LCD TV now shows "No Signal" when connected to laptop (but was working for years).

[pjfarr]

My father-in-law gave us his old VAIO laptop because the screen was garbled and he didn't want to pay to fix it. We hooked it up to our LCD TV (via VGA — I think...that's the cable with the blue connectors, right?) and the picture was perfect (not garbled like on the laptop's screen). So we've been using it for Netflix, YouTube and other online entertainment for a few years now without a hitch. The laptop sits, closed, on a shelf under the TV and hasn't been moved or disconnected in a few years.

Now all-of-a-sudden the TV shows "No Signal" when the laptop's powered up. Since the onboard screen is garbled, I can't do any troubleshooting or try to download new drivers because I can't make out anything on the screen.

Anybody have any advice on how to get it working again?

 

[popatim]

Reboot the laptop and see if you can enter the bios. The vga should work at the bios level.
If not let it reboot into windows and see if you can hear the windows startup sounds. If not then you have other issues than just the screen which is what I suspect. If you do hear the windows sound there is usually a key combo to toggle the display. normally its internal, internal + external, external only, then back to internal only. The key combo varies witht he exact model of the laptop but it usually involve the special function key down next to the spacebar (Fn) and one of the regular function keys which should have blue icons on it to represent what they do, look for the one with a pic of a screen/dispaly on it.

this is the only example I could find in my short search for look for something similar:

 

[pjfarr]

Thanks for your response.

I could boot into the BIOS, but the screen was garbled there too and I couldn't tell what was what and so just booted into Windows (Vista, BTW). The Windows "Welcome Music" played through the TV's speakers.

The key combo on the VAIO is Fn+F8 to go into external display mode. I've pressed it many times and nothing. When the laptop lid is open, the laptop's screen comes on (garbled) and then goes off as the lid is closed, like it's supposed to.

I'm stumped. It's just one of those things that worked for years and then one day poof.

 

[popatim]

Can you try another display with the laptop or try another device with the same kind of connection on the tv? Trying this would isolate the problem to the laptop or the tv.

 

[pjfarr]

I just noticed something I didn't before. When the laptop lid is up, the laptop screen is on and garbled. When I press the "Sleep" button the laptop screen suddenly clears up and shows a perfect picture in the 2 seconds before it goes off into sleep mode.

 

[pjfarr]

Can you try another display with the laptop or try another device with the same kind of connection on the tv? Trying this would isolate the problem to the laptop or the tv.

I just tried my work laptop (using the same VGA cable) and the picture came up automatically on the TV. So it's definitely the VAIO.