Where oh where did my story go?

January 25, 2006 7:16 AM

I have an old laptop that I took on vacation to do some writing..........

I did alot of writing. When I got home, the screen is dead. I tried plugging in my desktop monitor, still nothing. It is a Toshiba Satellite Pro, model #PA1241U. Thanks Guys and Girls

posted by lee to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Does the hard drive start up? Can you hear it spinning?
posted by youarenothere at 7:36 AM on January 25, 2006

Best answer: Most laptops don't run their video-out port continuously, and have a key-combination to switch video modes between LCD, CRT, and LCD-CRT together.

Turn it on and plug the monitor in again. Look on the top row of function keys on your keyboard for a little symbol that looks like |[ ]| (a probably rounded box with vertical lines on either side). Now look for a function key (Maybe says "Fn"?), probably in the lower left corner. Press and hold Function, then press the symbol key you found before. Wait ten seconds for monitor to come on. If it doesn't, press the button again.
posted by crabintheocean at 7:50 AM on January 25, 2006

Best answer: As a follow-up to crabintheocean, usually it's the F5 key. We've got an old Toshiba laptop here in the office, and that's the key.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 7:58 AM on January 25, 2006

And if that fails, find out how to get the hard drive out, and look into purchasing one of these bad boys.
posted by antifuse at 7:59 AM on January 25, 2006

Response by poster: Hard drive is spining. Thaks guys, I am hooking it up now.
posted by lee at 8:26 AM on January 25, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks guy, you rock. It was F5.
posted by lee at 8:56 AM on January 25, 2006