Has Anyone Actually Figured Out the Black Screen Fix?

(It's a long read but its a good one)​

I own a p-6860fx and I've had this very weird and strange problem, yet it is so common in the FX laptops. So imagine this: your playing any "intensive" game (ex UT2004, UT3, Source Engine Games, WOW, Crysis, and any game from 2004 and on) and out of nowhere, the screen just goes completely blank and no error message comes up, and it seems that the monitor (whether it be the internal or any external monitor) isnt even recieving the video signal, and guess what, the laptop is still ON . So I have to shut off the laptop manually and power it back on. Now you wonder, is this going to happen again? Yes it will but the bigger question is when? Well my friends it will happen anytime, anywhere, and in any game from 2004 and up. And guess what, it happens of a rate of at least once a day to me. It has happened since day one and is still plaguing me. Just today for example, I was playing Company of Heroes like all day and my laptop (surprisingly) didnt crash. Then I put in Half Life: Source (basically HL1 but with the source engine) and after 10 min, BAM it CRASHED! Kind of amazing, isn't it.
The saddest part of this is that I'm not the only guy going through this problem. You can look at the forums and see some posts with the same issue. And even worse, some of these people have the newer gateway FX notebooks. Oh and worst is that only "some" of us FX owners go through this crap everyday whiles others never had this problem the whole time. And those posts of the ppl having problems, they never have a good solution, which brings us to the final part of this very long read.
So far, there has been no solution. Oh believe me, I've cleaned out the vents, got a new CPU (T9300) and thermal paste (so its definitely not a CPU problem), used post-it stacks to raise the laptop, used a targus cooler which broke, tried every driver I could and nothing, turining off powermizer (which is still off tried rivatuner, nothing, I cant do a gpu undervolt (Only the newer ones you can but even then its dangerous), looked at windows error logs and tried looking at every post on this and nothing.
Your probably now wondering, what could pttyboy possibly know about this problem? Well, for starters, i know it's the gpu. The two main signs are one, the screen just goes blank w/ no error msg and the pc still on, and two, I ran a benchmarking software called FURMARK overnight to find of course, the screen blanked out w/ it still on. Another thing is that gpus can take tremendous temps (like over 100 degrees) while mine only runs at 80 at max, (on furmark), while avg can be anywhere from 65 to 75. So as of now, I dont think it is actually overheating.
Hopefully we can somehow find what went wrong, why it went wrong, and most important of all, how to frickin fix the damn problem cause im sick and tired of this and im definately getting a desktop next time hands down.
So, if you have any question or anything helpful at all, please post on here and lets do this TOGETHER!
(UPDATE): I have tried once again with the rivatuner fix on the other post and may have figured out a way to do it without killing performance. All I did was go to the power settings tab and then go to RivaTuner\Overclocking\Global, pressed the "+" sign and went to "MaxClockLimit", and then entered in the number "110", and now you can go back into the overclock settings and put the numbers to stock speeds (For a 8800m gts the #'s would be (core: 500mhz, shader: 1250mhz, and memory: 800mhz), and then check the "apply overclocking to windows startup button".
Not sure if it will relieve the crashing as of yet so I'm testing it.

 

I have never had this problem. Did you try to Alt-Tab out of the game to see if your desktop restores?

 

Nope you cant the screen literally shows NOTHING, even if you do anything with it such as alt tabbing, ctrl alt del, or anything else. The GPU's connection with the monitor seems to just die

 

I've never had this problem either, try updating your video drivers and chipset drivers.

 

i've actually looked through the threads again and I dont think the P-7805u FX gets affected but I know the p-7811fx does: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=419939

 

You running Windows 7 ?

 

no am im not im running vista 64-bit

 

Have you tried the baking method to resolder your GPU correctly on your motherboard. Its the last port of call, but some people have had success with GPUs that have played up.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=446015

 

Just to make sure its the GPU and not the laptop screen switching off, try connecting to a hdtv if possible and check if the tv screen blanks out as it does with the laptop screen. If it does then its certainly a gpu issue.

 

It's a gpu problem and is most likely hardware related. I had it too since day 1 of owning a p6860. Like you I tried everything to get rid of it, until my gpu "broke". I "fixed" it by taking my laptop apart and putting the motherboard in the oven. Haven't gotten a single black screen in a month since I did it.

Cause for this? Micro fissures in the solders of the video card. After too many heat cycles (heat up/ cool down) solders crack and the flow of current stops, you get a black screen.

Just bear with it for now, do not bake your laptop if it is still on waranty or if the gpu is still functioning. I personally blame Nvidia for this problem and have sworn an oath not to purchase another product from them ever again. All my ati stuff works to this day.

 

i had this exact same problem on my 7805u, except mine was blacking out when i had my overclocks set too high, even though the temperatures were fine (70s for gpu, 50-60 cpu). id be gaming for like 10-20 min, then my screen would go completely black, no light, and my laptop would still run, but maybe after like 20 seconds the screen would turn back on and it would say something about video card driver stopping, and successfully recovering (i solved this by overclocking less). Mine screen also shuts off (without the error) when I'm playing a game, and my fan turns on too late (gpu temps reach 100 C), but then my fans finally kick in and the screen is restored.

 

I think the op's problem is a little different. I think in his case (as in mine) the screen turns black and stays like that until you restart the computer. At stock clocks with temps <80c.

 

It's strange as I've had this happen to me once. It was scary since the screen wouldn't turn back on. crtl + alt + delete didn't help. I restarted my computer and I've never had the problem again. Really hoping I don't again either. Since that problem though I've updated my video drivers...so that might've been the problem.

 

I do get the black screen problem, but only on certain games. It's exactly as you describe, but it does not do it on some very tough games (Enemy Territory Quake Wars will run all day on maxed settings, with the GPU just sitting around 75c) and it does it on some not tough games - Turbine's LOTRO and DDO both do it with the GPU at 66c, and now Modern Warfare 2 does it occasionally, but less if I window it.

Also fyi, the boards of those games have reports from non-gateway owners of exactly the same thing happening, esp. LOTRO - this problem appeared when they put out their Mines of Moria expansion for me and many others. Prior to that we were all able to play the game just fine.

I did find that LOTRO would run fine at very low graphics settings, so I was blaming it on a texture problem as there are known issues with certain items crashing out the game. Also, I am leery of MS's stupid .NET as those games all seem to use it for something, can't figure out what, BUT... sometimes the fix is not to use a Logitech G15 keyboard, as that will cause the black screen, and that's part of what .NET handles.

One thing I've heard and haven't tried yet is to downclock your GPU a bit. Some people report that lowering it 25 or 50mhz fixes the crash. Weird, as it never overtemps, but /shrug, I'll give it a go.

Best of luck whatever you do!

W

 

I have the same issue with LOTRO. Strangely enough, it started with the installation of W7. Never happened to me on Vista....
And it happens completely out of the blue, no peak temps, no crowded arears, but usually after ca 1-2 hours of playing and then it is fine for the day.......

Here might be one solution I will give a try tonight:
< http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5404773&postcount=36

Best of luck