Laptop LCD lights up gray but no image

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Dell Inspiron 3583 laptop LCD screen lights up gray with some variable moving gray vertical stripes with no image.  But works fine when connected via HDMI to external monitor.  Help! Thanks!

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Most likely the cable is mis-connected / broken or the screen has gone to god.

To check, try getting into the BIOS setup on power up by pressing the F2 several times as soon as you power on. If the BIOS screen is visible then the issue will probably be with the Windows driver.

cheers, Paul

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Dell laptops usually have a “Fn + F key” combination that cycles the video between “laptop-screen-only”, “external-screen-only”, and “both screens”. Check if this is set to “both.”

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assuming the unit is out of warranty (worth checking) if you’re brave you might get some result by simply removing and reinstalling the cable between the display and the base unit, or alternatively you might want to look into getting a replacement in.

I found a manual at https://dl.dell.com/topicspdf/inspiron-15-3583-laptop_service-manual_en-us.pdf – you might want to use your asset tag to get  manual through dell support to be sure, though…

The cable is secured at the screen end by a sticky tab built into the cable form and the connector is sometimes locked into the board receptacle with a “fold over” bar which (if present) should have a layer of yellow Mylar tape to stop unintended shorts. Sometimes the cable just doesn’t land well and as its stuck down, it takes some time for that to show. Peel very gently and use finger nails to extract the plug- do not pull on the wires!

The cable should have a sticker bearing “Dell P/N:” – if not look around the connector at the main board end.. googling that should get a hit but as to who to buy it from, I found a lot of the Dell recommended suppliers to be unavailable or unresponsive some years back.. so if it does need replacing its buyer beware..

I am assuming you have used the recovery options to force the machine into the BIOS setup pages to clear some sort of display driver issue (as UEFI boot can be over before the screen has initialised..). If not maybe try that first.. just on the off chance..

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Thanks for your suggestions. The external monitor doesn’t display until I’m in Windows so when I try to reboot to get to recovery mode I just have the flashing gray screen on the laptop.

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You cannot get to the BIOS via F2?

Try it by holding down Shift and clicking Restart.
This will give you an option screen where you can select boot to BIOS / UEFI.
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/rescue-drive-transfer/#post-2232628

cheers, Paul

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My bad. Turns out I am able to see the recovery option and BIOS on the external display. Tried reconnecting the LCD with no luck. So does anyone have any suggestions on where to order a reasonably priced LCD screen replacement? Thanks!

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