Apple :: Random Sleep - Screen Went Totally Black, The Fans Stop Working
Jan 14, 2009
it happened two times today, the screen went totally black, the fans stop working and the "sleep lights" turned on and off. Soon after the disc drive made the sound that id usually makes when turning the computer on.
I have a Envy Spectre 14" with Win 8.0. For the last month or so I have sound disappearing (totally) at random times. Rebooting has generally solved the problem...but that can be a pain if I'm in the middle of a lot of projects. It was working this morn....closed the lid...opened it 30 min later and NO sound.
just got off the phone with Apple .... seems like I might have a cursed NVIDIA graphics card... had basically kept my MBP ('07 model) in sleep mode when I went to office. When i came back, the white light in the front wasn't pulsing anymore and it was replaced by a bright constant white light - proceeded to open the lid... and the screen was totally dark ... tried a few key combinations in random to get it up and running but to no avail .. then checked a few forums on this issue... seems like lots of ppl have the issue but a lot of them also managed to get the screen back on by resetting the SMC and PRAM (which I proceeded to try) ... unfortunately hasn't worked for me despite multipe resets of the SMC and PRAM. Gave Apple a call and all things point to the graphics card having conked out ... this sucks big time! ...
The worst thing is that after switching on my machine, I can still load software by doing the keyboard shortcut for spotlight and typing the application ... e.g. itunes is working and I'm still managing to play songs through myh machine.. only issue is that the display is totally dark...
Now.. my big issue before I send it across to the service centre is backing up my "Downloads" folder....
how I can go about doing this through terminal ? I think I just might be able to pull it off with the keyboard if I get sufficient and specific help!!!! basically I'm looking for transfer of all contents from "Downloads" folder to an external hard disk with the name "Active" ...
I'm working with a HP G72-250US Notebook and using Windows 7 64 bit Intel core(TM). M350@2.27ghz2266 mhz 2 cores
Is it the Mother board or the Harddrive? Replaced screen due to vertical and horizontal lines in color. Computer worked normal at times. I thought it was fixed but then while doing a HP diagnostic program the computer said to shut down because the batttery situation might harm the computer . I tested the AC adapter. I installed a new battery and at first it was working again. I updated and scanned with AVG & Malwarebytes. Did another HP diagnostic and at one point was told to restart. It never lived again to this point.
All it does is light up the power light and W/LAN (F 12). Blue lights are on at times indicating Cap locks and number locks are engaged. I did do a complete factory restore before it came to this point and updated the bios (to F 37) and downloaded updates for chipsets and Graphics also.(after screen installed) The only thing it does now is make noises at startup and power indicator is lit now Light keeps cycling.(light off, light on) in ten second intervals.
My XPS 17 screen sometimes goes black like the display is turning off when using USB sticks, SD Memory cards or even an external Mouse. If you move the mouse it will resume but if you pull out the USB drive again it will go black causing you to have to move the mouse again. Even using programs that use the User Account Controls will cause it to go black (unlike how User Account dims the screen) causing you to have to move the mouse to bring the screen back.
The only way to stop it from going black is rebooting, until it decides to do it again. However even if you aren't using a USB anymore after it started going black, it will go black at random even when using the internet causing you to have to reboot. It will only do this if the USB or user Account has triggered it going black first.
Sometimes this doesn't happen for a week or two and sometimes it happens a few times a week. Dell has replaced my motherboard and my Graphics card with brand new ones. It seemed to have fixed it until it did it today (week later)
I don't believe it is software related as I have all the latest bio updates, driver updates and windows updates.
I tried something I've never tried before. While it was going black using USB drives I tried pulling the battery charger cable out from the back. When I did that, it completely stopped going dim without a reboot. I've never tried this before and no matter what I tried before doing this the screen would always go black.
Could it be my Power Cable that charges the laptop? or could it be my display? It seems it's related to the charger because me unplugging it seems to have fixed what ever was messed up until it occurs again at random.
i am aware that there is a lengthy thread on the owners of the m6400 and even a shorter thread on the crashes of the m6400 while gaming, namely wow and others...
i've recently purchased an m6400 and i too have become a victim of this issue.
until recently, i've no quarrels with Dell, i've purchased mostly Dell systems for my business, over 20 or so systems to date... and they have been doing well for my uses.
but the frustration with the m6400 is begining to wear down on me.
i make this thread and hope that someone from Dell becomes more aware of the situation.
