I love my laptop and take it everywhere with me. Just the convenience of being able to put it into my bag, go somewhere and whip it out and continue working on something is amazing.
Going back 20 years ago people use to look at me like i was an idiot taking my laptop with me everywhere, like to University, coffee shops and when with people.
Today it’s incredibly normal to see people of all ages sitting in a Mac Cafe like I am now belting out some words on a blog, working on a spreadsheet or replying to emails.
However, the draw back with taking your laptop is not longer where you can work from – there is public and phone coverage internet everywhere, but rather where you can sit where you don’t get a lot of glare to effect the screen, ware and tare on the screen or other factors which can influence how clear the screen is.
The post will discuss what can contribute to a dull screen or no screen at all on a laptop and notebook computer.
Glare From a Light Source
Like mentioned earlier, we can choose where and when to work, but not always where we can sit.
Being close to a window, light source or in the presence of ambient light can greatly effected your ability to view your laptop screen.
I find the matted screens, rather than the nice glossy crystal clear screens seem to give a better viewing experience when in the presence of an abundance of light.
There are a lot of different glare screen protectors for sale out there and a lot of them work OK. But as soon as you move away from the sun or light source also inhibit your ability to see the screen properly or clearly.
Faulty Motherboard or Graphics Card
With laptops and notebooks being so small and integrated, most of the time your graphics card will be built into the actual motherboard itself rather than its own individual add-on component.
Either way, like everything electrical they either fail or ware out.
You might think this is not the problem, because you can still see some of the screen. But that is probably not the case, when a graphics card or any hardware component fails, it can sometimes still work to some extent, until it can not.
The motherboard is one of the main components in your computer. And careful consideration such as age and condition of the laptop must be taken into consideration when choosing whether or not to replace a main hardware component.
Screen Problems
Laptop screens are very sensitive, it doesn’t take much to damage them or for them to fail.
Many factors such as heat, wear and tare, age where you use your laptop can cause a laptop screen to to stop working or partly work.
It also doesn’t take much to damage a screen. Accidentally closing it to hard, standing on it or punching it will definitely damage it.
And mistakes such as closing the laptop screen when there is something on the keyboard like a pen can damage the screen easily when closed.
You might notice lines on your screen, a slight crack in the corner can make the screen very dull or turn different colours.
Again the age of the computer and availability will determine the cost of a screen replacements. A lot of people choose not to replace as screens are one of the more expensive parts to replace and a lot of people would rather spend the money put towards a new laptop.
Malicious Viruses
It’s hard to believe, why would someone want to make a computer virus which inhibits your ability to see your scree,.
I don’t know, maybe they don’t want you to see what they are doing to your computer, or maybe they just like making trouble.
In constantly seeing new types of viruses every day which do a whole range of things, including making your computer screen go dull.
To rule out the possibility of your computer having a virus which is making your screen dull, you can make an offline virus scan disk. If you able to boot into that from a USB and see your screen like normal it could very well be a computer virus which is making it hard to see your screen.
Allow the scan to finish and see the results to be sure and then make a decision on how you would like to remove it if possible.
Bad Software
If you have just download and installed some new software, it could be the reason your screen is not working correctly.
Depending what the software needs to do to operate, the dependencies it relies on and how it works, it could very well be putting some type of stress on the physical components of your computer such as motherboard and graphics card.
If your screen is usable, backup and uninstall the last few things you installed on your computer leading up to the time of problem.
Corrupt Operating System
Your operating system is the environment you work on. It is the software which helps you talk to your applications and hardware components such as your graphics card, memory, Central Processing Unit and motherboard.
For your operating system to work effectively it needs to keep making changes, reading and writing.
Sometimes these changes corrupt the operating system. Updates and upgrade changes can also effect he operating system and of it is not running correctly can make your screen run dull or not at all.
Failed Hardware Drivers
Drivers are programs and computer code which allows your operating system to talk to the hardware effectively.
For instance, if you play computer games you might buy an expensive high performance graphics card. Once slot it into your computer, you will need to download and install the latest drivers for that card to make it run the way it was designed.
Sometimes these hardware drivers fail, become corrupt or simply didn’t install properly.
If your computer is in any state to operate and see, you can go to the manufacturer of your devices website and download the latest driver and install it on your computer.
Not only might this repair the dull screen it might also make your component perform better and your machine might run better also.
