indicators; check the instruction manual for any special details about your
particular model that might give you a clue about the nature of the problem.
Turning it up .......................................................................................
Make sure that the LCD brightness setting is high. Some laptops have a setting
that turns off the LCD and diverts the image to either a standard graphics
port for use with a computer monitor or to a video output for use with a
television set. On most machines, the setting is transitory— it resets to a
default LCD setting when the power is turned off. On a handful of machines,
though, a slide switch or other physical control that diverts the signal away
from the LCD.
Bringing on the BIOS ..........................................................................
Do you see any information on the screen during the bootup? If you see any
details from the BIOS Setup, press the key that displays the setup screen;
consult the instruction manual to find the key required for your laptop. Some
of common keys includes Esc, F1, F2, or F10.
Read the BIOS screen and look for a setting that identifies the primary display
type. I have seen some of these possible settings over the years on various
machines:
LCD (default)
Computer monitor or CRTVideo or television
Auto select (If any external display is connected at power-on, the display
adapter will use that device; otherwise the LCD is used.)Simultaneous (Both the LCD and CRT screen modes are enabled at
startup.)Have you made any recent changes to the BIOS setup that might have acci-
dentally resulted in a switch to CRT or video output instead of LCD? The
setup can also end up being inadvertently changed by electrostatic shock
or by a virus. (You are running a capable, fully updated antivirus program,
right?)
Chapter 12: Seeing the Light: LCDs and Video 191