Maintaining my computer

Having replaced a screen once on a Dell yes it can be done but its a major hassle. It's an even bigger hassle to replace the lamp although that route is a lot cheaper.

The cost difference between a new screen and a refurbished laptop from Dell isn't much. https://www.dellrefurbished.com/laptops?filter_brand=189 and the integrated graphics series 4000 will strangely enough run TANE Middleton for laptops runs at more than 20 frames per second, 27 in parts on an i5 so its just a matter of being very careful with the content. The cosmetic grade A ones are the nicest and the 1600 by 900 screens aren't bad.

Cheerio John

It depends on the Dell laptop. It was pretty easy on my old 2510, took about 1 hour. I found a well priced screen on eBay (close to $50). I would recommend trying that before buying a whole new PC.

cheers, ns2616
 
Most definitely ns2616. Replacing the screen on the Dell Inspiron 1545 is also easy. That is my last option before buying a new computer. I had the screen detached and connected it to the television by a VGA cable and everything displayed properly. Hopefully, the new inverter board that I ordered will solve the problem. My screen is a CCFL.
 
The new inverter board that I ordered did not solve the problem. I connected the new video cable and new inverter board to my laptop and powered it on, but the display is still very dark. I can still see the desktop but I need a flashlight to see the screen. I am starting to think that the light in my screen is probably dead. Before purchasing a new screen, I found another method on youtube. Under the 40 pin connection for the video cable, there is a tiny circuit called F1. I read that if it is not bridged, that could be the reason that the video or backlight on the screen may not show. I was going to try and solder the circuit because it is exposed on my motherboard. Right now, the F1 circuit displays the letter P. I think if I solder the top of that circuit, it should hopefully work.
 
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Bad news. I just soldered the f1 circuit on the motherboard of my Inspiron 1545 laptop. There is another circuit to the right of my f1 circuit but the circuits are extremely close together. I applied solder but it was very difficult. Since the circuits are very small, both of the circuits are nearly soldered together now and I am not sure how to remove it. Now, when I connected everything, and plugged my AC adapter to the wall, the power brick would power on but as soon as I connected the adapter to the laptop, the light on my adapter would immediately shut off. Could I have caused a short circuit by those tiny circuits on my motherboard being soldered together. Would it be recommended to purchase a replacemement motherboard for my laptop. To be honest, after seeing that my laptop now won't power on, I am nervous to continue working on the motherboard or components connected to the board, because I don't want to cause serious damage to the computer. In the event that my laptop completely no longer works, is it still possible to get the data from my hard drive? Please help, I hope I can get my Inspiron 1545 up and running again. Hopefully a simple motherboard replacement will solve the issue.
 
Unfortunately motherboards and many others boards are generally not designed to be repaired. Frequently they are multi-layered and initially soldered using flow-soldering techniques which do not lend themselves to hand soldering and even when they do, the solder used to often have different properties and melting points. To remove solder it needs to be sucked away using a solder-sucker, ideally an electric one but even a handheld is better than nothing.

Data can be recovered from most hard drives assuming they are serviceable, un-encrypted and formatted to a common format. Both 1.8" and 2.5" laptop hard-drives can often be installed into a USB adapter case and plugged into another computer but ensure that the relevant interfaces are compatible i.e. SATA/PATA. Peter
 
Thank you for letting me know, I didn't know regular solder wasn't really designed for the laptop motherboard. I might be better off buying a replacement motherboard for the laptop as well as a new screen. If that doesn't work, my last option would be to buy a new or refurbished laptop for my projects and assignments. I was a bit nervous with working on the motherboard yesterday because the circuit that I soldered is connected to a video connection or fuse that is rated at 32V. I am also going to look at getting the adapter to connect my SSD to so I can get the data off of that drive.
 
