Video Crisis

[mickw]

Recently I installed a new LCD and wireless card in the Acer laptop and as I mentioned before it has been running quite hot and probably in need of a strip down and new cooling fan.
Over the weekend, the images on the screen started getting fragmented followed by vertical lines then the laptop shut down.
I now get no display, even of the bios stuff.
I believe it's the graphics card that has melted but will try putting the old LCD back in.
I can run a dual monitor on the acer which is switched by hotkey but I can't tell when to start clicking - doesn't seem to work though.

Has anybody used a laptop repair service that is not a rip off ?

Having just spent over £100 on it, I don't want to replace more bits and not cure it. 

I've spent a good part of the weekend transferring the data to my other laptop and installing all the astro programs (all still to be tested), so I should at least be back in business.

[Ian]

Have you tried powering it up with the external screen connected? All laptops I've had auto switch to external, particularly if you close the lid straight away.