it seems that the m6400 with the 3700 graphics card has brought many woes to owners who utilizes any program that uses 3D accelerator... in my brief review of the threads here, it seems that the only resolution is like playing a lottery... get the card replaced... and see if it works, if not, repeat... some works after one, some after numerous replacements.
it also seems that this issue is not related only to games such as WoW or FFIX or Guild wars, there's been issues reported with Google Earth, as reported by fellow NBR members, SolidWorks, and by other dell users who have responded to my post on their "support" or rather, "support-less" forums...
now firstly, i am not bashing on dell... as a matter of fact, i have nothing but praise for their service department on the business machines... they've been quite responsive and the quality of service is excellent... just that the resolution of the problem is very disappointing to say the least.
in my experience, the crashes happen most frequently during WoW and also happened while i was installing a program and even in google earth... but it was very random... i'm sure it's basic tech service procedure to have me check external monitor, fine, then they asked me to reseat the LCD cable.. hmm... i'm being asked to go inside my computer?
i've asked them if it will void warranty if i do this... answer is no... but i still felt that ANY customer should not have to disassemble their machines to make it work...
well, they scheduled a repair, replaced the graphics card and now... it's more frequent.
on a side note, i have to say, dell pretty much sucked on the packaging of the replacement card... the fins were pretty dented on 3 locations... seems that the packaging failed to hold the card in place.
well, as i was saying, it fails more frequently... so far, it failed over 10 times... in frustration, i don't even check the machine... and resorted to using my old one.
now i'm scheduled for yet another replacement... i hope for the best as i am really pleased with all of the other aspects of the machine... except, of course, the power brick... who can have any love for such a big ugly thing?
i am contemplating a requesting a full refund or even asking to replace the quador 3700 to the new ATI card...
but in the end... it's definitely not what i have paid good money for...
the resolution is pathetic... try and let's see? now i have to take off another day off work and schedule an appointment with the tech...
wonder if dell is going to reimburse me for my use of personal day? wonder if i can charge dell my regular hourly wage when i perform these tasks...
anyway, next week, new card... new hopes? well... let's see...
and as for those who ask... why did you get a workstation lappy and complain it does not game well?... it's not really just a gaming issue... any machine purchased by the end consumer should come as a full working order for the ENTIRE package... fine, show me the disclaimer that says, you cannot game on this machine... and i'll stay quiet...
what do you guys think? should i request for refund or request for the ATI card?
Btw my mobo,cpu,memory i believe were all replaced last time i took it in with this issue... Still getting it consistently:
Random Black Screens and Random Sleeping: [URL] ...
Black Screen: [URL] ...
I thought before maybe its Bluetooth related as sometimes when screen would turn black and then come back, I would get a 'Bluetooth Device Not Discoverable'. So turned off Bluetooth in the BIOS, but still having display/sleep issues.
I removed hte Lenovo Power Manager/PM Driver, and turned off sleeping in the Windows power settings (in every setting including if Low Battery Action).
Suddenly one morning when switching on the laptop it just was a black screen nothing else, I have already had the graphics card replaced so checked the ram by trying different combinations etc but still nothing.
I did the FN + Power test and it does its thing but then it beeps loudly 3 times while flashing caps lock, scroll lock & num lock together at the same time,,,,then it does a random tune and flashes more. I have attached a video to show it exactly.
First of all my laptop is : HP Pavilion dv6-6160se Entertainment Notebook
To the problem now : A few days ago my laptops screen started out of a sudden shutting down/turning black( no lights at all ). This was happening while using the laptop at random. The screen had no lights, and if i use a flashlight on it there is nothing. like its turned off completely.
Before this happens. This behavior varies. Sometimes it flickers from my desktop to a black screen then back on and some times not. Most of the times screen changed to a random color (green mostly) then becomes black/shuts down.
NOTE: The laptop keeps running, i can hear the videos playing so it probably isn't a gpu chip or gpu issue , music and games.
Here are everything i tried and all or the details i could accumulate in past couple of days:
1. If the screen flickers , blacks out and then turns back on i get a message that gpu drivers have stopped working and recovered ( on both amd and intel ).
2. If the screen blacks out, on rare ocasions if you close the laptop lid and let the laptop go to sleep , when waking up screen works again ( noticable due to screen moving)
3. I tried installing 4 different drivers all with clear install. ( didn't work)
4. I tried to to recover system with restore point. ( didn't work)
5. I tried to lower the screen brightness. ( didn't work)
6. tried this trick: Turn off laptop.. Remove battery.. Hold the power button for 30-45 seconds.. Plug-in the charger ( don't put the battery in )Turn on laptop and see if it works.
