Monitor Down

Hello. I use an Acer laptop, and I've been leaving it on quite a lot lately to download stuff. I left it on for about 18 hours, which I do on occasion, and it seemed fine till I powered it down. But now, I tried to switch it on, and the monitor has gone dark. I can see very, very, very faint traces of what's supposed to be onscreen, but it's pretty much mostly a sea of black. Does anyone know what the problem might be? Burned fuse, or something? And how can that problem be solved? Is it just a matter of replacing a bulb or wire? Or it is a big, costly process? Thanks so much for all your help!

 

If you are able to boot ( and it seems so since you're able to see "something" on the LCD ) then either the LCD took a dive or the video is at fault.
Usualy it's the LCD that goes down in "flames" and since it's a laptop and not a desktop about the only thing that will help is to replace the LCD. Depending of the model and the shop ( if you decide to take it to a shop ) expect to pay somewere in between $150 -$400
If you were moving the LCD a lot ( as in open-close, open-close) it might have been the "ribbon" that connects the LCD to the laptop , but this is not the case. AFAIK there isn't any "fuse" that can be replaced and bring back the LCD.
I know it's too late now but next time "blank_out" the LCD after , let's say 10 min (using the build in screen saver)

 

Whew. That got me really worried, but luckily it wasn't the LCD itself but simply the inverter that went down in flames. Will use a screensaver from now on, though. Always switched that off before. Is it recommended to use the Power setting that switches the monitor off completely if you'll leave the laptop on, say, overnight? How do you switch it back on when you switch it off that way, would you know? Thanks!

 

The simple solutions are often the best.

Every laptop I have ever owned has had a switch that automatically powered down the screen when the lid was closed.

So just close the lid?

 

My laptop, unfortunately, is different in that respect. It goes on standby when the lid is closed.

 

If laptop is left on over the night.. sure... use the power saving and set it to "turn monitor off" after , let's say 20 min.. That way the laptop will still be on , but you protect the LCD. To bring it right back to life , use move the finger on the touchpad and will bring it right up (or can press the spacebar )

 

That behaviour should be user defined, under power settings in Control Panel. You can select just what it does when the lid is closed in most cases.