem: The brightest the new lcd got was about 25% of my old lcd and an even weirder thing was that as I tried adjusting brightness, it would fluctuate. Starting from "0%" I would increase but it would actually get dimmer until about 50% and then it would get to its brightest point at about 75% and then get dimmer beyond that point. My friend helped me test out the lamp from the first lcd and it experienced the same brightness problems now. He reset the connection with motherboard and still got the same problems. 

After clearing doing all that and clearing out the dust from heat sink and cooling path, I now have no idea what else to do (short of just getting a new laptop).

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks!
-nate

edit: one more note - I sometimes just put my laptop into sleep/hibernation mode and I don't run into any problems when "waking it up." It's only when it shuts down completely or restarts.


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## SA Spurs1 (May 2, 2009)

Did you get a new inverter when you purchased the LCD?


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## bobanaichaa (Jul 24, 2010)

no maybe ill try that. how much do those things usually go for?

would that explain:
A) no initial image but image ok (but very dim) after toggling between lcd and external monitor after windows starts?
and
B) not being able to switch over (via fn+f8) to external monitor after lcd goes from blank (and somewhat lit) to black (not lit at all)? this is about 15 - 20 seconds after start up

thanks!

edit to first edit: problem exists even if I "wake" it up from sleep/hibernate


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## bobanaichaa (Jul 24, 2010)

could it be a cable failure?

from what i've been reading, some of the symptoms do point to an inverter failure but that doesn't explain the blank screen (sometimes with weird non-lit spots on edges and vertical patterns) when first starting up and then displaying an ok image after windows starts, right?


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## SA Spurs1 (May 2, 2009)

Image failures could point to the inverter.
Intermittent failures could be the lcd cable.


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## bobanaichaa (Jul 24, 2010)

oh ok thanks! 

but if the inverter fails, shouldn't there be no image at all? It consistently works after booting up, switching display over to external monitor, and windows starts (but only if i switch over before lcd goes black).

sorry, i'm trying to understand this better

and do you have an idea or guess on what could explain
B) not being able to switch over (via fn+f8) to external monitor after lcd goes from blank (and somewhat lit) to black (not lit at all)? this is about 15 - 20 seconds after start up

thanks!


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## SA Spurs1 (May 2, 2009)

If your inverter goes bad then you could experience a blank screen. Also you you could have discoloration. Usually when you get a blank screen I would suspect the the lcd backlight has gone out. But since you replaced the LCD screen then I would suspect the inverter. The cable becomes suspect if you experience flickering. Not sure about the FN F8. The first thing I would replace is the inverter.


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## leo_kendall (May 11, 2010)

i have the exact same problem on my netbook, and i have been searching for a solution for months, and haven't came across one. my guess is that somewhere on th motherboard the single for the vga out is grounded and the laptop thinks a external monitor is hooked up all the time. as soon as windows loads the drivers takes over. I knows it isn't a windows problem because i booted with alive linus cd/usb drive and the exact same thing happens. Just do a search and u can read my post. my laptop/netbook is a acer d250


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## Joe.logs (Jul 28, 2010)

Got this same problem on my laptop, same model, Inspiron 1420, with display adapter Nvidia Geforce 8400M GS that I bought in 2008, operating on original Vista OS with service pack 2. The occurrence of the dim display (a hint image without backlighting) which I observed came out middle of last year but it was intermittent as I could use my laptop with the display ok on my laptop's LCD sometimes then others I had to connect it to an external display to be able to see everything. Thinking that my nvidia driver is corrupted, I tried uninstalling and reinstalling but the same thing happens.

Then I tried backing up my files then reinstalled the original OS. I observed the following:

1. The laptop ran a few days without network and went ok. But the moment I went online updating, the display went blackout.
2. I tried rebooting but then I can no longer view on display as I had to resort back to external display again, even during boot-up where the dell logo should show up upon turning the laptop on.
3. At some point I had to have the original windows installer repair the system and at times the bootup display shows on, and then at times, it does not.
4. I checked on the Dell and Nvidia websites for updates on drivers and had them installed. at start display went ok then when I started running videos and high resolution images, the display goes pixelated at low resolution then starts to hang, had to force reboot the system by shutting it off then on again, the laptop's on-LCD display is now lost that I had to reconnect again an external display.
5. I observed now that when I turn on the laptop, I have to perform Fn+F8 command (External display) to be able to see my laptop's boot-up sequence. I am then using an external display meaning my laptop ended a desktop because of this. When the windows bootup mask image shows up, the screen has dashed vertical lines until the microsoft logo shows up before going to user selection display.
6. I can no longer click on Nvidia options in control panel. When I checked on Device Manager, my display adapter is highlighted, when i checked on its properties, it says, "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)"

I already have the latest drivers that I can get from Dell and Nvidia. Does anyone have any idea what else can be done?




























Thanks


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## bobanaichaa (Jul 24, 2010)

so its not the inverter. new one came in today, hooked it up, same deal. =[

any new developments for anyone else?


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## SA Spurs1 (May 2, 2009)

Not all inverters work with all screens. Does the Dell part number on the screen match the old one and does the dell part number on the inverter match the old one. It would be a DP/N number. Usually when you buy a LCD the inverter comes with it to avoid the incompatibility.


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## bobanaichaa (Jul 24, 2010)

mm i'm not sure where to find those but i took pictures of what i think they might be



















those numbers are the same for both new and old parts


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## nehem00 (May 18, 2011)

Hi,

I an also having same issue with my DELL 1420. NVIDIA GEFORCE4800m GS. laptop bought 3 years ago. Please let me know what did you do finally to resolve this issue? Please reply. Thanks.

Email ID: [email protected]


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## nehem00 (May 18, 2011)

Please reply me.., Thanks,



bobanaichaa said:


> mm i'm not sure where to find those but i took pictures of what i think they might be
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## nehem00 (May 18, 2011)

bobanaichaa said:


> I'm not very techy but I'll try to describe the problem as best as I can. Thanks in advance for any help.
> 
> Summary of problems:
> -no display on laptop lcd on bootup, but displays fine (though dimly) after windows boots up. Display on external monitor is ok.
> ...


I have the same problem.. Please let me know what did you do to resolve this


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## bobanaichaa (Jul 24, 2010)

i bought a mac. hahaha

the dell inspiron 1420 is completely dead at this point. a few weeks after my last post, the laptop decided to no longer hold a charge. never determined if it was an issue with the battery or another internal component. (i did figure out it wasn't the charger though because it was able to charge another dell laptop.) i gave up on the 1420. it was too much trouble. definitely wasn't worth trying to go through dell tech support. since it was not under warranty, they wouldn't hear/diagnose the issue without a fee.

so i decided to just tear it apart and explore a little bit and then took out the ram to use on another laptop i had (dell inspiron e1505). i also bought an enclosure for the hd (i think it was a few bucks on ebay) and am now using it as an external drive.

for what it's worth, it's not entirely dell's fault. many other notebooks (including apple's i believe) using that nvidia gpu chip had similar issues. moreover, i'm using that e1505 to write this and it's still working fine (it's just about 5 years old).

on another note: i still have the lcd display and a new inverter board i bought and used for about a month so they're still in good working order. contact me if you'd be interested in taking it off my hands.

hope it works out for you man
cheers!


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