Sorry to hear that. It's very common that hard drives in laptops die very easily when dropped or mistreated, so I wouldn't be surprised if your hard drive is the issue. Not sure though.. airport security is definitely not careful with stuff. Try the RAM re-seat when you get off the plane, but I doubt that's the issue.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by iKxGaMeX

SDon't ask me how, but I knew this was going to happen.
Last night around midnight, I remember being worried about taking my laptop onto an airplane because I knew my bags would be subjected to an x-ray scanner. Sure enough, while making my way through airport security in pittsburgh, I was asked to remove my laptop from its case to be placed through the scanner individually, for a second time.
Now I'm not sure whether it was the 2 x-ray scans, or the complete lack of care that the security officer had absolutely no respect for my property and handled my dell as if it was a block of wood, but now whenever I power on my laptop I'm presented with a grey screen. Nothing more, nothin less. All controls to the screen, including the Fn Brightness and the screen's On/Off toggle screen do nothing. Windows SEEMS to boot up normally, as when I wait about a minute and type in my password, the hdd activity light comes to life like it would during the normal boot up process.
Do you guys have any ideas on what could have happened, or any reecommendations on what to do? As soon as I land, I plan on reseating the RAM. I'd do that now, but apparently a philips screw driver is a major accesory to terrorism.

It's possible that in the jumbling the display's connector has become slightly dislodged. You can google the disassembly of your laptop, and you should be able to (fairly simply) see if it has indeed become disconnected. Then just secure it. The display connection is sometimes directly under or around near the hinges, so like on the top area.



On my Acer, that whole panel comes off by taking out screws that are in/near the battery compartment. Then a simple pry on the side will pop it off.

 

I don't think you should do anything with it yet. If you go around messing with it, it just gives the airport, or airline one more reason to say it wasn't their fault. I would contact them first. Then after reporting the damage, see if you can fix it.

 

get them to pay for the damages, thats unacceptable

 

You should have the laptop damage documented by a professional, some one local. Your next action should be to contact the the airport in question and find out who is in charge of security. Other than that There is really nothing you can do to them(the airport). One of my good friends was a secruity screener at KCI airport. You should hear the crap they get away with doing to people, and their things. The worst part is they can and will get away with most of it. They just have to say you where a security risk for some reason or another and you will have no chance to get anything from them. Good luck!

 

The longer you put off contacting the airport, the less likely they are to replace it. Either way I would contact them first, worst they can do is say no. Then from there try fixing it yourself.

 

Another little note. It's times like these it is smart to have some type of remote desktop software (I use TeamViewer) installed on all of your machines. Then, especially an incident where it seems like things are booting fine, but you can't see anything, you're able to log into that PC from another PC, or even your Android smartphone (if you have one. I do.

) I know a few times I had to finish display driver installs via Teamviewer.

 

Take the battery out, and then hold the power button for 15-30 seconds, put the battery back in and try it.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by KhaoticKomputing

You should have the laptop damage documented by a professional, some one local. Your next action should be to contact the the airport in question and find out who is in charge of security. Other than that There is really nothing you can do to them(the airport). One of my good friends was a secruity screener at KCI airport. You should hear the crap they get away with doing to people, and their things. The worst part is they can and will get away with most of it. They just have to say you where a security risk for some reason or another and you will have no chance to get anything from them. Good luck!

'Merica beep yea

 

I suggest you contact the FAA about the TSA. And contact TSA. Next time turn it on before it goes through checks. And turn it on infront of them after checks.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiHydrogenMonOxide

I don't think you should do anything with it yet. If you go around messing with it, it just gives the airport, or airline one more reason to say it wasn't their fault. I would contact them first. Then after reporting the damage, see if you can fix it.

This. Honestly, I would even get a flight steward to be a witness to the laptop acting such. If only you had proof before the incident..

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Guitar

Quote:

Originally Posted by KhaoticKomputing

You should have the laptop damage documented by a professional, some one local. Your next action should be to contact the the airport in question and find out who is in charge of security. Other than that There is really nothing you can do to them(the airport). One of my good friends was a secruity screener at KCI airport. You should hear the crap they get away with doing to people, and their things. The worst part is they can and will get away with most of it. They just have to say you where a security risk for some reason or another and you will have no chance to get anything from them. Good luck!

'Merica beep yea

yep, that is Merica for you. Some days I am happy to be american...other days not so much...

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxxa

Take the battery out, and then hold the power button for 15-30 seconds, put the battery back in and try it.

This. Sorry to hear about your situation.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by iKxGaMeX

Don't ask me how, but I knew this was going to happen.

Last night around midnight, I remember being worried about taking my laptop onto an airplane because I knew my bags would be subjected to an x-ray scanner. Sure enough, while making my way through airport security in pittsburgh, I was asked to remove my laptop from its case to be placed through the scanner individually, for a second time.

Now I'm not sure whether it was the 2 x-ray scans, or the complete lack of care and respect that the security officer had for my property and handled my dell as if it was a block of wood, but now whenever I power on my laptop I'm presented with a grey screen. Nothing more, nothin less. All controls to the screen, including the Fn Brightness and the screen's On/Off toggle screen do nothing. Windows SEEMS to boot up normally, as when I wait about a minute and type in my password, the hdd activity light comes to life like it would during the normal boot up process.

Do you guys have any ideas on what could have happened, or any reecommendations on what to do? As soon as I land, I plan on reseating the RAM. I'd do that now, but apparently a philips screw driver is a major accesory to terrorism.

Very unlikely it's the RAM because Windows seems to boot up (with sounds?). I would check the ribbon from LCD to the mainboard or grapichs card and check the seating/connection if the card is separate module.

 

I've seen this happen before and the cause of it is a residual charge built up in the componenets. Chances are there is nothing wrong with the laptop and if you try my suggestion on page one OP let us know how it works out.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by KhaoticKomputing

yep, that is Merica for you. Some days I am happy to be american...other days not so much...

Same with most countries that are involved with so many different things

 

It was the security guard. The x-ray machines won't destroy your hardware, the magnetic sensor will.