Ok, so here's what I got goin on. I have a toshiba satellite P105-S9337 laptop. Its about a year and a half old, and recently the screen has been going blank.

It did it at random times with varying levels of frequency (once in 5 days, then 3 times in one day, etc) when I had XP Pro on it, but then I put vista on it (it came with vista so I figured, why not) and every single time after the laptop boots up and I logon, and then I get to the screen to configure wireless settings (ya know, to connect to my wireless network) without fail the screen will go blank. I repeated this 6 times today just to make sure the failpoint was at the exact same spot.

I hooked an external monitor to it, nothing there. I checked to see if I could barely see the screen (like if the backlight burned out) no dice there. I flipped the lid several times and still nothing.

I could put XP back on it, no biggie there, but it does go blank with XP, though with less frequency.

I've googled, and can't find anything else to do (other than set it on fire and watch it burn), so I as tech talk, do you have any suggestions?

11/20/2008 9:14:40 PM

Are you sure it's not the backlight cutting off?

If not, then it sounds like a hw failure in the GPU. I'd try maybe seeing about newer GPU drivers, and any BIOS updates for that model.

11/20/2008 9:18:03 PM

yeah, checked the backlight deal by shining my flashlight on the screen, couldn't see anything.

interesting side note to this, whenever the screen goes blank like that, no keys respond. like the numlock or capslock key light indicators don't turn off and on when pressed. its like the keyboard and touch pad are dead when the screen blanks.

11/20/2008 9:34:23 PM

Try removing the wireless card (just google for how to remove it if it's internal and you can't figure it out) then turning it on and doing things. I know you said enabling the wireless card caused it, so just try something else.

Assuming all is fine, try putting it back in and turning the laptop back on. See if you still have the same problem. It could be failing hardware of some sort with regard to the WNIC or the connection.

Let us know what you find.

11/20/2008 10:29:53 PM

will do. but to clarify, only on vista did it go blank when trying to connect to my wifi.

didn't happen like that in xp.

will report tomorrow my findings on that.

11/20/2008 10:44:14 PM

I furthered my Google-Fu and apparently there's an issue with heat. so I'm gonna try and get that gpu to cool down some if I can.

11/21/2008 6:39:58 AM

alright, progress report:

disassembled the laptop, and gave it a thorough cleaning, it was a lil dusty, but nothing that would seem to be blocking air flow and created unnecessary heat. put it all back together, and it runs fine, and the screen stays on longer, but it still cuts off after random amounts of time - anywhere b/n 30 mins to an hour.

no power management enabled, so that's not doing it.

when the screen is on, I can hook up another monitor and the video shows; however when the screen blanks out, I can't get video to show on the second monitor.

when the screen goes blank, sometimes there's no response from the keyboard, ie the num lock, caps lock and scroll lock lights do not turn off/turn off when pressed. This is the case 85% of the time.

when the screen blanks out, I can see the backlight just a lil bit, and then I can see the backlight turn off.

bottom line? the issue still isn't fixed, and I'd love it if I get this thing running again, it was a pretty good laptop before all this started.

I'm thinking its an inverter issue or a gpu issue. Am I missing something here TWW?

11/24/2008 8:14:12 PM

bump for the day crew advice.

11/25/2008 6:56:25 AM

This is probably a stupid question since you already investigated overheating, but are you sure the fan is working properly. I had similar problems with my hp laptop (thats now 5 years old and still running strong) and it turned out to be strings of dust wrapped around the axle of the fan that allowed to the fan to spin, but slowed it down enough to cause overheating. A fan speed monitor like PC Probe II could help you check your fan speeds and temperatures right before the monitor goes out (if you already don't have something like that).

[Edited on November 25, 2008 at 10:38 AM. Reason : ]

11/25/2008 10:37:59 AM

I'd go with a cooling issue, it sounds to me like the GPU is cutting itself off to prevent meltdown/failure. Or the GPU is just failing for some other reason...

Do like ^said and check to make sure the heat dissipation systems are working as advertised.

Can also try SpeedFan to check temps/speeds ... also Notebook Hardware Control might be able to step down the frequency of your GPU, this would be useful to test the overheating theory, ie, it won't overheat with less juice pumping through it.

11/25/2008 12:37:10 PM

hmm, thanks for the info. I'm using speedfan, though it doesn't let me control the fan at all (or give me info on the fans - any of them).

when I get back home tomorrow I"ll use the programs mentioned and see if that is the cause. I'll also open it back up and check the fan axle (something I did not check before and should have, d'oh!)

thanks for the help in this ongoing investigation of laptop craziness.

11/25/2008 8:19:51 PM

nothing impeding operation of the fan.

back to square one.

11/28/2008 9:42:57 PM

reconfirmed good fan operation.

also reconfirmed that while having dual display, the external monitor goes out when the laptop monitor goes out.

I'm thinking VIDEO CARD.

11/29/2008 8:02:13 PM

if the graphics adapter is a removable module, you may want to try reseating it if that was not part of your disassembly

how closely correlated was the failure with enabling the wireless in Vista? that kinda makes me think it's a power issue - does the issue occur both on battery power and A/C power? if the wireless card is minipci, have you tried removing it as suggested above?

11/30/2008 3:18:59 AM

it had nothing to do with wireless. I only mentioned the wireless previously because that's how long it took from bootup to starting up basic apps to blackout.

the screen goes black at random times, with and without heavy load on the graphics card. I did reseat the card.

sometimes I"ve gotten as far as reading some webpages, sometimes I've only gotten as far as bootup and then blackout.

11/30/2008 4:00:05 AM

I didn't mean to imply it had anything to do with the wireless, rather that if it was power issue as I suspected then it would be potentially possible to obtain confirmation by removing the wireless card to reduce the load

however, it sounds like you're convinced it's the GPU... so, on the up side, at least that's just replacing the module rather than the system board

11/30/2008 4:17:15 AM

ok, removed wifi card to reduce load, same issue happens.

its gonna be about 300 dollar bucks for the vid card, so if anyone has any other suggestions, I'm all ears.

11/30/2008 8:52:58 PM

buy a new computer. $300 for something that may or may not fix the issue is semi-retarded..esp with what that computer is worth now.

11/30/2008 8:58:38 PM

its still worth about a grand.

11/30/2008 9:24:57 PM

a brand new one is $900

doubt one used for a year and a half that has problems is worth about a grand.

11/30/2008 9:26:31 PM

*facepalm*

lookit, I was quoting a rounded amount based on the various websites I've come across looking for information regarding this issue and information regarding parts for this laptop.

either way, the laptop is still pretty good, the technology within it is still relevant (to me) and it's good enough to do what I want to do with that laptop.

I definitely have gotten my money's worth out of this laptop, its been around the world and had a hard life so far, but spending $1000+ on a new laptop (which I'll have to find xp drivers for, etc) vs spending $300 on the current one, well I'd be more ok with spending the 300, because and if I get another year out of it, then I got my money's worth.

I"m not in the market for a new laptop, nor do I want one; just want to stop one of my current ones from fuckin up.

11/30/2008 9:33:48 PM