My wife has been experiencing some problems with her Vista laptop locking up in the middle of her working when she has a few different programs open.

I’m hoping Windows Vista SP2’s final release will resolve or improve some of these issues. Still trying to determine if it’s completely a Vista issue or a Toshiba laptop issue.

Post from: EveryJoe

Windows Vista RC2 Available

I may have a solution for everyone experiencing the random screen blackouts on Toshiba laptops. After seeing this comment by Gwendolyn, I decided to go visit the Toshiba website again and see if there was an available update for my wife’s computer. She’s got a Toshiba Satellite A215-S7437 and there indeed was the update as shown in the graphic above.

There’s a BIOS version update of 1.70 available for her machine with the following feature notes specified:

Version 1.70 – 2008-02-28

• Added support for Windows Vista SP1.
• A change was made to an AMD SB600 power management register.
• A change was made to resolve a very intermittent blank screen issue.
• Added LTN154AT07-T01, LP154WX4-TLC8, B154EW08 V1, and N154I3-L03 display information to the Brightness Table.

I’ve downloaded and installed the update but my wife hasn’t been home tonight, she’s out watching the “Sex and the City” movie with a friend. No guarantees yet, but I really think this should fix the problem. I sure hope it does.

The question is if I’m just lucky or not sure what the definition of “intermittent” actually is. Next is to walk my mom through the BIOS update on her laptop. It may just be easier to drive the half-hour to their house and take care of it myself.

Post from: EveryJoe

Possible Solution for Toshiba Laptop Monitor Blackouts

She will be working on her computer, which is running Windows Vista, and randomly the screen image will be lost for no reason. The laptop was a Christmas gift so when it stops working it kind of takes the joy away from receiving it as a gift.

My initial thought was that it was her power settings that were telling the display to turn off after so many minutes. Turns out that it wasn’t the power settings at all, even though I did adjust them to not turn anything off when it’s plugged into the wall.

The next thought is to obviously make sure all the drivers are updated. Run through Windows Update to no avail, everything’s updated as it should be, or you would expect it to be according to the reports.

Being back at square one, you start searching for the problem mentioned elsewhere on the Web and see what other people have experienced and hopefully find a solution. Up to this point though, I haven’t found anything that seems to be the exact same cause that my wife is experiencing.

Black Screen Just on Toshiba Laptops Running Vista?

My mom called last week stressed out because she had been working on something on her new Toshiba laptop (also received as a Christmas gift) and her screen went black. She thought she had lost everything as well.

What I had my mom do, and the only work-through we’ve figured out, is to do a hard power down by holding the power button down for a few seconds. Clearly not the best thing to do, but the only way we’ve figured out how to get out of the problem.

Is there anyone else experiencing this problem? Does it happen on other laptops besides Toshiba?

Post from: EveryJoe

Vista Black Screen on Toshiba Laptops