Is my laptop monitor dying?

[Jack Sprat]

For no reason that I can fathom, my screen will suddenly turn black and touching any or all keys doesn't bring it back. All I can do is power it up again and hope it lasts until I can take care of business. It may stay lit for hours and it may blacken soon after startup. There is no predictable time for it to turn dark and unfunctional.

It's all very strange and a problem I have never encountered with another PC. Is this how a PC acts when the visual monitor is in its' death throes? Any help would be appreciated.

[Duer 157099]

1. It might be

If you Google it, you'll find some troubleshooting tips to determine (when it's black) whether it's a burned out bulb or the power inverter. Those are the two main reasons an LCD goes out (which may be what is happening).

It could also be a short somewhere that gets triggered by who knows what (motion, humidity, etc)

Edit: oh wait, you were asking about power schemes last night. Did you make sure that hibernate is turned off, to eliminate that as a problem?

But to answer directly: yes, I've had several LCDs die on me, and they start by having sporadic behavior.

[Jack Sprat]

2. Yes and yes, Duer

I did talk to you last night and did turn the hibernate off, but it still quit on me again today after some 7 hours of steady performance. Thanks for your responses and I will search for a trouble shooter on Google.

[Jack Sprat]

3. Here is what I plan doing tonight.

I have all power setting set to: Never
Hibernate: never
Standby : never
Disk: never
Monitor: never

With all those turned off, I'm just going to close the lid when I leave the room instead of shutting down at the end of the day. This might prevent the monitor from overheating if that causes some problem for it. Also, I won't need to boot it up every morning.

If you can think of anything else, let me know. I'm open for suggestions. I hate to replace it because it performs fine with exception of this obvious flaw. But, if I can't find the cause I guess I may have to buy a new one.

[Duer 157099]

4. Here's one of my favorites:

http://www.fonerbooks.com/video.htm



Look at this page and read the paragraph at the very bottom:

http://www.fonerbooks.com/test.htm

and then there is this:

http://www.fonerbooks.com/laptop14.htm

http://www.fonerbooks.com/laptop_6.htm

and so much more on that site

[CK_John]

5. Heat buildup is the enemy of laptops. A pair of chop sticks or a laptop cooler

would help keep the laptop cool. This model is powered by the USB port and only works when laptop in use some; other models use wall plug power.

Laptop Cooler link:

<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000A0GWN4/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000FHZ3I2&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1R979C569GNJ6ZTWDESE>

[Jack Sprat]

6. Here's an update.

I have given it some time to see if the results were real.

I elevated my laptop on a wire dish drain and placed a small fan in the room blowing in the general direction. Would you believe that I have had no problems with the screen darkening or going black since I tried this?

I'm compelled to believe this very well may have been a heat problem all along.