How To Use A Laptop With A Cracked Screen And A Damaged Keyboard
By SweetiePie
Once upon a time my laptop was in pristine condition, but then my sister accidentally dropped it and cracked the LCD screen. There was another occasion when she accidentally spilled a drink on the keyboard, so that part of my laptop no longer works. My laptop has been restored to working order by adding an old monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Some people would just throw away a damaged laptop and buy a new one, but on a strained budget I had to figure out a way so I could still use my computer. I added a monitor I had sitting around in my apartment and bought a wireless keyboard/mouse set. This hub will give you a few ideas on how to revive a damaged laptop. I am not a computer expert, but some of these suggestions might help you restore your laptop. Also, some people like to add an extra monitor to their laptop or desktop computer, which allows them to have two screens up at the same time.
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ViewSonic (VA2431WM) 24" 1080p LCD Monitor
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Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black LATEST REVISION A-03
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ViewSonic VA2431WM LCD Monitor 23.6" 5ms Widescreen NIB
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Lenovo ThinkVision L201P 20.1" LCD Monitor 1600x1200 9220-HB1
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Connect A Desktop Monitor To A Laptop
One day in February I came home from work to a horrible surprise I discovered I my sister had accidentally dropped my laptop and damaged the screen. Since I am addicted to going online to check my email and look at Hubpages, I was devastated to see I would have to be looking at a cracked screen. After a few minutes I was hit with an epiphany and ran into my bedroom to dig my old monitor out of the closet, which I had almost given away to a friend that eventually decided to buy a new computer. Luckily I had kept the monitor and now I just had to connect it to my laptop, so this is what I did. My operating systerm is XP Home Edition, so you may have to follow a different set of instructions to hook a desktop monitor up to your laptop:
1. Click on the start button at the bottom left-hand corner the computer screen.
2. Double click on control panel.
3. Double click on the display icon in the control panel.
4. A window will pop up called display properties, so you want to click on the settings tab.
5. Select either monitor one or two on the display properties window. My new default monitor is number one, but this will vary from computer to computer.
Now the monitor is connected to your laptop and you can enjoy surfing the Internet. Personally I prefer having a VGA monitor connected to my laptop because it is easier to see without the glare of an LCD screen. However, LCD screens are more detail rich and thus preferred by most customers. The upside to buying a VGA monitor is that this are usually more affordable than LCD screens.
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Connect A Keyboard And/Or Mouse To Your Laptop
I decided to connect a wireless mouse and keyboard to my laptop, but you can also use a keyboard and mouse with a USB cord. My wireless keyboard and mouse are powered by a USB receiver that is inserted into the USB drive. The advantage to using a wireless mouse and keyboard means you have less cords to worry about tangling. The downside is you have to buy extra batteries to keep the mouse and keyboard functioning. Hopefully these tips and suggestions will give you some ideas about how to revive a damaged laptop. However, keep in mind my motherboard is still working and only my screen and keyboard are damaged, so I only had to add these items to keep my laptop functional.
Comments
Thanks weblog.
Thanks for these notes on a notebook. Actually I do have one sitting in a garage storage bin somewhere. But I think that ol' boy had a problem with its HD, which is harder to solve, but I bought my new Acer at Wal-Mart fo $700 and it is MUCH better, except for the crappy Vista OS that come with it. Jeeeesh! Will Microsoft ever figure out why anyone who ever used a Mac always prefer to use them over Windows? Vista is the very personification of those reasons... you're working on something then the HD starts slamming away at something to protect you or index you or scan you or update you and nothing works for over an hour! Is there someone out there who ENJOYS this process? I wish you would write a hub about how to setup Vista to prevent this crazy nutzy activity. Not all of us live in our Windoze environments all the time. I spend half the day working at my desk on a wonderful Mac tower with a big screen and a very polite operating system that simply does its job and doesn't go crazy like Vista. The other half I spend sitting in an easy chair using this bossy Vista Acer laptop that sometimes goes nuts on me. Help!
I hear you level1diet, everyone who is familar with Macs always tells me that Windows is not very user friendly operating system. Watching this video on the hub showed me how true that was because is looked much easier to connect a second monitor to a Mac laptop than a Windows operating system. Unfortunately I have only ever worked with Windows XP the last six years, but now you are tempting me to buy a Mac in the future. Thanks for the insights.
Very resourceful, SweetiePie!!
You amaze me. You have a conversation about something one day and you've made it a hub topic the next. I've seen you do that a few times and I think it's fantastic.
