Take the 2-minute tour ×

When I try to start up my Dell Vostro 1088 it just shows a blank screen. The hard drive and the CD drive works. I can hear some sound. But I cannot even see the Dell startup splash screen. How can I fix this?


I don't know what happened but when I started it today it worked.

share|improve this question
Sounds like something is loosely connected - temperature changes will encourage em to wriggle back & forth over time. –  Kara Marfia Oct 19 '10 at 15:09

2 Answers 2

up vote 1 down vote accepted

Do you have an external monitor you can plug into? that would point to a display/video issue

Does it beep? If so, what's the beep pattern?

Are any lights coming on?

Was it doing anything unusual before this started?

share|improve this answer
Yes, I tried plugging into an external monitor. No beeps. Just the Power and Bluetooth lights are on. Hard disk light lights up for a few seconds after boot but then goes off. It wasn't doing anything unusual before this. I had installed Ubuntu 10.10 on it a week ago and it worked fine. –  User Oct 16 '10 at 20:50
It sounds like parts are gettin power, but the BIOS is never firing. My guess would be that either the motherboard has come loose or is failing. Pop open the case and reseat the connections? –  Kara Marfia Oct 19 '10 at 15:08

Hello I had this problem already multiple times with my 2x Vostro1000.

Just open the panel which contains the powerbutton (and some light indicators).

Under that you will find the backlight inverter to your display. press the 2cm long connector back into its connector-slot (around the location just above the 'printscreen button'.

It seems that the design of the connector coming from the backlight inverter is poorely made. I always push the connector back down and it's OK. It's like a 2 min job.

I learned this from another guy who had the same issue with Vostro1000.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer


