ComputerGuy55
Posts: 392 +14
Random weird black screen after logging(FIXED) - Used For Helping
Ok, so I've got this Toshiba Satallite laptop here with Vista Home Premium and its doing something weird, havn't seen it before and I've tried a few different things, tested RAM and Hard Drive, no errors. Tried without battery and with battery, tried safe mode and tried normal.
So heres the problem. I start it up, seems to be working great, but after awhile, and at completely random times, the screen goes black(still on, but no visuals at all) Hard drive light stops completely, no activity.
It happend once before I even got typing my password, other times its when I go to install a program(different ones), Install and update/check for updates, after I've installed updates, just, random. It does not seem to be an over-heating issue as I have used Speed Fan to check the temperature of my processor and it sits at 38 - 45 (highest was 48 while installing a program, no black screen) It doesn't ALWAYS crash when installing but it seems to more often then not.
I fixed one small issue where Windows Installer was set to manually start and I couldn't get a few things to install right so I thought that was my problem, first try right after, program installed, no black screen, but then shortly after it was done, i was surfing the internet and it went black.
I can't seem to pinpoint what is causeing this as it seems to happen at differnet points(before login, installing, after installing, updating, just surfing the internet). I thought it would be a harddrive issue from the harddrive stopping from working but it doesn't seem to have any errors.. I also tried lowering my resolution and it seemed to make it happen a little less often but it still happends, switchd it back to the higher RES, and its fine..
Last thing to add is: RAM and Hard Drive test take awhile to do as some of you may know, during these tests, no black screen, ran fine, it seems to me this may be a Windows problem and some process or something is crashing it. If anyone has had this problem, with any laptop/desktop with any type of OS, and removing as certain application/file helped, please do reply. I will be loading up another laptop hard drive with Windows XP and testing that for a good hour possibly longer, seeing if problem proceeds. Will update later.
UPDATE: Ok so I have XP running, its all smooth, installed SiSoftware Sandra and doing a burn-in stress test of the computer. So far one successful burn-in complete. No black screens.
Update 2: So I started up the drive with Vista on it, had it running for awhile, no black screen. Thought it may be a video driver issue, so I went to run a video stress test through the ATI Catalyst Control Center(CCC) and it wouldn't start up, went to highlight the CCC in the taskbar and it disappeared, so I uninstalled and am installing the drivers back, from the ATI site without the CCC, hoping this works. More updates to come.
Update 3(FIX): I forgot to update my post when I fixed this, I was pretty happy when I did and I was leaving just after so I never got around to it. It seems it was either the driver that was installed or the CCC, I uninstalled CCC and took out the drivers, reinstalled JUST the drivers and it works fine. Hope this helps anyone else that gets this issue.
Ok, so I've got this Toshiba Satallite laptop here with Vista Home Premium and its doing something weird, havn't seen it before and I've tried a few different things, tested RAM and Hard Drive, no errors. Tried without battery and with battery, tried safe mode and tried normal.
So heres the problem. I start it up, seems to be working great, but after awhile, and at completely random times, the screen goes black(still on, but no visuals at all) Hard drive light stops completely, no activity.
It happend once before I even got typing my password, other times its when I go to install a program(different ones), Install and update/check for updates, after I've installed updates, just, random. It does not seem to be an over-heating issue as I have used Speed Fan to check the temperature of my processor and it sits at 38 - 45 (highest was 48 while installing a program, no black screen) It doesn't ALWAYS crash when installing but it seems to more often then not.
I fixed one small issue where Windows Installer was set to manually start and I couldn't get a few things to install right so I thought that was my problem, first try right after, program installed, no black screen, but then shortly after it was done, i was surfing the internet and it went black.
I can't seem to pinpoint what is causeing this as it seems to happen at differnet points(before login, installing, after installing, updating, just surfing the internet). I thought it would be a harddrive issue from the harddrive stopping from working but it doesn't seem to have any errors.. I also tried lowering my resolution and it seemed to make it happen a little less often but it still happends, switchd it back to the higher RES, and its fine..
Last thing to add is: RAM and Hard Drive test take awhile to do as some of you may know, during these tests, no black screen, ran fine, it seems to me this may be a Windows problem and some process or something is crashing it. If anyone has had this problem, with any laptop/desktop with any type of OS, and removing as certain application/file helped, please do reply. I will be loading up another laptop hard drive with Windows XP and testing that for a good hour possibly longer, seeing if problem proceeds. Will update later.
UPDATE: Ok so I have XP running, its all smooth, installed SiSoftware Sandra and doing a burn-in stress test of the computer. So far one successful burn-in complete. No black screens.
Update 2: So I started up the drive with Vista on it, had it running for awhile, no black screen. Thought it may be a video driver issue, so I went to run a video stress test through the ATI Catalyst Control Center(CCC) and it wouldn't start up, went to highlight the CCC in the taskbar and it disappeared, so I uninstalled and am installing the drivers back, from the ATI site without the CCC, hoping this works. More updates to come.
Update 3(FIX): I forgot to update my post when I fixed this, I was pretty happy when I did and I was leaving just after so I never got around to it. It seems it was either the driver that was installed or the CCC, I uninstalled CCC and took out the drivers, reinstalled JUST the drivers and it works fine. Hope this helps anyone else that gets this issue.