Thx for another great hub!
Thanks for the compliment Shirley :). I have two other hubs i have been working on for a week now, so this one just came to me and I typed it up in less than ten minutes. I am glad I was able to save this laptop, although I long to buy a new one someday soon.
You will my dear, with all the Adsense revenue that is coming to you. This topic alone will probably make you a Google search favourite.
Sweetiepie, i alwasy asume people know about these tips but you know what they say about assumptions!!
Gr8 hub!Keep on sharing;)
Shirley,
That is good to hear and I hope it does. I usually do average with Google searches, but hopefully writing about computers will increase my opportunities.
Compu-smart,
Many people on Hubpages probably already know about how to connect a monitor to a laptop, but I am hoping some outside search traffic is looking for this. Thanks for the comments compu-smart :).
sweetie pie. Good visionary. Never say die. I am going to do something similar I am taking my usb keyboard away with me. And will connect that to my laptop, simply because I cannot type on the b...y laptop keyboard it takes me ages to get 2 dozen words on the screen then some are wrong.
Sot thank for the inspiration. See who said you couldnt fix things with a little more thought. Well done. Cheers Eileen
I hope adding a new keyboard works for you Eileen :). I have found this new key board is much more ergonomic than the one built into the laptop.
Very well written and as Shirley said, (along with others) very resourceful. Great hub for those on a tight budget.
Thanks for the comments Sirdent :).
Great info and well laid out for those who are technically challenged. Keep up the good work. I hope the hubs that you are working on take off as well as this one.
Carol :-)
Thanks for the comments cvaughn. My other two hubs deal with more elaborate projects, so those might take awhile. In the meantime I am writing shorter hubs when the mood strikes.
I have an answer from my hubby for the Windows Vista issue.
The following steps are found in classic view:
Go into the control panel; choose windows updates, click on change updates and you can change the time of day that updates install. There are other settings available here as well.
Updates can be a pain sometimes, yet are highly recommended in order to keep your computer running smoothly and pardon-the-pun up to date! Hope this helps.
Lea
SweetiePie: Keep your sister away from your hardware!
Thanks for this tips Lea.
She is no longer using the computer anymore, but how she ended up doing all that to one computer is beyond me. The computer still works fortunately :).
Very good tips, I hope it never happens to me tho...eeek
I'm so glad you found out what to do --- =))
While my laptop's screen isn't cracked, its keyboard has seen better days. Luckily, I had a wireless keyboard and mouse on hand, so all is well. :) Thank you so much for posting such a useful hub!
Very nice hub, SweetiePie! :) Thumbs up from me! :)
I still say your sister's "accident" was possibly on purpose! :) At least it's purposeful... you've now created an excellent hub on it. Maybe her "accident" will now benefit many people!
I agree Nicole. KEEP HER AWAY! :) I'm glad your computer still works SweetiPie!
ProCW (Again, thumbs up from me!)
This made me laugh. We just purchsed a new laptop after putting up with a quirky, semi-broken version for 3 years. Our problems? The screen wigs out into fun purple & green shades, & you literally have to beat it into submission by banging on the sides. Then, about a year ago, the hinges stopped working, so we have to have it propped up by something in order to use it. The last thing? Many of the keys come off on a regular basis, so in the middle of typing, you may end up with a key stuck to one of your fingers. I'm glad we're not the only ones who have made-do with what we've got.
Good one mate. Thanks
Marisue,
It is hard using a cracked laptop, but I am getting by. I am debating whether I should buy a new one right now.
ProCw,
I think it probably was on purpose, but she pretends it was an accident. She has not used the laptop since the drink incident thing a couple of weeks ago, so this is good :).
PaganCrafter,
Using a wireless keyboard or a USB keyboard might work for you, I know it did for me. Thanks for commenting.
Boss Number 1,
I am being really creative right now to save money, so no you were not the only ones. I am glad to hear you got a new laptop.
Jacobworld,
Thanks for the comments :).
Sounds like a lot of hassle to me - laptops are so cheap nowadays, it would be better to buy yourself a new one.
batty, It is not a lot of hassle whatsoever, especially if you have a monitor near by. By the way, I finally did get a new laptop, but for people on a budget even setting aside four or five hundred dollars in this economy is not cheap. Many people have lost their jobs, and they may not have money to run out and buy a laptop, so plugging a monitor in allows them to still use their computer. This worked well for eight months until I bought the new one. By the way, plugging is a monitor is easy as pie!
thanks alot for ur wondefull tips
have a lovely day
My husband brought home a new laptop which his boss bought for him for work, but after a few weeks, I left a pen near the screen, lo and behold, my husband went to close the laptop and heard a crunch. The pen had cracked half of the laptop screen!
