Troubleshooting Laptop LCD Screen

[newber]

Hello all,

I am preparing for the CompTIA A+ exam and this was a question.

A user complains that a laptop's LCD screen stopped working suddenly. The user was typing when the LCD screen went dark. The laptop has a port that supports an external VGA monitor. You want to talk the user through correcting the problem over the phone, if possible. The user is concerned about losing unsaved work on the computer. What is the first thing you should have the user try?

1. Connect a VGA monitor to the external VGA port.
2. Hold the function (Fn) key and toggle the LCD screen key.
3. Shut down the laptop and restart in Safe mode.
4. Press the laptop power button.

Supposedly (according to a random website I stumbled upon) the answer is this.

Hold the function (Fn) key and toggle the LCD screen key.

I am very new to computer hardware. Assuming that answer is correct, why is this the answer and how could I have reasoned it out on my own? What does "toggle" mean?

 

[hang-the-9]

How could you have reasoned it on your own, that comes from PC knowledge and experience. You need to learn about laptops and how the Fn keys work. There are some for turning on and off WiFi, changing brightness, and the one here is for changing video between the laptop display and an external monitor.

Options 3 and 4 are obviously not the ones you want since they have unsaved work.

Doing the Fn key first will test if the user maybe hit that key and changed the display setting. That is the easiest way. Getting a monitor and connecting it to the port would be next but it's a tougher procedure that first assumes that they have a monitor there to try in the first place.

As far as what toggle means, check a dictionary.