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Laptop Meltdown

in2xshp

in2xshp

Banned
Joined
Jun 15, 2008
Messages
2,450
Location
Dingmans Ferry Pa
Calling on the computer guys/girls here. The other day I was sitting at the laptop and having a drink or two with the dogs sitting with me and......... one of them knocked over my drink and spilled it on the laptop. At first it didn't want to work at all, but then after opening up the back as much as I could without separating the case it dried out a bit and at least turned on after two days. Then after two more it finally booted up and loaded Windows, however, the display is not working the way it should. It is acting like the brightness is turned all the way down and the only way to see what the computer is doing is to have a light on behind you. I don't know anything about laptops i.e. if there is a video card of some kind that I burned out or if there is a lamp of some kind that I my have shorted out, any help would be great.

It is a Gateway T-1620 just in case you need to know that.

Thanks
Sam
 
Try connecting it to an external monitor. If the monitor doesn't dim in the same way your laptop does, something is burned out or a switch got flicked when you motioned your lappy around trying to dry it out.

Check your inverter board or back light with a voltameter... try all your settings on the laptop (powersaver to high performance). Could be your motherboard.

If that doesn't work, I'm sure I could find something on the interwebz.
 
It does work well with an external monitor, I'm using the laptop with an external right now.

I'll have to check interwebz, thanks Chainer.


edit to add
 
If you were drinking anything other than water you will want to breakdown the laptop and clean with some electronics cleaner. A soft brush helps also. Make sure the battery is out and everything is dry before reassembling.

About 75% of the time a screen is dim it's the inverter board. This is a small circuit board that is at the bottom of the screen enclosed in the bezel, (you have to remove the rubber bumpers in your screen bezel to get to the screws). You can run the part number on the inverter in Google and find places that sell it. It is easy to replace once you have the bezel open.

The other 25% of the time it's the screen, or in rare circumstances both.

Also make sure you did not knock the inverter cable loose from the motherboard when you opened the case. You may also try cleaning the connectors and reseating, they could be wet still or have residue on them.

Good luck with it. Draw a diagram of your laptop and as you remove the screws tape them to the picture you drew. It will help with reassembly if you are a rookie at this.

Keith
 
Ya, looks like we're pretty much in agreement. Inverter board is probably your culprit. Fortunately, they are very cheap, 20$~ I think.

Before you say thats thats, check it with a voltmeter.

edit; "s"es
 
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