Good evening everyone. I ran into a problem with my PC and can't seem to figure out how to pinpoint this problem with my computer. Last week, I remember putting an old USB flash drive in one of the USB ports on the motherboard. The flash drive has not been used in about two years and once I put the flash drive in one of the ports on the motherboard, my PC Monday evening. On Monday, just after getting to my desktop and working with Microsoft Edge, my system had locked up and was not responsive. After not responding, my monitor turned off and said no signal, even though my case fans were still on, so I had to power off the PC and restart. After a restarting my PC a few times by holding down the power button, within 5 minutes of use, my PC would not respond and then restart at random. Yesterday, within 5 minutes of using Chrome, my speakers made the bzzzz sound and then restarted. I am really hoping that the USB flash drive that I used a week ago, didn't damage one of the USB ports on the motherboard. Would this be a possible cause to my Windows 10 PC randomly restarting and not responding/locking up? I checked the event viewer and for each restart that occured, I received a critical error with kernel power (41). I also have an error with driverframeworks-usermode (10110 & 10116). Please help. I am hoping that my motherboard is okay and my components are okay. Would it be best to begin looking for new PC components or to perform a motherboard upgrade? When I used that same flash drive in my Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop, there were no problems. I cannot seem to figure out exactly why my Desktop gaming PC is randomly restarting and having these critical power errors. For now, I am going to use a different PC to work on and hopefully troubleshoot my main PC soon. I won't be able to use Train Simulator or games for a while until my PC is fixed. I did a bit more research as well and as I was reading, I read that the latest build of Windows 10, version 1709 is known to cause many systems to lockup and restart. I am also debating if it would be worth it to revert back to Windows 7.
 
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Being as the USB flash drive worked in your laptop there is a good probability its serviceable but even if it had shorted the USB power line the circuits are electronically fused and while you might loose your USB ports it would be unusual to loose the motherboard. I would download a live ISO copy of Linux such as Mint or Ubuntu and use Universal USB Installer again downloaded from the web to install it to a 4GB of larger USB flash drive using your laptop. The Linux ISO could also be written to and run from a DVD

Boot you computer using the Linux USB drive but don't install it, it runs well from the USB drive although you might first have to go into the BIOS to set the boot priority. If it works it proves your hardware and Windows is the issue, if it doesn't then there is a good chance you are chasing a hardware issue and should that be the case, first re-mate every connector and re-seat every board. Still no go? before you spend money try elimination. Disconnecting the hard-drive the computer should boot but not find an OS, again try using the Linux USB drive. If you have on-board graphics, remove any dedicated graphics card and try using on-board and so forth, lots of small steps but don't go buying components until you are sure you need them. Peter

https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php

https://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/
 
I read that the latest build of Windows 10, version 1709 is known to cause many systems to lockup and restart. I am also debating if it would be worth it to revert back to Windows 7.

That was fixed about 5 months ago, what build are you on? Currently it's 1709 (OS Build 16299.371) which you should have updated to on Tuesday.

critical error with kernel power (41)
Thats normal if you force shutdown the PC using the power button and won't have any bearing on whatever the problem is.

I also have an error with driverframeworks-usermode (10110 & 10116).
USB related probably corrupt drivers, Try reinstalling the USB drivers, or if Windows update has sneakily updated the USB drivers revert to the previous ones.
 
Thank you for letting me know about the event errors and possible alternatives to try so I can troubleshoot the computer. I will try running a Live ISO of Ubuntu from a USB to see if I still get the locking and restarting from the computer. If that doesn't happen with Linux, then I will go back into Windows 10 and uninstall all of my USB drivers. I just removed all the drivers for my USB ports and hubs and will see if I can reinstall them

I am currently on build 16299.371 of version 1709 for Windows 10. The kernel power(41) error would also show when my computer restarted on it's own without using the power button to shut it down. The restart would happen at random or when least expected. Hopefully, uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers from my motherboard disc will solve cause errors 10110 and 10116 to go away. If they go away, I think the computer will be stable and function properly. For now, I am running with 1 4GB RAM stick to also see if RAM could be a possible issue

-Update: I was able to uninstall all the USB drivers. After restarting my computer, Windows 10 reinstalled the USB 2.0 and 3.0 drivers for my motherboard and USB hub. My computer has been successfully running without problems for 30 minutes now. I am running with only 1 4GB RAM stick for now. Each day, I will add in a RAM stick to test to see if one of the sticks could be causing any issues. Thank you Wilts747 and clam1952 for helping me with this. I will continue to monitor the PC over the weekend and let you know how it is running
 
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Thank you Wilts747, after two weeks of testing and using the computer from basic web browsing, music and Train Simulators, I am proud to say that my computer is back in action. Running the PC with 16GB or RAM again. It has been running great without any problems. Deleting the corrupted drivers and reinstalling the drivers definitely fixed everything :)
 
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