what to do when video stops working?

[matt.price-H217xnMUJC0sA/PxXw9srA at public.gmane.org]

Quoting William Park <opengeometry-FFYn/CNdgSA at public.gmane.org>:

> On Mon, Mar 08, 2010 at 03:44:29PM -0500, matt.price-H217xnMUJC0sA/PxXw9srA at public.gmane.org wrote:
>> my aging laptop has stopped producing a video signal; even on POST,
>> the screen remains blank, and an external monitor plugged into the VGA
>> port also gives nothing -- though the monitor power light glows green,
>> suggesting the monitor sees that it's connected to something.
>>
>> as far as i can tell this problem started when i had the laptop up &
>> running unattended; the screen was blank, the fan was running like a
>> jet engine, and i ssh'ed in to shutdown remotely.  the shutdown failed
>> but sshd was stopped, and i did a hard reset; now when i turn it on,
>> it seems like GRUB is probably loading, but that boot is maybe
>> interrupted by a filesystem error or something, because the network
>> never comes up.
>>
>> anyway i'm wondering if there's a way to get data out of the machine
>> to help with diagnosing the problem, even in the absence of a video
>> cable.  I've heard you can do this with a "serial console" -- can
>> anyone tell me more?  there's a serial port on the back of the
>> machine, but i've never used it & don't really know how to begin with
>> it.
>>
>> appreciate any help y'all can give!  best,
>> matt
>
> If it doesn't post, then "serial" is of no use.  Remove the harddisk,
> and use SATA-to-USB connector.

you and colin seem to agree on this.  I will definitely try, but i  
have afeeling that it *is* posting -- the disk access light  
illuminates for quite a while before stopping, so i think GRUB  
activates.  but yes, i'll try to get some info from the hdd via a sata  
enclosure -- already have one -- & then maybe open hte thing up & see  
if there are some loose cables or something.  Would just be nice to  
lspci the system somehow, i was hoping the serial console might be a  
method.



>
> --
> William
>
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