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Black Screen on laptop

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by dondefy 1 view

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Hi there as you can see I am new here bit ill try to be as specific as possible.

I have an ASUS G1S, not so long ago I was rushing of to work and forgot to turn it off or plug it in, I had it set up so that it would go into sleeping mode if left unplug and there is only 10% ?battery life? left. Once I came back from work I realised that the laptops indicator that it is asleep was off meaning that it drained all the power from the battery, under this assumption, without even checking, I plugged it into the mains and let the battery recharge.

Later in the evening, after it was fully charged and the indicator light for charging was off I turned it on. The screen was not coming on but you could hear the "booming" sound as it turns on, and the ASUS sing comes on, on the led display in the top left.

As it stands I have found one solution on Google for it, removing the battery + unplugging it and letting the bios to reset. That did not help :((

Do you have any ideas how to fix it?? My last resort is the warranty but I don?t wont to loose data, I have a lot of important documents and papers on and a whole library in rar files :(( If all fails I will be forced to use the warranty. does any one know how to extract this data form my hard drive without damaging the warranty?

P.S. I forgot to add it was running Windows Vista

P.S.S. On side note, is any one familiar with a chipset SiS630 and PiLZ pitop15 (touch screen). If so could tell me the max resolution I can get on that?

29 replies

by older mycroft

There is a possibility (no matter how slim) that when the system ran out of power while unattended - it may have invoked the Function of switching the laptop monitor [b][u]OFF[/b][/u].

On my laptop, it would be covered by the use of Fn+F5 or Fn+F6.

As regards your warranty query, it might be worth knowing that all laptop warranty repairs allow for the removal of the laptop HDD prior to returning it for repair. This is a detail of warranty often overlooked by owners, but if you were to query this with your warranty repair company they would inevitably HAVE TO admit that there is no requirement on the part of the owner to leave the HDD in place when the system is returned.

[i]UNLESS the fault is software-based.[/i]

by dondefy

I have my doubts with this "Function of switching the laptop monitor OFF." Wouldn't that function be "reset" if the power from the laptop is completely removed for nearly 9 hours? (I.e. no battery or mains power supply)

P.S but ill give it a try once i get home ^^

by older mycroft

The Fn+x function switch is a HARDWARE switch.

Well, strictly speaking it's a SOFT hardware switch, but denial of power will not make it return to 'normal'. Just as, if you connect an external monitor to a laptop, then using the Fn+ function, you switch the display to ONLY the external monitor - if you switch the laptop off and remove the external monitor then switch the laptop back on - you'll end up with NO DISPLAY because the laptop still thinks that it's supposed to drive all output to the external monitor. ;)

by dondefy

Just wondering would the reset button on the bottom erase my hard rive?

by sue t

the laptop is booting so why not try connecting an external monitor to see if that works. You would then be able to back up your data. Or you could remove the hard drive and connect it to another computer to retrieve your data.
Good luck.

by dondefy

I tried the fn thing, didnt work. Screen swap didnt work either. I don't want to remove the HDD since that will void the warranty. Any other ideas?

by seanferd

That's crazy. Are you absolutely sure about this? There have to loads of business users who could not possibly leave a drive in a laptop as it would be a security issue, and quite possibly also be a violation of various laws.

Edit: I've read the manual - removing the HDD does, in fact, void the warranty (at least according to the manual). Ridiculous!

Strange then that they should also list on their site compatible drives.

by seanferd

Would that be hooking up another monitor? If not, try it.

(Fn+)
Filled Sun Icon (F5):
Decreases the display brightness
Open Sun Icon (F6):
Increases the display brightness
LCD Icon (F7): Toggles the display panel ON and OFF. (On certain models; stretches
the screen area to fll the entire display when using low resolution modes.)
LCD/Monitor Icons (F8): Toggles between the Notebook PC?s LCD display and an
external monitor in this series: Notebook PC LCD -> External Monitor -> Both. (This
function does not work in 256 Colors, select High Color in Display Property Settings.)
NOTE: Must connect an external monitor ?before? booting up.
Fn+C: Toggles ?Splendid Video Intelligent Technology? function ON and OFF. This allows switching between different display color enhancement modes in order to improve contrast, brightness, skin tone, and color saturation for red, green, and
blue independently. You can see the current mode through the on-screen display (OSD).

by dondefy

I can?t use any key shortcuts including "fn" since I?m 90% sure that the bios is not loading. I tried an external monitor but I didn?t try booting with an external monitor, ill give it a go but I have my doubts.

