Laptop Failure

Currently, my laptop is a complete failure. There's 2 main problems.

1. - Whenever i turn it on, it boots up as normal, but when it comes to displaying my desktop, it doesnt. It shows my desktop background, but no taskbar, icons or anything. I've tried to get on the Task Manager to run explorer.exe, but i just get a black screen when i press ctrl+alt+del.
However, i did a simple test - I switched the laptop off and rebooted it with an external monitor connected, and to my surprise the desktop showed up on the laptop, but the external monitor went black once the desktop showed up. I've checked the display settings on the laptop and they're all as they should be, set to default monitor at the default resolution.

2. Laptop wont run without mains, meaning its basically running like it has no battery. Even though this seemed to have happened instantly, it wasnt a gradual reduction in battery life, it just died out-right.

Anyone got ideas please?

save up monies, buy a new lappy. Problem solved!

Now, if you want logical answer... I can't help you. Shocking, I know.

Is it still covered by warranty?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mirage

Is it still covered by warranty?

---

unfortunately no, its about 3 years old and it only had a 12 month warranty.

Have you tried reinstalling your OS?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mirage

Have you tried reinstalling your OS?

---

not yet. you think it would help?

Worth a try. It probably won't fix the battery issue though.

I had a similar problem on my desktop computer. I would turn it on, it would show my desktop image for a few seconds, then it would automatically log me off. After reinstalling Windows XP, it worked fine again, so I'd definitely try reinstalling your OS.

hmm, thanks for the info. i am running on Vista, but i think the concept should be the same.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shadow Bahamut

Currently, my laptop is a complete failure. There's 2 main problems.

1. - Whenever i turn it on, it boots up as normal, but when it comes to displaying my desktop, it doesnt. It shows my desktop background, but no taskbar, icons or anything. I've tried to get on the Task Manager to run explorer.exe, but i just get a black screen when i press ctrl+alt+del.
However, i did a simple test - I switched the laptop off and rebooted it with an external monitor connected, and to my surprise the desktop showed up on the laptop, but the external monitor went black once the desktop showed up. I've checked the display settings on the laptop and they're all as they should be, set to default monitor at the default resolution.

---

The way it looks, when you have no external monitor plugged, your laptop behaves as if there actually was one, which means, on the "virtual" monitor your icons, taskbar etc show up and all you see on your laptop is the secondary screen. When you plug the external you see everything, and your laptop screen goes black when you ctrl-alt-del because only the screen with the ctrl-alt-del window displays anything in vista afaik. It might just be a matter of pressing the function key + display switch to make it work correctly again.

Quote:

---

2. Laptop wont run without mains, meaning its basically running like it has no battery. Even though this seemed to have happened instantly, it wasnt a gradual reduction in battery life, it just died out-right.

Anyone got ideas please?

---

Imho, either the battery died (there's more in it than just cells) or the connector broke. If it's the former, buy a new one, if it's the latter, contact the manufacturer to get a price quote on the repair.


And to finish, if you are going to reinstall Windows, do yourself a favor and put win7 instead of vista ;)

thanks endless, i'll keep those ideas in mind. in the meantime, i've handed into a pc shop who's gonna have a look (i know them personally, so its a free 'look-over' :P )

if it comes back still faulty, then i'll give these ideas here a try.

and, slightly off topic, what's win7 like anyhow? buggy as hell or has it all been ironed out?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shadow Bahamut

and, slightly off topic, what's win7 like anyhow? buggy as hell or has it all been ironed out?

---

it's like Vista but good.

I have had no problems with Windows 7 yet, though I've only been using it a few days now. Definitely way better than Vista, so I agree with Endless's advice.