laptop serious video problem

[Guest]

I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop M105-S3084 running Windows XP which today
started giving me scary video problems that I do not know how to figure out.

When I boot up the laptop, the screen shows the initial BIOS bootup screen
(with "click F2 to setup .... etc." at the bottom). This stays on for 1
second and the screen goes dark. The disc drive light goes on but nothing
appears on the screen. I have a BIOS password, so when I guess that request
has appeared and enter it and press enter and notice that the bootup into XP
continues (because the drive light goes back on) but this is done blindly
because nothing appears on the screen after the first second I mentioned.

I tried rebooting numerous times with the same result. Clicking on F2, F12,
F8 have no effect. Same behavior. Then suddenly it booted up normally with
everything visible on the screen. I assumed the laptop system was just
confused and now all is well. But when I rebooted it later, same problem
occurred. Again repeated attempts at rebooting all had the same result of
the BIOS screen appearing for 1 second followed by a blank screen. This
time I thought this was it and nothing would work. After about 30-40
attempts at rebooting suddenly it booted normally and this is when I am
writing this.

I have full backups at home but I am now on a trip writing from a hotel and
will not be home till after New Year. So data loss is not a problem but I
do not know what would be causing this weird video problem. Can you help?

After this successful bootup I ran the Toshiba "PC Diagnostic Tool" and
everything passed. I checked XP's Device Manager screen and there are no
yellow warnings anywhere. Don't know where else to look. The video is
integrated to the motherboard on this laptop. Could a failing cmos battery
do this?

Jeff

 

[Paul]

I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop M105-S3084 running Windows XP which today
started giving me scary video problems that I do not know how to figure out.

When I boot up the laptop, the screen shows the initial BIOS bootup screen
(with "click F2 to setup .... etc." at the bottom). This stays on for 1
second and the screen goes dark. The disc drive light goes on but nothing
appears on the screen. I have a BIOS password, so when I guess that request
has appeared and enter it and press enter and notice that the bootup into XP
continues (because the drive light goes back on) but this is done blindly
because nothing appears on the screen after the first second I mentioned.

I tried rebooting numerous times with the same result. Clicking on F2, F12,
F8 have no effect. Same behavior. Then suddenly it booted up normally with
everything visible on the screen. I assumed the laptop system was just
confused and now all is well. But when I rebooted it later, same problem
occurred. Again repeated attempts at rebooting all had the same result of
the BIOS screen appearing for 1 second followed by a blank screen. This
time I thought this was it and nothing would work. After about 30-40
attempts at rebooting suddenly it booted normally and this is when I am
writing this.

I have full backups at home but I am now on a trip writing from a hotel and
will not be home till after New Year. So data loss is not a problem but I
do not know what would be causing this weird video problem. Can you help?

After this successful bootup I ran the Toshiba "PC Diagnostic Tool" and
everything passed. I checked XP's Device Manager screen and there are no
yellow warnings anywhere. Don't know where else to look. The video is
integrated to the motherboard on this laptop. Could a failing cmos battery
do this?

Jeff

There are a few reasons for a screen to "disappear".

1) Backlight problem. Many LCD screens use CCFL lamps. This is a fluorescent
tube running at 700-1000 VAC. An "inverter" circuit, on a rectangular
assembly behind the panel, provides the voltage. The inverter provides
a higher voltage ("ignite") to start up the CCFL tube. That gives light
for the first second or two. The voltage supplied slowly drops ("burn") as
the tube heats up a bit. When there is a disagreement between the inverter
and the CCFL tube, it is most likely to show up at the "burn" point.
That means you get light for two seconds, and then the light goes out.
The inverter can't sustain the "burn" output, and chooses to turn off
in defense. Sometimes the problem is a bad connection, but it could
just as easily be a bad inverter. They're pretty cheaply built (but not
cheap to replace).

2) Screen resolution choice. An LCD screen, while being multisync, may have
limits to which it'll respond. If I set the resolution to 2560x1600, for
example, the chip receiving the high res signal may say "out of range".
That can be a reason for blanking the screen. It could be, that when
the Windows desktop appears, the resolution setting in the hardware,
is returned to a sane setting.

3) Display channel. The GPU is split into a couple display channels.
It could be, that your laptop is confused, and somehow thinks that
another video output (such as the VGA connector on the back), is the
current "primary" screen. Maybe that happens during the BIOS POST
sequence. Later, when Windows is running, it makes the proper decision
that the LCD screen is the "primary". You may have confused the laptop
recently, by plugging a monitor into the VGA port. Or something along
those lines. Think back to what you've plugged in recently, and see
if a second monitor was used recently.

4) Laptops have FN function keys, that can be used for reconfiguring
video. Typical "fun" things to do with the function keys, are
to rotate the screen 90 degrees. Perhaps your model has some
FN function that is buggering up normal displaying.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Guest]

There are a few reasons for a screen to "disappear".

1) Backlight problem. Many LCD screens use CCFL lamps. This is a
fluorescent
tube running at 700-1000 VAC. An "inverter" circuit, on a rectangular
assembly behind the panel, provides the voltage. The inverter provides
a higher voltage ("ignite") to start up the CCFL tube. That gives light
for the first second or two. The voltage supplied slowly drops ("burn")
as
the tube heats up a bit. When there is a disagreement between the
inverter
and the CCFL tube, it is most likely to show up at the "burn" point.
That means you get light for two seconds, and then the light goes out.
The inverter can't sustain the "burn" output, and chooses to turn off
in defense. Sometimes the problem is a bad connection, but it could
just as easily be a bad inverter. They're pretty cheaply built (but not
cheap to replace).

