MSI Laptop Screen Not Functioning

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I've been travelling recently with my laptop (an MSI GE72 Apache Pro-242), and when I got back home to set it up after not using it for a while (Including riding a plane and a car) I found that the monitor was plack, not even the backlight on. I tried plugging in a secondary monitor through HDMI, and it's working fine. I've tried restarting the computer obviously. I haven't tried updating my drivers yet, but I doubt it's a driver issue. My best guess is that the internal video cable got loose during travel, but I thought I'd ask here if there's some likely easy fix I'm missing. Thanks!

 

Oh, also, forgot to note I'm not under warranty, so don't just say to send it to MSI.

[Electronics Wizardy]

probably a bad cable. You can take it apart and try reinerting the cable. You can also you sent it to a laptop repair place.

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33 minutes ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

Try updating your drivers and BIOS, I had similar problems on the same laptop, turns out the BIOS wasn't handling the dual graphics inputs properly after waking up. Or you could turn off sleep and hibernate altogether, but that's not a very elegant solution.

Ah, yep, I think you're right. The power button light keeps switching from orange to blue and back, and that means it is switching from integrated to dedicated and back over and over. I'll re-post after I try updating the drivers and bios. Thanks.

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20 hours ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

Try updating your drivers and BIOS, I had similar problems on the same laptop, turns out the BIOS wasn't handling the dual graphics inputs properly after waking up. Or you could turn off sleep and hibernate altogether, but that's not a very elegant solution.

If you're monitor wasn't working, how were you able to use the BIOS and update it? I've been trying to start up the BIOS, and I think it's been opening, but then it doesn't show on the external monitor I have set up. F2 should work to switch the display to the external monitor, but once I'm actually in the BIOS I don't think this works, and when the screen is not functioning it is very difficult to know when to press f2 then delete. Any suggestions?

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3 hours ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

Shut down your computer completely (hold the power button for 15 seconds), then start it. It should boot with intel graphics, at which point you can enter the BIOS

I tried shutting down the PC completely a few times and doing this, but both monitors still stay black until Windows takes control. I'm pretty sure I've gotten into the BIOS, but it's trying to show on the laptops monitor, which stays black. It may be booting with integrated graphics, but it's still not showing up on either monitor. From my point of view, I turn it off by holding the power button for 15 seconds, then turn it back on, and I spam the delete key. Both screens just stay black. If I don't spam the delete key to open the bios then both screens stay black until the external one turns on with the windows sign in. Any suggestions? I'm thinking I might have to unplug the internal video cable then turn the pc on for the bios to show on the external monitor. Is there some specific requirement like the monitor has to be the same resolution as the internal monitor for the BIOS to show up on it? I might as well try with my 1080p monitor, it's worth a shot.

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2 hours ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

3 hours ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

Try disabling first one display driver and then reenabling it and disabling the other in device manager, see if that helps you boot

Oh, huh. I actually haven't tried this yet because I just noticed something I didn't see before. I was watching a youtube video on my external monitor, and I noticed something seemed to be moving on the laptop screen. I got out a flashlight and it turns out that the main monitor is still on, but the back light is off. I also just realized that my keyboard back light was not working, I hadn't noticed before because I don't usually have it on and I've been focusing on trying to get the monitor to work and wasn't even paying attention to the back light. I guess I'll still try a bios update now that I can actually see the screen if I use my flashlight, but I doubt it will work. 

 

EDIT: I completed the BIOS update. On the bright side if fixed the keyboard back lighting. On the downside the actual screen back lighting is still not working. Thanks for helping me along so far. Hopefully I can resolve this problem without needing to take it in to a shop, but if I need to in the end se la vi. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So any suggestions on what to do next?

[BlackAdder10]

Have you checked if LCD cable is properly connected?

Remove LCD bezel. There is no screws.

 

Pic1

Remove screws marked in red.

 

Pic2

Reconnect LCD cable.

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34 minutes ago, BlackAdder10 said:

Have you checked if LCD cable is properly connected?

Remove LCD bezel. There is no screws.

 

Pic1

Remove screws marked in red.

 

Pic2

Reconnect LCD cable.

Does the bezel just snap off then snap back on? Also, would a loose LCD cable cause just the backlight to not turn on, but the actual display part to still work? Because that's what's happening for me.

[BlackAdder10]

Bezel will just snap off. You have to open it from the inside out.  You can see example here. Starting from 1:55

Some times there is double sided tape at the bezel edge. You can use hair dryer to warm up the bezel.

If LCD cable is loose, you me see picture on screen, but there is no back light.

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On 8/25/2016 at 11:06 AM, BlackAdder10 said:

Bezel will just snap off. You have to open it from the inside out.  You can see example here. Starting from 1:55

Some times there is double sided tape at the bezel edge. You can use hair dryer to warm up the bezel.

If LCD cable is loose, you me see picture on screen, but there is no back light.

Well, thanks! After a bit of jiggling I got it to work. Surprisingly there weren't even any screws to undo. That's probably why it got loose in the first place, it's just held in with double sided tape. Hey, it works. Thanks again.