Can we connect our desktop to the laptop. Although you you said yes, but what if my desktop pc comes on, but doesnt open up after the windows xp displays.
I hope you can help me with this, as my husbands boss does not know yet!
All you have to do is connect the monitor to your laptop, not the desktop itself. As long as you can still see a little bit on your cracked laptop screen you can do this. I ended up buying a new laptop eventually as this became inconvenient for me.
I have to a brake right down my laptop screen not that bad but can i still use my laptop...untill i get it fixed ?
I think it is easier and cheaper just to buy a new laptop because replacing the screen can cost almost as much.
I had an old Dell with a bad screen. I bought a broken unit on ebay for 20 bucks and swapped the screen. I did this twice before the laptop just got too old and had to be replaced.
The laptop featured in this picture worked with a screen for about two years before I purchase the laptop I am currently using. This is a good way to save money, and to delay throwing yet another obsolete computer into the landfill prematurely.
My laptop monitor just died on me. My VGA monitor was connected before and is still connected but I can't see anything on my primary monitor because it's dead. Any idea on how to make my VGA the primary without using the dead screen, not like I have a choice.... FN + F4 didn't work... :(
My laptop screen was only cracked, so I was able to see things when I made the VGA my primary screen. I eventually just paid to get a new laptop because it became too much of a hassle.
great little site! very informitive and helpfull, kina answerd my question, my problems just with the monitor, i have just bought my wife a shiny new laptop and therefore inherited her old one, great...problem is the screen is almost compleatley goosed with very limited vision down the left hand side. i bought a HD cable and conected it up- with considerable difficulty- to my 32"HDTV looks and performs great!! problem is if i suffer a crash or the wire becomes diconected, apon booting it resumes with the default screen and ive got a very time consuming task on my hands playing about with it untill i manage to get it back on. What i need to know is there any short cut or way of making my TV my default monitor
Shirlzknight,
This hub only describes how to connect an old computer screen to your laptop. You might want to search Google to find out how to connect a TV screen.
Hey and thanks for your advice SweetiePie, its just the same process as for a monitor. Thanks again for your time, kind regards SK
Glad this worked Shirlzknight!
What do you do when your laptop dosent display your screen when you plug it into a monitor or other source?
This only works if your laptop is functioning enough to where you can see the screen on the plugged in monitor.
I have a generation 1 Mac Book Pro with a completely smashed screen.. I was wondering if there is a way to hook my Mac Book Pro to my LED Flat Screen TV. I am unable to see anything on my Lap Top Screen at all.. So going into anything on the screen to open anything is not gonna happen. I was wondering if there is a key I press and hold down or something of that nature.. Any help would be great.. Thanks.!
Hi Sean,
My experience is only with PC based laptops, so I could not really help you will the Apple Mac Book Pro. For this to work you will need to see something on the smashed screen, and if you laptop's screen is that cracked - you might benefit from taking it to your Apple store. I was told that Laptop screens cost about four hundred dollars to replace, which is cheaper than buying a new one.
Hi Sweetipie..
Iam using a dell inspiron model laptop..my keyboard and screen are good...but the screws that connect these both are coming out..im having prob folding my laptop..can you help on this..?? Please..
Cant afford to buy another laptop..
Thanks..
Sorry, it sounds like in this situation you will need to get a new laptop, or have someone fix the old one.
Hey Sweetiepie,
reading your blog was lots of help. And like you my laptop screen was recently cracked (due to my crazy crazy cat). I think I'm under warranty for my laptop but I'm abroad and can't send it in for another month. In the meantime I was looking for solutions. Like the mac guy above, my screen is cracked so much I can't see anything. I typed my password at the login page and heard the sound that means you got in. But now on the mainscreen I don't know where to go next. Is it like you said to the mac guy, you can't do anything about it if you can't see the screen at all? Like him I was going to hook it up to my TV.
Hi Emily,
I found hooking the laptop up to another screen really is only a temporary fix, as well. After awhile I needed to buy a new computer because the broken laptop began to have other issues. Hopefully you laptop is still under warranty, and if not, I have seen some good deals lately.
weblog 3 years ago
Useful hub. I'm going to blog this :)