Display problems on a Sony laptop.

[deathwalker]

Ok..here's the deal. I have a Sony laptop with a non-functioning display. When I turn it on the backlight comes on momentarily then goes black then back on again and black again. It will do this 2 or 3 times then stay black. It's ez to rush to the thought..oh its a bad display, replace it. But that is expensive and my not be the root cause. This also smells of a bad inverter. Help, please, before I waste money on a new display that may not be needed.

 

[kainthelongshot]

There's a couple of things you can try to make sure you got an issue. First do you have a regular computer monitor to output? Plug that in and see if you can manually switch to it. It should be a key combo like FN and F4 or something. You should see a little monitor icon above the key in question. If you can see the display on the other monitor you at least established that the graphics card is ok. Now try to switch back to your LCD on the laptop. You may have to press the key combo a couple of times to cycle it to the LCD Display. Otherwise I hate to say it, something about the LCD is broken. (maybe an inverter or another controller)

I hope that helps.

 

[Paperlantern]

Three things are in question here,one, the FL Tube (the light IN the display itself), two, the FL Inverter, three, the motherboard. The fact that the screen lights at all tells us its probably NOT the FL Tube, indicating the screen itself is probably OK. Now we still have an issue about which two is the culprit, you can put a voltmeter on the FL TUBE side of the inverter, set to handle about 600V AC, if you get a steady reading then it will be in fact the screen, if you get zero, or a sporratic reading then youve eliminated the screen for sure and need to test the DC side coming from the board, typically between 5 and 10 volts. If you get a steady reading, the inverter is probably bad, especially if you get steady on that side, and zero or sporratic on the fl tube (screen side). If you get a zero reading either your not getting good contact, i know those small contacts can be hard to get, or the board just isnt giving the inverter anything. Also check cables, any of them could be loose/pinched/bad causing this, and one other slim possibility is something is causing the "sleep button" to stick or short when its not supposed to making the screen flicker on and off, and eventually off completely. Let us know what happens with this, id like to know what the issue is, or if you get more info maybe i can help further.