can lack of, or broken ram, make a laptop screen go black?

[joko]

my mums laptop screen has gone black.

it still loads up, plays the start up music, and even appears to bring up error windows (i can hear a beep) and as far as i can tell works fine - except i can't see anything on the screen

in start up it gives 2 beeps..which i have read means low ram

could an upgrade be the answer?

i have dismantled and checked all the wires etc.

there is a big crack in the base which i suppose could have caused this, as when i pressed down on the keys the screen went light grey, and when i moved the screen it went black again (which implies a loose connection) but ive glued it all and that doesnt happen any more.

any ideas?

thanks

[VHG]

How did the big crack get there?

If it was dropped it could well have cracked the motherboard or other circuit board inside the laptop.

Also the wires for the screen usually come out the lower part of the laptop (under the keyboard) and up the "back" of the laptop to the screen. If this has become dislodged or broken it will stop the screen working.

My guess is something inside the laptop case (motherboard or other citcuit board) is badly damaged.

You could try plugging in an external monitor and see if that works. That should help narrow down where the problem might be.

[ChuckFickens]

And if you plug a monitor into the VGA? (before switching it on)

[joko]

thanks no-one knows how the crack got there..probably the kids playing

i have dismantled it, to an empty case, and there are no cracks in anything other than the case... ilooked closely and everything looks ok. I checked all the wires etc, and made sure they werent loose when i reassembled

as i say everything comes on and there is clearly something going on 'onscreen'...its just 'under the black' , if you get me...?

i tried my desktop monitor but nothing happened but i think there is something wrong with that, so i will try with another monitor.


so its not the ram then?

[ChuckFickens]

"as i say everything comes on and there is clearly something going on 'onscreen'...its just 'under the black' , if you get me...?"

No not really... but if you mean you can see a picture on the screen, but it's not lit up, then the back light on the screen has a problem. (can you see anything by shining a torch at the screen?)

"so its not the ram then? "

Hard to say, you've yet to give any details about the system, so no idea what 2 beeps would mean as a BIOS error.

[AlBags]

(He forgot to say was dropped from a high building onto a passer by)

SYSTEM DETAILS REQUIRED! (eg. Motherboard make and model .. at least)

[joko]

sorry, will check the torch thing tomorrow.

i mean there is 'action' going on on the screen, i just cant see it.
it makes noises, like they do when they bring up messages on startup, like a program starting etc... and when i pressed loads of keys, it did things, it reacted to it, like opened stuff etc
maybe its the back light then...as its like having a tv on, with a black cloth over it...

its a dell latitude C810, on XP. i dont have it here at the moment to get any other details ...where would i look to get any other info for you? just the label on the base or do i need to open it up?

thanks all ( a few of the keys started to go a few weeks ago, about 5 of them around the P, backspace area,...could this be connected?)