I have a dell xps laptop (about 3 years old). I recently shelled out £300 (took it back to the uk) for a new motherboard and two weeks later managed to break the screen (don't ask!) so have been using my tv as a monitor via the hdmi cable and was planning to have the screen repaired...
A couple of days ago. I got a windows security message saying my computer was not secured. I did what it suggested and it said it needed to restart. I clicked restart now and it has not worked since :-(. Laptop never rebooted. I can hear the fan and obviously with no monitor, can't see anything on the monitor as the hdmi output doesn't seem to kick in until the start up screen is displayed.
What I don't want to do is pay to replace the screen only to find it's not worth repairing the machine as it would be cheaper to buy a new entry level one.
Do you think it's worth having a look at it? If it's dead, could my data, photos etc. Be recovered?
Any advice on where I could take it/send it would be appreciated.
Hmm, sure this was an official Windows Security message? What did it ask you to do? Sounds suspicious to me... but even if a virus or spyware infects your PC you should still always be able to boot up at least. Hmm, odd, are the hard-drive lights flickering on bootup? Have you tried with and without an external screen plugged in?.
This sounds like the 'Black' screen of death caused by a faulty update. Else a malware infection that gave you a false message.
Abstract
In late 2009 several new reports of the Black Screen of Death in Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 emerged. At first several claims pointed at a Windows Update. It was later recanted by Prevx as an erroneous report.[2][3]
Microsoft reported that no security update was causing the issue, and it may be tied to malicious software, or malware.[4][5]. In other cases, the black screen of death was replaced with the Blue Screen of Death.
A black screen can also be caused by display driver problems, or selecting a mode that the monitor cannot display, though this may result in a warning on the monitor, or even in damage to a CRT monitor if it is not protected against excessive scan rate. When a display driver is updated the black screen of death appears as it is being updated, and goes away after updating is fully done. Driver updates on dual-display setups can sometimes cause a faux-Black Screen of Death, particularly if the monitors' display orientation is reset and one of the monitors is disabled or powered down.[citation needed]
A black screen with boot failure may also be caused by bios corruption, a need to reset CMOS, or replace the CMOS battery.
Hi guys, thanks for all your comments. Have tried it with an external monitor and get nothing... I've resigned myself to the fact that I need a new laptop. Will Dell usually offer data recovery if you buy a new laptop? Could Apple transfer it on to an iPad or similar? I use my laptop for just mail, the odd document and watching TV via HDML cable so don't need anything too sophisticated. I also have an iphone which I use most of the time for email etc.
PS. Do you think I have a chance of saving the docs/music/pics from my broken laptop?
In answer to your questions - the blue light around the power button lights up when you press it and you can hear it doing something but no lights flicker.
If yes, tis bound to be expensive! I am sure heaps of EF members can do the jobs for far less. Put out an advert in the Market Place.
There is a very good chance your data on the Dell lappy's hard disk can be retrieved. I'd attach it to a USB caddy and connect it to an Apple laptop or PC / PC based laptop.
I know that this is the old post, but has anything changed in the last 2 years and there is a place either in Zug or Zurich when someone can take care of a broken screen in dell xps. Let me know if you have heard about such a place!
Hm yeah but I was replying mainly about "cheap laptops".
1) Also it's about components they put, if it's made on a cheap inspiron then I don't expect them to last forever. Although on the XPS, I expect them to have put higher quality components- but of course I can't prove that. I would say that the extended warranty on XPS is a clue?
2) To be fair with dell it's all about extending your warranty (paying new contract) and then calling them for a claim 2 weeks after. It does not seems fair or moral, but as you said they used a flaw platform without making recalls. Also I know a few flow and issues they had (hardware related) and they did not made a recall to avoid losing money. Ex: Gforces 8xxx series which have been recalled but not 7900 series.
Or many dells are dying a few months after warranty (I have witnessed a few with "normal behaviour" users).
3) Also performance wise, I would agree that a recent platform could be better. But: on XPS the components of 3 years ago where already high end CPU, while today cheap models are low end. IE you still have to pay for a "top of the range" inspiron to surpass a "low of the range XPS". Or only from a medium range inspiron you can have better perfs than a low XPS...
Not to forget the screen quality and other factors.
4) Also depends what is "broken", what has to be replaced...