Black screen, only works fine in safemode.

I'm having this problem with my laptop. It's only a couple years old it's a Toshiba satellite m305d-s4830. After I've started the computer and logged in the screen just goes black after a few minutes sometimes it will even go black before I have a chance to log in. When I start the computer using safe mode it works fine. I did notice that my virus scanner wasnt working so of course I ran it, and did spybot. I found a couple minor things and got rid of them, thinking and hoping that was the problem. Then I thought it was my power supply, since I've been using just a plan igo charger, so today I bought a new tip for the orignal charger, still not working. Any suggestions would be awesome. A friend told me it was the video card, but I'd like other opinons before I go buy a new laptop. Thanks.

 

Hello,
Does this machine have Vista? If it does, you are probably suffering from the infamous Vista Black Screen of Death. Since you still have safe mode, boot into safe mode then got to Start>Run and type msconfig. Click the services tab and uncheck "Windows Event Log" and then reboot to see if that helps. For further imformation on this problem check here.

 

If the above fix doesn't work try disabling the video card and enabling system (on-board video) by doing the following:

* Restart the PC. When BIOS (boot) screen shows, enter SETUP (usually by pressing "DEL" or "F2" depending on the make/model).

* When the BIOS setup screen pops up, tab through the pages until you see a video option. Using the up/down arrows, highlight it and press enter. If it gives you an option to switch to "onboard" graphics (or a similar term), use the arrow keys to do so.

* Exit the BIOS setup (be sure to choose "Save Changes"). The PC will restart. If it pulls up the "Safe Mode" option automatically, accept it. Let Windows load in Safe Mode then reboot the PC; it should now start in normal mode.

If the screen stays on, you've bypassed the video card in favor of the on-board video Windows uses in Safe Mode. The on-board video should be OK for basic activities such as e-mail and web surfing; however it may not have enough power for playing DVDs or more advanced games.

Although there is a slight chance updating the drivers for the built-in video card may fix it; my experience has been problems like this are usually due to the video card cooking itself due to an internal fan failure.

Hope this tip helps.

 

I'm sorry I should have added that I have loaded windows 7 on it about 6 months ago. But I went ahead and unchecked the windows event log and it's working good so far. I guess only time will tell. Thanks so much, and if this doesnt work i'll try disabling the video card. Which would suck since I mainly use this computer for games. haha.

 

It's a laptop. All it has is onboard graphics. Safe mode uses the same graphics hardware that it uses when in standard mode. It just doesn't load any drivers or software beyond basic MS drivers and software at boot. If the graphics system cooked, there would be no display at all.

If you upgraded your graphics drivers through Windows Update, that could lead to this issue. Download the latest graphics driver from the laptop manufacturer and update with that.
http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/...4830&selCategory=2756709&selFamily=1073768663

 

Not to argue the point, but I ran into this issue last week on a Dell notebook. The screen would go black after 1-2 minutes; however the power and HDD lights stayed on. When connected to an external monitor the same problem existed.

By using the above steps, the Dell BIOS gave me an option of switching to system video. Upon doing so the problem disappeared. The PC was running XP SP3 and had no virus/malware infections noted in either AVG or Malware Bytes; no driver issues were noted in Hardware Profiles.

One of the cooling fans had failed on the unit prior to the black screen issue and the available parts list included a "video card cooler". Given all this, I obviously bypassed whatever was causing the problem. :confused

 

Well,turns out the Boyfriend was thinking about doing the same update Just playin had suggested. Although I havent had much of a problem since I unchecked that windows event log. It has only done the black screen once in the last 2 hours. So, that didnt completely fix the problem but it did seem to help. Tyvm for all of the advice, I guess I'll let you know if I ever get it fixed.

 

I'm noticing a trend with the laptops that have W7 on them. A lot of people complaining of the same black/blank grey screen. I've had the same issue several times with my own laptop. Seems to me that it's a sleep mode issue. I applied the fix of turning off the damn thing, unplugging power & taking out the battery, holding down the power button for ~30 sec and then putting the battery back in. Something is buggy with power management in W7, as I've had this happen about three times already. I've also had issues adjusting screen brightness. See if the fix I mentioned doesn't do the trick.

 

This is the only thing that has worked...Thank you..