I dropped my netbook and now have a blotchy screen - is there anything I can do?

[LadyOfWaffle]

It has smash lines across the screen (like it's glass, but it's not) and big black blothes - is it fixable or have I wrecked it? Thanks .

[coffeekidsncats]

Unfortunately, it's wrecked!

I did something similar a couple of months ago with my mac laptop (the cat jumped off the windowsill behind me, which made me jump and throw my coffee mug onto the screen). Lots of smash lines, blotches and fuzziness.

Firstly, is it still under warranty? This may cover accidental damage.

If not, assuming you've got contents insurance, call your insurance company. It should come under accidental damage and so be covered (this is how I got mine paid for - in fact it was cheaper to be given a new laptop!!).

Finally, if you don't have warranty or insurance cover, it should be possible to get the screen replaced, but you will need to find out if that's economically viable.

Contact the company you purchased it from to discuss. You'll need to get a quote from them anyway to pass onto the insurance company if they agree to consider covering off the cost of repair / replacement.

Lastly, make sure you back up everything on it before letting it out of your hands. I didn't and lost about 3 months work.

[Babybots]

Hi,

Have a look on ebay and see if you can find a replacement screen, they are very easy to replace in most cases. Normally just one ribbon cable, all you have to do is pop the edging off from around the screen to get to it.

[LadyOfWaffle]

Thanks I think it may be just out of warrenty, will look into replacing screen... some blotches have gone but the big ones are still there! I don't want to claim on the insurance I don't think... if I can help it anyway. Thanks

[NetworkGuy]

Another option for the meantime (and possibly available free if you join your local Freecycle group) might be to plug in a separate monitor (maybe family or friends have one spare) as many laptops have a VGA (3x 5pins) socket on the back (eg to allow someone to use a projector display at a conference) and with most you can just 'toggle' from the laptop screen to the secondary screen.

At least that way you'd have something to be working with while you check out your options for getting a replacement screen. If you happen to prefer full-size keyboards and mice, then you could hide the laptop away behind the monitor and use the keyboard and mouse while only going back to the laptop to turn it on / off (or just turn off the monitor and be 'ready to go' - depends on how much you use your laptop - mine only gets about 6 hours without me hammering it each day!