acer travelmate 2430 Black Screen

When i turn on the laptop it gives only a black screen, all relevant lights are on, fans sound like they are working battery is on and laptop gets warm but theres nothing on the screen, i cant get into a safemode screen its just black, could this be a total hardrive failure? Ive tried the shining torch to see if its just the back light, but its very black. Ive tried connecting to a monitor but its still black ive only had it 2yrs and use it for saving work documents thats it. nothing excessive, any advice is gratefully appreciated. Using Acer Travelmate 2430 Windows xp intel celeron M Thanks Lisa

Hi, Sorry to hear of the problem with your Acer laptop. There are a few things that need checking. 1 With your laptop switched off, remove the AC power cord and then remove the battery (you will need to turn it upside down and operate the battery release catches…..its a bit fiddly to do!) 2 With the laptop right way up, reconnect the AC power cord and check that the lights on the front of the laptop light up (if they don't, post back and let me know) 3 Now turn on your computer in the normal way, wait 5 minutes (by the clock, not a second less) 4 Press the space bar once per second for 6 seconds (6 presses of the spacebar) if no activity is shown then: 5 Press Fn +F5 (Hold down the Fn key and press the F5 key…….(Repeat this key combination 3 further times, but only if there is no response. if still no activity is shown then: 6 Press Fn+> (hold down the Fn key and press the > (it's just above the full stop key) 7 repeat this 3 times if there is no response if still no activity then press firmly and then release the Power On button once (the button you normally press to switch on your machine) Let us know if any of this helps Regards paws

Hi Paws Thanks for reply i did step 1&2 but when i plugged in the adapter no lights came on, i when i turned the power on the power light is on and a light at the front with a light bulb sign is on thats it. i have followed the rest of the steps and nothing has happened i can still hear the fan reving though Thanks Lisa

Hi Lisa, This is not looking too good….. some more tests for you to carry out……… 1 immediately after starting your machine press Alt+F10 (press and hold the Alt key whilst pressing once the F10 key) if no response on the screen 2 Try the same key combination Alt+F10 with an external monitor plugged in 3 if no response then with the external monitor connected try all steps 4 to 7 in my previous post followed by Alt+F10 If you still get no response and the screen remains black with never a single character appearing at any time and there is no dim picture available when you shine a torch into the laptop screen then it looks bleak. Its likely that it could be the video circuit on the laptop's motherboard has failed……..this is an expensive repair so before even considering this you need to be sure……… we have reached the limit of what can reasonably be done by long distance work on the forum, so you will need to put it in front of an experienced technician so she/he can physically test it. If it's still under warranty then contact Acer or their local service agent /representative, if its out of warranty then try to get a competent local technician to do a diagnosis…but do agree the fee before hand as if it is the motherboard video circuit that is the problem, then the cost of the repair is likely to be about the same as you could buy a brand new machine for. If you bought it from a big retail outlet they may be able to help you out……..but don't rely upon them to do so if they have no legal responsibility under the "consumer law" applicable in your location. Sorry to bring you bad tidings. There is always a chance that Acer or an experienced technician with the machine in front of them, in the workshop, may be able, quickly, to spot a simple fault that does not cost a lot of money to fix……..let's hope so. Regards paws

Thanks for your help Paws Nothing is working i thought it was going to be a bad case, never mind, i think the warranty has expired, however i got it through my insurance company as my old one died so ill see if they can help. I dont think ill get another acer but thankyou for your time. Lisa

Fingers crossed that you will get somewhere with them… Good luck Regards paws

Just thought i'd update you that the technician replaced the short term memory and its working perfectly, only £30 cost aswell. Thanks for your time anyway

£30…sounds like a good deal to me…. well done Glad you got fixed Regards paws