bugger me laptops knackered i think

[applepie]

turns on works fine, but the screen goes blank sometimes. if i plug an external monitor in its fine. just the LCD.

occasionally the whole laptop works fine after a few restarts, or it just works for around 2-5mins before the screen goes black.

had a look at sony's repair jobbie and quite frankly at the prices they are quoting, i might as well buy a new laptop. which is ridiculous IMO.

so

a) how do I narrow down what the problem is? so I know I am not going to get ripped off. e.g if the technicians says he has to replace XYZ, I can say err no you dont have to.

b) cheaper reliable repair services?

based on googling the sony laptops do have this problem and no one can give a definite answer. and sometimes sounds like send back to sony to be fixed, pay the price and comes back exactly the same. plus they want credit in advance! i.e pay first, get repaired goods later.

Thanks

[aclivity]

give it a good hard shake and when the screen is all grey, you can use the two knobs to draw another picture.

Oh wait, that's etch-a-sketch.

Have you got one of those local "PC repair" shops that have sprung up all over the place? Why not ask them for a quote for a new LCD? If the quote is reasonable, let them have it, if not, you haven't lost anything in asking.

Is the screen completely blank? If you use a torch, shone directly onto the LCD, can you see the expected content? If you can, it could be the backlight? I;ve heard of a few of these going recently, cheaper screens have the backlight integral so the whole LCD panel has to be replaced, perhaps Sony may have separate back lights?

[Zarn Smith]

I had a similar problem with a Compaq of mine.

The problem was a loose cable between the motherboard and LCD screen.

Taking apart your laptop is not something I would recommend however.