Very Noticable details:
7. Since on of the rare fixes requires to move the lid i tried shaking the screen a bit or pushing it slightly to different directions. This actually does the trick and turns the screen back on ( i am right now typing this after using this "trick"
So, with this one as a hint there are a couple of stuff i have in mind but i am not sure ...
a) There is a loose LCD cable and when i type a little vibration moves it and ends up in a black screen. b) I read that if you use a flashlight and you cant see your desktop it means its a bad inverter. c) Can the inverter have a lose cabe instead of the lcd ?
Currently the screen looks ok ( maybe its the certain angle it has after i moved it. Tried to play a game for a few mins and i got the black screen again. Closed the lid so the laptop goes in sleep mode then opened it and it worked. Just for the records.
Just tried to play a game again. got the blackscreen, shaked the screen a bit and it worked but for the 1st time i get the message " Application has been blocked from accessing graphics hardware" , Can it be that its the GPU after all or maybe drivers?
Tried to play a game again and it seem to trigger the issue . ( i am currently running the laptop with only the intel drivers installed) ...
Yesterday I flashed my 1737 to the A07 BIOS because DELL says it gets the machine ready for Windows 7.
Flash went perfect, machine works fine. Heres the problem.
the CPU runs very hot now, web surfing checking emails in the 40C to 47C range
when before with the A06 BIOS I only cracked 37C 39C was with lots of video and Gaming.
So I will be emailing DELL to see whats going on, I am very upset about this. Oh and the Fan wont stop running now. and I am at 37C on Core 0 and 33 on Core 1, which is Cool. But the fan does not stop.
My touch screen stop working without any reasons that can make the touch screen out of order it's happen suddenly , but before it was working perfectly. Its Windows 8.1 bug or my hardware problem?
Just bought the new Inspiron 7537 with NVIDIA graphics card. The issue is when I try to wake it up after the laptop in a sleep mode, only the keyboard is light but the screen is black. I have to press the power button to shut it down.
I recently went on a plane trip back home and I am having major issues with wifi connection in my family's house.
They have AT&T router/modem (combo?) and no one else in the house has any issues connecting with it.
What happens is I can connect and browse for a couple minutes or so, but sporadically, the internet will just stop working (not the wifi, it still shows my connection exists). I just won't be able to browse or make use of the internet at all!
I wonder if I might have banged it up or something on the plane ride? Since other laptops in the household are not having wifi issues, I am lead to believe it is just me.
My tv tuner INTEX IT-TV 150 FM plays only audio. The screen turns totaly white with no video signal. When calling the supporting staff at INTEX, they told me to install HP Pavilion dv4 video driver. Could this be the solution? If so, where could I find the video driver?
My D630 wakes up in he middle of the night fo apperantly no reason at all. The only program that is running is Outlook Express or maybe nothing at all.
Windows is password protcted so only the log on page comes up but it will download Emai messeges. How can I keep this D630 from waking up on it's own.
After upgrade to 8.1 HDMI port didn't work. Followed instructions to correct BIOS and graphice driver; HDMI works - however Silverlight no longer working with DMS.
Get error 6036 in Silverlight which is Graphics device's driver certificate is invalid
Have checked graphics driver and is all up to date
Machine is HP Pavilion 11 x2 Graphics driver version 10.18.10.3366
Every time when the laptop goes to sleep mode by itself and I turn it on again, the touch screen will be partly unresponsive, to be more specific, it is the upper part of the screen. The problem is only at the screen, mouse and touchpad are working fine. Now I can solve the problem by pressing power button to let it sleep and press again to turn it on, but I don't want to do this everyday.
30 minutes ago, it was working perfectly with no issue. I turned it off and after 1 hour I tried to turned on by pressing the power button but it is not working. No lambs no sounds nothing. It is just like a rock.
Customer has three L440 with Docking station PRO and Samsung 22" S22C45 on DVI
* W7 64BIT Sp1 Lenovo version not VL * Latest BIOS * Latest GFX Driver * All Windows WSUS Updates (Standard Image from lenovo with all Hotfixes) * Power Options set to Performance (lenovo Power manager deinstalled) * Office 2010 SP2, PDF24, APPV client 4.6+ * Dameware 6.X Agent
problem:
Laptop is in docking station with external 22" Samsung DVI and working in Winword, IE or others. Suddenly screen from Samsung turns black (laptop TFT from people who use dual stays on). After 1-10 seconds the samsung screen comes back. We fiest thought this was some RDP issue with other users connecting to the device. (Not the case)
NO > BIOS and GFX is latest and MADE it worser with updating to the latest (happens more often). NO > MHz change from 59/60 or slighty modify did not solve NO > It's not a screensaver problem NO > All three Samsung are from diffrent shippments and even Distributors NO > All three L440 are from different time periods 2-3 Months split
I have hp g61 for a while, i have been maintaining really good till recent my screen went BLACK.. it was acting funny before as it stays ON after i turn of the laptop... and now it is all back cant see nothing ... the laptop works fine when i connect to external monitor..
