My son's Gateway laptop screen stopped working. The display works when hooked up to an external monitor. After several days of using it this way, the screen started working again. Since then the screen works every once in a while.

I have never has a laptop apart, aside from replacing the hard drive in this same computer. If this is some type of loose connection or cable problem, is it something that is fixable?

I found a thread on this site that is several years old and it talks bout replacing the inverter.

When the display disappears from the screen you should still be able to see what is on it if either the back-light or inverter has failed by closely examining it at an angle, where a ghost of the output should be discernible.

Otherwise if may well be a cable that is loose or cracked. Screens and the upper bevel on the case are not the hardest items to disassemble if you know where all the screws are and can use a flat bladed screwdriver to gently prise apart the plastic appropriately. The screws on the display are usually behind little rubber "caps" and you will usually need to take off the bevel that covers the hinges before you can access the main screws. You may well have to almost completely disassemble the screen to reach the ribbon cable's attachment point.

With some googling it might be possible to get hold of a service manual; what is the model?

The model is Gateway W6501.

I do not see any kind of image when viewing it at an angle. On the days it does work, it is clear as can be - you would never know there was anything wrong with it.

A bad cable/connection seems probable.

I finally got a chance to look at the computer the other day. After finally figuring out how to get it apart, I didn't find any loose connection. I didn't actually take the whole screen out. After seeing how well the cable and connector are taped down, I didn't see how they could possibly come apart.

Would there always be a "ghost" image if the inverter is bad? This seems like the easiest and cheapest thing to try first.

I also read somewhere about the switch that tells if the laptop is closed being bad. I couldn't find anything like that. Would that have something to do with the inverter also?

I tried the inverter because it was cheap and easy. No luck.

It has to be the cable if no sreen can be seen at all. Even the cover switch will let you see a fade image. Try opening and closing cover very fast not necesserly all the way and the cable might act up. Flat ribbon cable are the worste because of the color. Good luck.

Some days the screen works fine. My son said it was working for a while the day before yesterday. He said sometimes when he turns it on it will go through the loading Windows screens and then the monitor turns off.

I tried looking at the cable, but it was taped down so well that I couldn't see how anything could have happened to it. I didn't want to disturb it if I didn't have to. Of course, I have no idea what he might have done to it. I know one time he said he dropped a liter-size bottle of water on it. I think he said it was open, though, and that has been a long time ago.

I will try opening and closing - and try to get some more information from my son.

Intermittent problems are always the worst to troubleshoot but if no ghost image - even of the BIOS screens - makes it look like a bad connection (but who knows where) rather than a failed back-light or inverter.

A complete screen replacement might be the way to go and not that much more expensive than other options if labour is included in the estimate.

I haven't worked on the screen lately because I am having other problems with this laptop.

It keeps shutting down with an "atikdmag.sys" error. It can be restarted in safe mode, or normally if I run check disk first. I downloaded a temperature monitoring program and it gets up to 85 degrees C at times.

Does this problem need to be posted in a different thread?

Well...that error seems to be video driver related

You can try updating the video drivers, that should help with the error, but I think that is only one more symptom of a bigger problem.

The temperature spiking to 85 C is not a good sign...

My first guess would be a bad fan. Second would be a bad video component. The fans are a relatively easy fix...just disable the laptop completely and replace. The video...some laptops do have a card, most do not, the components for the video card are soldered directly to the motherboard.

I've tried updating the driver and it says it has the latest available. Is there any possibility that this is related to the first problem of the screen not working?

We put in a new hard drive and bought Win 7 for it within the last year.I am debating whether to put any more money into this laptop or just try to talk my son into getting a new one.

Ashampoo Burning Studio Free.

Where did you look for the driver?

Windows Update?

Gateway (although if it isn't the original OS, then they probably won't have the correct drivers anyway)?

Or Ati?

Windows and the 'name badge' company are usually several versions behind...so it's best to check with the video chipset maker for drivers.

And yeah, they are all probably related.

I Googled ATI and got something called AMD Catalyst downloaded. After going in circles for a while, it finally told me I had the most up to date driver installed.