Something to try if your laptop screen regularly goes black and won't turn on

I have been suffering with this problem on my Toshiba Tablet m200 for quite some time, and finally took the initiative to research the issue. At first I thought I was the only one dealing with this so I figured it was hardware specific, but when I asked around I found others with the same problem.

I didn't have an exact repro, but periodically when I closed the lid on my machine and left it alone for a few minutes and plugged in or took out the AC power, the screen would go black and there was no way to bring it back without hard booting the machine. I could tell that the machine was operating fine (the HD was spinning, the lights were on, you could hear the new mail notification in Outlook, etc) but the screen would not come back.

My machine was not set to go into standby when the lid was closed, but it was set to go into standby after 10 minutes. But often I was able to reproduce this in just a minute or two - I'd be using my laptop in a meeting, close the lid and walk back to my office, and couldn't get it back. Of course, this user scenario was also when I'd be changing to or from AC power.

I was pointed at the registry key mentioned in this KB, and after some testing this morning, it appears to have fixed the problem. I am told it is also fixed in XP SP2, although I haven't upgraded yet to verify that.

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Thank you thank you thank you!!  I have been struggling with this one for a loooong time. I have been suffering with this problem on my Toshiba Tablet m200 for quite some time, and finally took the initiative to research...
• Anonymous
  August 02, 2004
  Weird !
  
  With the first BIOS releases of my laptop (DELL Inspiron 8600) I had a similar problem, but normally got a BSOD related to Hardware failure... Once I applied the latest versions it never happened again. All this was with XP SP1 already applied.
  
  PS. I never found that article before ! Thanks.
  
  Saludos.
  
  Benji.
• Anonymous
  August 03, 2004
  I too have the issue with my M200 - the fix works like a charm!
  BTW, pretty slick machine the M200, isn't it? I love it except for the external DVD - a hassle to pack with the power supply.
• Anonymous
  August 08, 2004
  Hmm, I have the same problem with my Dell Latitude 810, which is NOT a table.
  I've recently paved it and put XP SP2 on. I'll shout if it does it again (it seems fine so far, aside from the total slow down if I standy when I dock/undock rather than shutdown).
• Anonymous
  August 25, 2004
  The comment has been removed