I dropped my laptop and now it does nothing!!?

Question

I have a Toshiba laptop... less than a year old and I recently dropped it by accident. Now it does nothing.... no sounds, no picture... just a blank screen. Is it worth it to try to get it fixed or should I just chalk it up as a loss? Any tips for ways I can at least try to see what's wrong with it?

Answer 1

It could be just as simple as a cable coming unplugged or as bad as a piece of hardware being broken. You can normally take it to a computer repair store and they will look at it and tell you what the promblem is either free of charge or fairly cheap. I dropped my laptop about a year ago and the graphics card came loose so nothing would display and I took it to a repair place because I don't like taking laptops apart like I do desktops and they opened it up and pushed the graphics card back in a didn't charge me a thing. Of course if something is broken it could cost quite a bit depending on what exactly is broken. You best bet though is to have a proffesional look at it and tell you what is wrong with it. Also the screen itself could be broken and you might as well just buy a new laptop but that isn't something that would affect the sound. I am assuming that it still turns on just doesn't display anything?

Answer 2

Most of the time when you drop a notebook you can damage the circuit board traces. The cables are too thin and flexible to really be damaged by a drop unless a piece of the silicon circuit board protrudes through a cable. The chips themselves are too thick and sturdy to break.

You could assess the internal damage, but you would have to remove the cover.

Now depending on which end or side you the notebook fell on it could be possible the battery was damaged and is causing a short. Try powering up without the battery.

Really a drop could have damaged anything and there's no way anyone here could tell you exactly what without looking at the notebook.

Most situations such as this require a visual inspection.

Answer 3

sounds like you may have damaged the inverter chip which helps run the screen, if there is still power to the unit then you know that its not your power supply is that is faulty, for an inverter you could be looking between $200 and $300 , if its your motherboard that is now fault that could cost between $700 and $2,000, most people will just purchase a new laptop, as it works out cheaper.
I know this becuase I work for a computer repair company and toshiba laptops are one of the worse (price wise) for part replacements. If its under warranty, you could always try and get the parts replaced, but never mention that you dropped it because then toshiba might not cover it under warranty.

Answer 4

Chances are it's toast. You can always take it to a computer shop and pay for an estimate.

The next time you buy a laptop, look seriously at a accidental damage plan. I've more than gotten my money's worth out of the one I bought.

Answer 5

Well once you drop a laptop, it's pretty much done for. Try to get it fixed or get a new one but i don't reccomend tinkering with it as that could make it worse.

Answer 6

If it is in warranty you can _try_ to get away with saying "it just happened". Oops, did I really just suggest that? Worst case is they will tell you what is wrong ;-)

It is probably the hard disk drive - they don't like impact.

Answer 7

well maybe you can call the laptop company and ask what should you do since you dropped it and they should tell you what you have to do get a new laptop or the information they tell you to do.

Answer 8

1st check the obvious things that might be loose, the take it to a repair shop, they can answer your question about costs.