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    E1505 screen goes blank only on battery power

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by Tim-Rochester, Jan 20, 2009.

  1. Tim-Rochester

    Tim-Rochester Newbie

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    Hi. My E1505 (XP, sp2) just started going blank on me when using battery power. Never cuts out when on AC. I borrowed my buddies battery to see if it was the battery but it happens with using his battery too. What happens is that if I use battery power, after anywhere from 15-60 minutes after starting with a full charge, the screen just goes blank and computer is non responsive. Whatever lights were on when it quit remain on, except hard drive light goes out otherwise power light, caps lock, even audio control lights will remain on if they were when it quit. But it is basically off, no hard drive sounds, screen is totally blank (no faint image) and it will only shut down with a hard power down by holding the power button. Once it goes blank once it will keeping going blank everytime I try a reboot, usually before the boot up process finishes. But putting the AC plug in and rebooting works fine, with battery in place or not. I have not added any new programs before the problem started. Only the standard MS Updates I'm prompted for by the Automatic Updates. I had the LCD screen and MB replaced by Dell about 18 months ago so they are relatively new (Dell replaced both but it only needed a new screen). I've tried updating my Bios and also tried resetting to all default values but didn't prevent the problem. I also tried resetting all my power setting so that it was always on (turned off hibernate, sleep, etc.. in my power options) but still goes blank.

    I can boot it up in safe mode and the screen won't go blank using battery power. So I am guessing it's a compatibility issue with software somehow. Or that there's a power management issue all of a sudden.

    Anyways, I don't know what to try next or what it could possibly be. Video driver? Could a Automatic Update I installed change my settings or cause this? I am at a loss for wher to go next other than back it all up and re-install which I'd love to avoid. So any suggestions or if you have a similar problem let me know, thanks.
     
    Tim-Rochester, Jan 20, 2009
    #1