Black screen and unresponsive while still running

Hello everyone,i own a Toshiba Sattelite P200D-107 PSPBLE with the fallowing configuration:

Processor: Turion x2 ,TL-52 64 bit 1.6 Ghz
Display: 17.3 inch
Graphics: Ati radeon x1200
Ram: 2x512 mb ram(1 gb total) which i upgraded to 1x2000 mb and 1x512 mb (for a total of 2.5 gb)
OS: FACTORY CD WINDOWS VISTA HOME PREMIUM 32 BIT
Power: Running on direct power cable without the battery

Although the pc is quite old its basically new it barely has 1 year of normal usage on it.


PROBLEM:

The screen goes black (no flashing cursor) although the screen still has the backlight running,the laptop is still powered but its basicly in a sort of deep hibernation with fan still running.
The laptop screen will go off 5-10 minutes after windows loads, even if in idle,it also shuts down during os installation.
I`ve tried letting music run and the music stops when the screen goes black so does all hdd activity which i think indicates that its not related to the video chip.


TRIED SO FAR:

1.Opened up the laptop and cleaned any dust processor,now processor temp is max 50, same for the hdd
2.Update the bios from the original to 1.70 - didn`t help
3.Conected external monitor it also shuts down same time as laptop screen indicating its not a screen issue
4.Reinstalled OS multiple times
5.Tested the memory with memtest64 - no errors
6.Tested the hdd with hddregenerator - no errors

What i noticed:

If i leave just one 512 mb ram in the laptop then the laptop will not shut down at all even in windows intensive apps,tried running a game to rule out video card and it works no problem for hours but as soon as i add the 2gb stick or the other origianal 512 stick it will get the black screen withing 5-10 min (or earlier) of entering windows.

It will never shut down in dos mode(like in memtest,hddregen)even with 2.5 gb ram.

After the lcd goes black if i shut it down and then try to power it back up it will not work at all,the screen will stay black with fan running and cd-rom booting,i must absolutely disconect the power cord and re-attach it before it will start up again.

I`m experienced with pc`s but have never came across something as weird as this,i just can not explain this problem thats came right out of the blue so any ideas would be greatly apreciated.
Thanks.

 

Good job running through all the basics!

You found that one DIMM is ok? Try cleaning the contacts but install one dimm in either slot, test, then move to next slot. Rinse and repeat with second dimm.

You may be on to something; good with one, bad with two. Bad dimm slot, bad memory controller? At worst; run with the one dimm and swap out with different pair down the road..try same size and specs, you may be tripping up your old memory controller?

Good luck

 

Thanks,well the thing is it will work perfectly with just 1 dim of 512 mb in either of the two slots but as soon as i slap two 512 dims it will not work although both dims work independently in either of the slots,also it doesn`t work with just the 2 gb dim in either of the slots,and the thing is i had the laptop running no problem for about 1 year with the 1x512 and 1x2gb dims with no problems until it just started acting up.

Any ideas what i can clean the pins with never done that before just tried wiping them with my hands and they seem clean no problems there.

Thanks for the help,i`ve never had something as strange as this happening before any other ideas?

 

You might just have multiple issues.
The dim and gpu.
Once you go dark(turn off) and stay dark, usual that's sign of GPU.

 

Well since the sound goes off along with the screen i think its not gpu related,if it ware gpu related the sound would work after the screen went blank.

What puzzles me is how it works with either of the 2x512 dim on their own yet not with both of them i`ve never had anything like this happen before.

 

Careful, the dimms are very static sensitive. 95% alcohol or Freon spray can be used to remove any oils. Touch something grounded but don't do this on a dry cool day to handle the dimms. Ok, to handle the edges. With gold contacts you are probably good.

As to your problem, yeah, you may have a second problem. For now I would just go with the 512 dim.

Your GPU uses shared memory for the graphics? If so then there may be your problem as it's not used for VGA? Did these problems start after a windows update? You may have a problem with your installed version of the chipset drivers. If so then thank nyafACE

 

Yeah its an ati x1200 and it uses share memory (doesn`t have any of its own i think) but there isn`t any options in the bios to allocate the memory so nothing i can do there.

The only thing i found that seems to match my problem is here
specifically this :
"Toshiba has received isolated reports of the following problem, on the models listed above:
The computer 'locks up' (becomes completely unresponsive), and the computer's display goes blank (turns off).
Normal operation is restored if the computer is turned off (by holding down the power switch for several seconds) and then turned back on, but the problem may happen again.

Resolution
Update the computer's BIOS to fix this problem, " sadly updating bios didn`t work for me.

Thanks for your help hydra,anyone have any ideas what else i could try?

 

Anyone has any ideas what could it be?seems toshiba`s forum support is a total joke not sure why they even bother to have one.