I bought my laptop just under 2 years ago. Over the past few weeks, when I switch it on, it beeps 8 times and the screen is black. There is also no battery left (the light on the charger block comes on, but the charging light on the laptop does not).
I have a 2012 envy 15 with Win8.1 Update 1 and a few days ago, i noticed that there was a newer version of my graphics card so I decided to update it.
After the installation, the computer screen became black and I only was able to see the mouse pointer, So i waited for almost half hour and then decided to turn of my computer. I restarted it and it kept seeing a black screen (the windows logo appeared during the boot).
As I couldn't do anything with my computer, I decided to Refresh it in hope that it will return to a good state. During the refreshing the pc restarted but the power light started blinking , like the computer was at Sleep, and when the refresh finished, the screen was good, but the light kept blinking.
I tryed to shutdow the computer but when i turn it on again I didnt ear the Cd rom making the usual noise and the lights where blinking.
So i decided to maybe put it in sleep, but when i tried it, the computer screen when black for a few seconds and the pc went wake immediately, and when i try to put it to sleep again, the Sleep option was gone.
Then I thought that something went wrong with the refresh , so i clean install windows from a bootale usb drive since the CD wasn't working..
But that didn't work either, and to make things worst all my computer fans stopped working. So now I end up with a pc with a clean win8 install, the power lights keep blinking (both power button and the side light), no ability the sleep the computer, no cd drive and no fans..
Recently, my Blackbook has had some troubles when I close the lid. What happens is the light never starts pulsing, and the laptop gets really warm and the fan goes crazy. When I open the lid, the screen stays black. When I reboot it, It shows the grey screen, goes black for a sec, then restarts. I tried reseting the pram, but it didnt help.
i'm having a issue with my santa rosa mbp. I left for dinner and left my notebook on. Naturally the machine went to sleep. After i came back the machine would not boot up, the screen doesn't even turn on. The light on the latch release remains on. When i try a hard reboot, i'm having the same issue. Black screen, doesn't even get to the grey screen with the apple logo. I've tried going on 1 dimm or ram to see if it's a issue with the ram and still doesn't fix it.
I have a late '08 unibody MBP. Every once in a while, generally not every day but once every few days, I have a split-second issue where half of the screen on my MBP flashes black for a split-second. Everything's perfectly normal before and afterwards, just that. I suppose it's not terribly bothersome, but it is noticeable. I've done some searching and it seems to be happening to many people and may be software based.
Well, since yesterday, my 2 month old unibody mackbook has been crashing at random. I'll be doing anything from web surfing, to just doing a time-machine back up and "whosh", the screen goes black with a 1/2" wide multicolored pixelated horizontal stripe about 1" from the top remaining.
This has happened about a dozen times, with the only option being to hold down the power button to reboot.
I went into the the nearest Apple Store to a Genius Bar appointment to see if there was anything to be done. Mind you, i also ran every known diagnostic I could get my hands upon, before I went, and everything checks out a-ok.
The Genius bar guy says it's a "known issue" with the new unibody Macs with the 9400M graphics processor. A "known issue"??? How come I have never heard about this on NBR?
I am supposed to wait until Apple issues it's firmware "fix" according the the GB guy.
where I can get information about safe temperature ranges on my dad's MBP. Second, I'm currently using a program called smcFanControl to monitor said temperature and to manually change my fan speeds, 'cause the fans don't automatically kick in by themselves and can let the temp go to over 90C. I'm just wondering if that's dangerous and if there's any programs I can get that will automatically change the fan speeds to match the temperature.
On my Black Macbook is it when it is charging the screen feels different than when it is running on the battery. For example, when it is charging and I run my finger along the screen there is more resistance and it is not as smooth as when it is running on the battery. Is this normal?
I just bought a studio xps 1647 from best buy and today the usb ports stopped working. They could not see multiple jump drives I inserted.
Is this a win 7 flaw or is something wrong with my laptop? It was in sleep earlier. My theory is that the laptop just didn't wake the ports coming out of sleep mode. I'm contemplating returning the laptop for another.