2) Screen resolution choice. An LCD screen, while being multisync, may
have
limits to which it'll respond. If I set the resolution to 2560x1600,
for
example, the chip receiving the high res signal may say "out of range".
That can be a reason for blanking the screen. It could be, that when
the Windows desktop appears, the resolution setting in the hardware,
is returned to a sane setting.

3) Display channel. The GPU is split into a couple display channels.
It could be, that your laptop is confused, and somehow thinks that
another video output (such as the VGA connector on the back), is the
current "primary" screen. Maybe that happens during the BIOS POST
sequence. Later, when Windows is running, it makes the proper decision
that the LCD screen is the "primary". You may have confused the laptop
recently, by plugging a monitor into the VGA port. Or something along
those lines. Think back to what you've plugged in recently, and see
if a second monitor was used recently.

4) Laptops have FN function keys, that can be used for reconfiguring
video. Typical "fun" things to do with the function keys, are
to rotate the screen 90 degrees. Perhaps your model has some
FN function that is buggering up normal displaying.

HTH,
Paul

Thank you very much Paul. I appreciate the help.

Screen resolution and Fn setup are all correct.

I suspect the problem in my case might be the on/off switch in the lid
hinge. When I get it working, the screen stays on as long as I do not
change the angle of the hinge. In this laptop model the on and off switch
is not visible and is probably within the hinges and I have to discover how
one gets to it. A long time XP user, I hate the idea of getting a new
laptop with Windows 7 and discovering that many of my favorite programs do
not work on 7. Argh!!

Thanks again.

Jeff

 

[Shenan Stanley]

<snipped>

A long time XP user, I hate the idea of getting a new laptop
with Windows 7 and discovering that many of my favorite
programs do not work on 7. Argh!!

Why wouldn't you discover that *before* buying a laptop with Windows 7 by
looking on the web pages/FAQs for the various applications you have
installed?

Why wouldn't you find out if the laptop you might get could come with
Windows XP installed?

Why wouldn't you find out if the new laptop could run Windows XP (has device
drivers supplied by the manufacturer for Windows XP) before you buy it?

 

[Guest]

<snipped>



Why wouldn't you discover that *before* buying a laptop with Windows 7 by
looking on the web pages/FAQs for the various applications you have
installed?

Why wouldn't you find out if the laptop you might get could come with
Windows XP installed?

Why wouldn't you find out if the new laptop could run Windows XP (has
device drivers supplied by the manufacturer for Windows XP) before you buy
it?

Good questions.

Because with my laptop on the blink I would need to buy a laptop in a hurry
and not have time to do a full investigation or look for the ideal laptop on
the web. Few laptops bought in stores come with XP (I think) and it is hard
for me to go for long without a PC......

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Good questions.

Because with my laptop on the blink I would need to buy a laptop in
a hurry and not have time to do a full investigation or look for
the ideal laptop on the web. Few laptops bought in stores come with
XP (I think) and it is hard for me to go for long without a PC......

You've posted three messages here in 20 hours - it would probably take an
hour worth of "Visit software vendors web page, see if Windows 7 is
supported by the version of the software you use" and 30 minutes of research
online to see if some of the laptops you would spend money on would accept
Windows XP (for example - Dell, HP, Lenovo could be checked just by going to
the download pages for the laptop you are looking at to see if they provide
Windows XP drivers.)

Just saying - you have an obvious opening now to do research. You're
posting, you know you may have a problem but things are still working. Not
researching now, not making sure your backups stay current, etc would be an
unwise move.

 

[SC Tom]

Thank you very much Paul. I appreciate the help.

Screen resolution and Fn setup are all correct.

I suspect the problem in my case might be the on/off switch in the lid
hinge. When I get it working, the screen stays on as long as I do not
change the angle of the hinge. In this laptop model the on and off switch
is not visible and is probably within the hinges and I have to discover
how one gets to it. A long time XP user, I hate the idea of getting a new
laptop with Windows 7 and discovering that many of my favorite programs do
not work on 7. Argh!!

Thanks again.

Jeff

I don't know how old yours is, or more importantly, how many times that lid
has been opened and closed, but it's possible that the problem is not in the
power switch, but in the cable that goes from the motherboard to the LCD
screen. The wires inside will become work-hardened over time and will crack.
Tracing the one down that's making intermittent contact would be a real
treat, though.

 

[Guest]

I don't know how old yours is, or more importantly, how many times that
lid has been opened and closed, but it's possible that the problem is not
in the power switch, but in the cable that goes from the motherboard to
the LCD screen. The wires inside will become work-hardened over time and
will crack. Tracing the one down that's making intermittent contact would
be a real treat, though.

Thanks.

I think I'm in for a new laptop with all the pleasures and agonies that
implies ......

Jeff

 

[SC Tom]

Thanks.

I think I'm in for a new laptop with all the pleasures and agonies that
implies ......

Jeff

You may be right. Bummer :-(