How To Use A Laptop With A Cracked Screen And A Damaged Keyboard
85Once 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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dell e176fpc 17 17" lcd flat screen computer monitor
Current Bid: $56.00
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CATEYE V3 Bicycle Computer HeartRate Monitor CC-TR300TW
Current Bid: $134.77
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Dell e177fpv 17 17" lcd flat screen computer monitor
Current Bid: $50.00
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dell e177fpc 17 17" lcd flat screen computer monitor
Current Bid: $50.00
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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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Logitech Internet 250 Desktop Vista Keyboard and Mouse
Price: $11.00
List Price: $33.99 |
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Logitech Internet 350 USB Desktop Keyboard and Mouse
Price: $19.99
List Price: $36.99 |
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HP Wireless Comfort Keyboard and Mouse
Price: Too low to display
List Price: $79.99 |
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HP Wireless Elite Keyboard and Mouse
Price: Too low to display
List Price: $89.99 |
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.
How to use your laptop as a second monitor.
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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!
weblog says:
16 months ago
Useful hub. I'm going to blog this :)