"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote:

VanguardLH WROTE:

be replaced by the user, that requires disassembling the case, some
soldering skill, and a replacement backlamp kit with the correct
bulbs.

I can solder. Though the last machine I repaired (granted, something
more like a 13" than a 17"), the backlights and panel were all one
sealed unit.

Well, sealed, sort of. It can be disassembled but typically that
destroys something, like the tape that I mentioned included when you buy
a backlamp kit instead of just the bulbs.

Quite often the entire LCD assembly is replaced instead of repairing its
components but that is more expensive; however, it's more likely the
whole unit will work then hoping your internal repairs went okay. It's
been a couple years since I checked out getting a kit or the whole LCD
panel but recall the price difference was about twice the cost for a
built and tested LCD panel assembly (well, a new one since I wasn't
looking at refurbished/rebuilt units).

Does the laptop have a VGA port for an external monitor hook up? If
so, try that to see if video is working. You may have to hit an Fn
key

Tried that - monitor said it was receiving no signal.

combo to toggle on/off the external video output. The laptop manual

Sometimes cycle round internal, external, both (not necessarily in
that order).

Ah, crap. Then it sounds like something more dire, like a chipset
(video chip) problem or power supply problem either one of which
requires major surgery of the mobo or its replacement (although the
power PCB might be separate of the mobo).

4 seconds is the standard delay when holding the Power button to
forcibly kill the OS and make the hardware force a power off.

So you're saying that's implemented in hardware?

BIOS will force a power shutoff when the Power switch is held for 4
seconds. That was one of the added features of moving away from the old
AT style power supplies (which had a directly hardwired switch) to the
ATX style power supplies (which use a momentary switch to logic on the
mobo). Since there was no direct connection to the power supply to
force a disconnect of power, logic had to get added to allow the same
action. Sometimes hardware can hang in a state that makes the OS or
apps unusable so a forced powered off is still required.

lack of sounds made me think it wasn't worth pursuing that aspect.

Hmm, with the flashlight, have you tried a cold boot to see if there
were any error messages signaled to the screen?

How old is the laptop? Regardless of style of computer, batteries
eventually go bad. The CMOS battery is typically a lithium wafer (or
coin cell) battery. They tend to show weakness after 3 years and
typically die after 5 to 6 years. That means there is no power to
maintain the integrity of the BIOS settings copied into CMOS. Lack of
battery power means the CMOS table could get corrupted which means you
have to reset the BIOS to force a new copy of its settings into the CMOS
table, but that won't work unless the CMOS has battery power. Replacing
the CMOS battery can be a real bitch on some laptop mobos. The coin
cell battery is often on the top of the mobo (under the keyboard) but
requires dismantling the case to remove the mobo to get at the battery.
Even if the battery is on the bottom of the mobo, there may not be a
removable access panel in the case to get at it. I know one guy that
ended up cutting the bottom panel of the case to create an access hole
to get at the battery (after having to do the dismantle to replace it)
and then reused the cutout plastic along with some epoxied tangs to put
it back into place (so there wasn't a big hole left in the bottom of the
case).

As I recall, you said the laptop had been shoved into storage for many
years. Well, besides the main lithium batteries going bad (but you can
buy and replace those easily), the CMOS battery goes bad, too. I've not
personally owned a laptop that long so am not sure how to do a CMOS
reset (clear the CMOS table and force the BIOS to reload its settings
into the CMOS table - the settings the hardware uses are from the CMOS
table, not directly read from [EE]PROM where is the BIOS) on a laptop.
Maybe you just remove the main batteries, disconnect from A/C power,
remove the CMOS battery, and wait several minutes or maybe hours to be
sure, then install a new CMOS battery and either use main batteries or
A/C power to boot to get the BIOS to copy its settings into the CMOS
table.

http://www.howtogeek.com/131623/how-...bios-settings/

I'm not sure it is a CMOS table corruption. My thinking is that some
video setting in the table is corrupted so there is no usable video
output. If you're going to putz around with the laptop as an
experiment, well, lithium coin cells are cheap (much cheaper if you find
an authentic reseller of them at eBay rather than those selling expired
or fake branded products). I just bought a 20 pack of authentic Sony's
(there are articles on how to tell real from fake) that expire in 2024
for $7.35 which is about what you pay for just 1 or maybe a 2-pack at a
retail store (seller was swimteam1987).

You might give the unit away on Craigslist. I've seen some folks
that buy this stuff and fix it to donate to a charity or low income
folks.

(I doubt it'd be worth their time in this case.)

Some folks bang on keyboards pretty hard so they need a replacement. A
working but used one would be a lot cheaper. That's just one example of
getting a broken laptop to part it out. Just because a chip or LCD
panel doesn't work doesn't mean the rest of it is useless. I've bought
and replace the computer in my car which was a lot cheaper then buying a
whole new car just because the computer had a burnt out resistor.