about a year ago, my laptop screen mysteriously stopped working. i think the monitor port may have caught a spark or something, but im not sure. i have an hp pavilion n5295 laptop. the screen on the laptop doesnt work, but i can see things on the screen just faintly enough to suspect that the backlight isnt on. right now, im using it by hooking a monitor up to it.

i want to switch to linux totalyl on this laptop, but the video system, possibly fried, causes more problems under linux than windows, on linux i cant go past 800x600 without weird things happening, but i can do the same thing on windows no problem.

i want to troubleshoot this screen because obviously it sucks to have a laptop if you need to drag a monitor around with it too . does anyone know how to troubleshoot a laptop screen? i have access to oscopes and things like that, but i just dont know where to begin. and im afraid of taking it apart if im not sure of what im doing either.

I'm no expert but laptop screen repairs aren't really what I'd consider to be a do-it-yourself project, even if you were able to pinpoint the cause of the problem. From a practical standpoint, I'd suggest taking it into a reputable PC shop and asking for a diagnosis and estimate, although depending on the laptop itself, if may not be worth repairing. I'm not trying to be discouraging but considering that laptops are generally considered to have an expected useful lifespan of only 3 years (and one of those years has gone by already because it broke down) you may be better off replacing it.

I'm not trying to be negative but realistically, if you admit yourself that you're not sure where to begin, it may be overly optimistic to assume this can be fixed at home. In any event, I wish you success with it, good luck with the project As long as it is usable with an external monitor, it may still have some value as a backup machine, but I'd be skeptical that it could come out of retirement (so to speak) and get back in the ring. -- J.W.