Thanks for more thorough brake down of hot keys.

by rob miners

manual that would have been supplied with the unit. IT should have information on the Reset switch and Warranty information.

by seanferd

Removing the drive voids the warranty. Ugh.

by rob miners

and there is no reference to a Reset swith either. I think that it's a one size fits all manual with a few bits missing. The OP will have to use a Vista Recovery CD or Linux to remove their Data before sending it back. One of the forums mentioned that it is a motherboard problem that had to be RMA'd.

by dondefy

I am in foreign country for a while and left the manual at home. There is no access to it, however I found a copy of it on google and it doesn?t have much info on it, just says where the switch is and that?s about it.

by seanferd

I figured that a 20MB manual should have something useful in it. It really wasn't at all. Their website kind of sucks as well, and isn't all that informative.

by rob miners

check and see if you are able to see anything by using a boot CD before trying a backup.

PCLinuxOS should let you burn to CD or copy your Data to an extrernal hard drive.

http://www.pclinuxos.com/index.php?option=com_ionfiles&Itemid=28

The Windows Vista Recovery CD can be used to Boot your PC.

Creating a Windows Vista Recovery CD

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/window-on-windows/?p=622

Download from here:

http://coblitz.codeen.org/neosmart.net/downloads/guides/Vista_Repair/Vista_Recovery_Disc_x86.iso

Burn it to CD with Nero or similar.

The Windows Vista Recovery CD can be used to Boot to a Command Prompt where you can run these Commands.

Boot from the Vista CD and on the first screen click Next, click Repair your computer, click Next and select Command Prompt. here you will be able to transfer your data to an external hard drive. This software can be run from an external hard drive.

SyncBack Freeware V3.2.18.0 is a free standing Backup Utility and it will run from USB.

http://www.2brightsparks.com/downloads.html#freeware

by dondefy

I will give this a go but I don?t think it?ll work due to the following reasons:

1st
The bios does not load

2nd
I don?t think I have the laptop booting up from the cd-drive, due to the above I can?t change it.

3rd
The screen has no power to it, at all. Its not that it loads a black screen, it?s just off. It is easy to evaluate this as the Asus G1S has flashing LEDs on the side, those do not come on meaning no current is running through the screen.

Thank you very much for the detailed solution ill give this a go today.

by rob miners

Check the movement of the Lid Actuator switch

The Lid Actuator switch is a small button or switch located above the keyboard near the hinge for the LCD. Pressing this switch when the computer is on may turn the notebook display off, or it may cause the notebook to enter a different power state.
Press the switch 2-3 times while observing the display. If the display does not return to normal brightness when the switch is released, the switch may be sticking and need to be repaired.
If the display turns off when the switch is pressed, the power management function may be set to hibernate or turn off when the lid is closed.

by ken

When the computer first starts up do you see anything on the screen at all such an asus logo,

by dondefy

I see nothing, no logo, I do hear that booming sound as before but the screen has no power to it.

At normal functioning times as the logo loads the laptop gives a little roar.

I thought that was cool, a lot of people complained and disabled it but I liked it, and good thing I didn?t, after the logo, the bios is usually loaded, however I don?t think the bios loads in this case i.e. if you push the on off button once the pc just turns off i.e. I don?t need to hold the off/on button.

by ericswain

I have had several issues where I am looking in one direction, such as processor or motherboard only to be caught by a simple battery.

Try the following:
1. Unplug everything and remove the battery.
2. Plug just the power cable into the laptop.
3. Push the power button to turn on the laptop.
4. Watch to see if the BIOS screen appears.
5. Enter BIOS screen and see if drives apprear.
6. If drives are shown exit and try to boot into windows under normal mode.
7. If able to, then you know it's a battery issue.

by breezer85

...but i've come across situations where the screen goes off after a period of time and find that I have to set the brightness back up! Had a few old ASUSes do that!

by dondefy

Ive tried everything every one suggested so far and failed, is there away to transfer the data after i boot the laptop but the screen stays black?

Thanks for your help gents/ladies

by rob miners

and remove the drive and place it in an external enclosure to remove the Data. Put the drive back in and send in in for Warranty.

by ericswain

That's not entirely true, I would have to agree with you in regards to Win 98-2000 and maybe even XP sp1 or lower but with SP2 through Vista Multi Monitor Support has been drastically improved and monitor detection will switch back automatically when no power is moving from an external monitor to the laptop. This might simply be a resetting issue.

by dondefy

As i mentioned before i already tried that and it didn't work.

by dondefy

Thanks guys/ladys !!! i will contact asus today and let em know what went down ;):) Cheers all :))

by dondefy

Got through to ASUS support, very nice down/up there :)) said I can remove my hard drive without voiding the warranty =))

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