Laptop Display Problem

[dunneng]

I have a Dell Inspiron 9400 Laptop that was having problems with the display. Would boot up fine until the Windows XP Logo, then would get a blank screen. I replaced the video card, and all was well for several days, until the following:

On startup, got boot display and a blue bar at the top that said Dell. It then went blank but seemed to have some illumination in it. After 30 secs, it lost the illumination and went dark. It appeared that the display did not work when operated by Windows. First time this happened, I was able to resolve it with a reboot. Then the next day couldn't get it to work again.

I'm really stumped as to what to do at this point. Would hate to replace the card again only to have the same thing happen. As always, any advice from the experts in here would be greatly appreciated.

 

[lasher5]

its happened on my pc not laptop, and when i troubleshot it i found out that the problem is in my mobo, so i replace my mobo then its good as new!..

 

[ace777]

Reseat RAM, if you have integrated with a PCI/PCIe card disable integrated, try another port if there is one. Plug in headphones and see if you hear the startup noise.

Could also be a faulty PSU/mobo, see if you have another laying around or pull out some parts to draw less power

 

[dunneng]

Thanks for the responses guys. To update, I ran the Dell hardware diagnostics and got a Graphics Test error (Fail w/ code 1000-0333, Msg: Graphics test timed out waiting for a keyboard response). I then tried hooking up an external monitor to test the video card, and it worked. Then finally, I took the laptop apart, disconnected/reconnected all cables and re-seated the video card, and it was back working again... Until I handed it back off to my coworker - by the time he drove home and took it out of the case to use it the display was gone again. Very frustrating.