Question Laptop seems to be completely unresponsive, what do I do?

May 9, 2022
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I don't know where to even go with this issue. If this is the wrong place then I'm sorry.

I have this Acer Nitro AN515, and I got a driver update for it last night. That was the latest and final time it was working without any problems. After it restarted to apply the update, it just wouldn't do anything. It can only turn on and back off.

I can't access anything on the computer because nothing is displaying. Not even my phone recognizes it as a device when I connect it via USB cable. I don't know if this is even fixable because I can't find a similar issue anywhere. If anyone has any issue what's going on I'd like to hear it
 
May 9, 2022
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Try to enter the Bios, then disable fast boot so you can have time to enter the "safe mode" or "last known good config".

Normally you can press some buttons like F1, F2, Del.... to enter the Bios, look at your laptop's user manual.
I can't remember where I buried my manual so I looked it up. F2+Del, hold F10 and CTRL+ALT+DEL are mentioned, and none of them worked. My computer still won't send any info to the monitor. I have a bad feeling about whatever's troubling my laptop
 
May 9, 2022
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Is your laptop still under warranty?
No. Definitely not. If this becomes a severe enough issue that I have to take it in to get it fixed, I'm just buying a new computer. It's got a mountain of problems already and that's just going to ramp up the cost of repairing it.
Maybe the CPU/GPU needs a thermal paste replacement and the fans need to be cleaned up.
I'll look into that. I highly doubt that's the issue though, my computer was working just fine before I installed the driver update. If it really is thermal paste / dusty fans, it was just a coincidence that I happened to update my driver just as it failed.
 
No. Definitely not. If this becomes a severe enough issue that I have to take it in to get it fixed, I'm just buying a new computer. It's got a mountain of problems already and that's just going to ramp up the cost of repairing it.

Remove the back plate then the HDD, without the HDD your laptop should display the regular boot screen with option to enter the Bios.

If you still can't see the screen after the HDD is removed, maybe your laptop is somehow dead and needs repair.
 
May 9, 2022
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Remove the back plate then the HDD, without the HDD your laptop should display the regular boot screen with option to enter the Bios.

If you still can't see the screen after the HDD is removed, maybe your laptop is somehow dead and needs repair.
It's definitely toast. There was no hard drive in the laptop, so I took out the memory card. Still displayed nothing on the screen. I don't know if that was the part you wanted me to take out or not, I can hardly tell which part is which.
 
It's definitely toast. There was no hard drive in the laptop, so I took out the memory card. Still displayed nothing on the screen. I don't know if that was the part you wanted me to take out or not, I can hardly tell which part is which.

Check the cable that goes from the screen to the motherboard to see if it's damaged.

BTW do you hear fan noise or beep when you press the power button?
 
May 9, 2022
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Check the cable that goes from the screen to the motherboard to see if it's damaged.

BTW do you hear fan noise or beep when you press the power button?
Oh, I don't know why I've yet to mention it. My laptop has had it's screen out for months. It was cracked by accident and I took it out with the intention of getting a new replacement, and I had it hooked up to an old monitor. It worked fine for that whole timeframe though.

It makes no beeps, but I can hear the cooling fan inside of it turn on. The keyboard also lights up
 
Oh, I don't know why I've yet to mention it. My laptop has had it's screen out for months. It was cracked by accident and I took it out with the intention of getting a new replacement, and I had it hooked up to an old monitor. It worked fine for that whole timeframe though.

It makes no beeps, but I can hear the cooling fan inside of it turn on. The keyboard also lights up

OK so your external screen has been working until you installed the updates, right?

So my guess is that your laptop is still working, but as the HDMI port is controlled by the GPU, the last updates somehow screwed your setting and it's not working properly.

You need to use its built-in screen in order to fix the display issue.
 
May 9, 2022
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OK so your external screen has been working until you installed the updates, right?

So my guess is that your laptop is still working, but as the HDMI port is controlled by the GPU, the last updates somehow screwed your setting and it's not working properly.

You need to use its built-in screen in order to fix the display issue.
Meaning I'll have to replace the screen anyways... I'll see what I can do
 
May 9, 2022
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Some laptops can detect the HDMI automatically, but with some models you have to tell it what video port to use, either from the Bios, by a buttons combination or by the GPU settings.

Did you have to manually select the HDMI before?
Never before have I had to do any of that. To get the monitor working I had to go into the settings on my laptop if I remember correctly. I don't understand why my laptop would discard all of my video settings like that, even after I told it NOT to do so.

I'm going to order a replacement screen, because the nearest store that sells them is too far away and I don't want to make the trip. Hopefully that's the problem, or else I'll be spending $80-100 on nothing
 
Never before have I had to do any of that. To get the monitor working I had to go into the settings on my laptop if I remember correctly. I don't understand why my laptop would discard all of my video settings like that, even after I told it NOT to do so.

I'm going to order a replacement screen, because the nearest store that sells them is too far away and I don't want to make the trip. Hopefully that's the problem, or else I'll be spending $80-100 on nothing

If it was the screen being cracked, a new replacement screen should work, that's why they sell them.
 
May 9, 2022
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Anyway, you may want to make sure that it's the HDMI port that quits working before buying the new screen by confirming that the screen still works with other devices such as TV Box or another computer.

The screen works, it's been tried on other devices. If it didn't, I'm not sure if I would have even come here to begin with.

Is there a keyboard combination for switching display output? Some notebooks have this for mirroring/ extending/ deactivating external secreens. That might be the solution

Whatever that shortcut would be, none of the ones I've tried worked. I've tried Fn + F5 (the F5 key on my Nitro has the picture of two screens on it, I think maybe that was it) and I've tried Win + P, but that one requires visuals to do anything.
 
May 9, 2022
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I got a new replacement screen. I made sure it was the right one and all, and I haven't mounted it yet but so far it's not displaying an image of any sort.

It might be possible that I botched the replacement process in some way, but regardless of what happened I think I'm giving up for good on this one. This thing is being sold for parts or in the garbage