Toshiba, Odd Power/Display Issue

DemonLordTyrus · 07-03-2009, 03:32 PM

So my Toshiba (P200-1K9, if you want the exact model) has developed a wierd issue. When the power cable is plugged in, and charging, if I forget to unplug it after the charge is full then after a while the screen will suddenly get a little brighter than it normally is, as if it was receiving too much power or something. If I then pull the charger cable out, the screen will mess up, it will either go entirely black and flicker, or it will get random coloured horizontal lines across the entire screen.

I'm not sure whether key commands still work when the screen has messed up, I'd tried pressing CTRL ALT DEL etc but couldn't tell if it was at all responding, the only option so far is to just hold the power button down to switch it off, and reboot. So far (touch wood) it works fine after I reboot, but I'm concerned that this will eventually become more serious, or cause a more serious problem.

Any ideas? (And yes, I could just make sure to take the power out when its fully charged, and I have, but occasionally I forget. :P)

**TriggerFinger** · 07-04-2009, 02:08 PM

IMO it should not have any direct effect with how the LCD brightens up (or dims down) unless it is set in Power Options. Same thing (no effect in LCD) if battery is fully charged (but LCD may dim if power switches from AC to battery)... but then again I could be wrong.

Try testing with AC alone.. also test with good/working/preferably genuine battery.

DemonLordTyrus · 07-05-2009, 03:36 PM

I'm starting to think my battery is going wrong (which'd make this the third problem in about 4 or 5 months), because now when I plug in the AC when my battery gets low on power, it seems to take 5-10 minutes before it actually starts charging, before then it just says "Plugged in, not charging."

Also, my power plan options seem to be acting wierdly. Normally I leave it on Power Saver option, because I usually just run on AC for doing anything like running games etc.

Now, in the options its set that when its running on AC power, to use the high performance options as default, and it seems to, because, for example, the screen doesnt dim on AC power.
But some games have a noticable FPS/performance increase when switching from Power Saver to High Performance battery plan options while the AC remains connected. Its as if the computer is running on power saver options (except screen brightness) even though the AC is plugged in.

The power plan options are supposed to be overridden by the fact its running on AC power, right?

DemonLordTyrus · 07-24-2009, 06:35 PM

Appologies for bumping an old thread, but it seemed pointless to retype information that is already here.

So my laptop has been fine now for a few weeks, unplugging it when it reached full charge seemed to stop the display problems I'd been having, that I described above.

Suddenly, about five minutes ago, they returned but not in the same way. This time it just went grey with red and green lines running down it, with no warning whatsoever. It was running battery, AC wasn't plugged in, it was drained to around 40% or so, and the screen just screwed up with no warning.

At the time I was running on the "High Performance" powerplan, and had only got Internet Explorer, WLM and a PC game running, nothing else. The computer seemed unresponsive to any key presses, though I probably wouldn't have noticed anything change anyway since the display was messed up. I had to hold down the power key until it turned off, then turn it back on to get it to come back.

Any ideas?? I'm really worried that this thing is gonna break -again-.

DemonLordTyrus · 07-24-2009, 07:47 PM

(Can't seem to edit my last message)

My laptop almost didn't come back on, just now, when it shut down. I think it got too hot (I left it on the chair beside me, its leather so it seems to overheat my laptop even when the fans aren't blocked) and it wouldn't turn on for a moment. When I removed the AC power and pressed the on button, however, it would all of a sudden. The last time I had a similar problem the VGA board ended up being replaced. Before that I'd have an entire new harddrive put in the thing.
I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to have to have each internal goddamn piece replaced before this laptop stops developing problems.

la1 · 07-24-2009, 09:59 PM

if someone has not already mentioned it, it might be the inverter, that would explain the black screen or too bright... the scrambled display not sure
If you hook a desktop monitor to the notebook does the external monitor do the same as the notebook LCD ? IF IT DOES, It might be the mainboard, if not, it might be the inverter/ lcd or both.

DemonLordTyrus · 07-25-2009, 10:09 AM

No idea, I'll have to connect it to an external monitor next time the screen scrambles and see whether its both, or just the LCD.

I'm pretty much a total n00b when it comes to hardware stuff, so I have no idea what an invertor is :P. Would there be any way to test that myself? Hopefully without taking it apart/taking it in for repair. Thanks.

la1 · 07-25-2009, 07:12 PM

All LCD's need to be illuminated. They actually use a very thin and long flourescent tude. The inverter takes a dc voltage and inverts it to AC ( probably actuaklly a square wave) to power the lamp. In the early days of notebooks the lamps could go...now adays it is always the inverter. The inverter is usually a small cicuit board below the LCD. You have to remove the bezel.

You may want to practice swithing from the LCD to the external.

07-03-2009, 03:32 PM	#1 (permalink)
DemonLordTyrus Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 14 OS: Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)	Toshiba, Odd Power/Display Issue So my Toshiba (P200-1K9, if you want the exact model) has developed a wierd issue. When the power cable is plugged in, and charging, if I forget to unplug it after the charge is full then after a while the screen will suddenly get a little brighter than it normally is, as if it was receiving too much power or something. If I then pull the charger cable out, the screen will mess up, it will either go entirely black and flicker, or it will get random coloured horizontal lines across the entire screen. I'm not sure whether key commands still work when the screen has messed up, I'd tried pressing CTRL ALT DEL etc but couldn't tell if it was at all responding, the only option so far is to just hold the power button down to switch it off, and reboot. So far (touch wood) it works fine after I reboot, but I'm concerned that this will eventually become more serious, or cause a more serious problem. Any ideas? (And yes, I could just make sure to take the power out when its fully charged, and I have, but occasionally I forget. :P)

07-04-2009, 02:08 PM	#2 (permalink)
TriggerFinger Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: USA Posts: 11,784 OS: Vista SP1, XP SP3, PCLinuxOS2007	Re: Toshiba, Odd Power/Display Issue IMO it should not have any direct effect with how the LCD brightens up (or dims down) unless it is set in Power Options. Same thing (no effect in LCD) if battery is fully charged (but LCD may dim if power switches from AC to battery)... but then again I could be wrong. Try testing with AC alone.. also test with good/working/preferably genuine battery. __________________ DBAN - Memtest86+ - BartPE - Linux LiveCD - ImgBurn - HDD Diags - Disk Copy HOW TO BURN AN ISO FILE

07-05-2009, 03:36 PM	#3 (permalink)
DemonLordTyrus Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 14 OS: Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)	Re: Toshiba, Odd Power/Display Issue I'm starting to think my battery is going wrong (which'd make this the third problem in about 4 or 5 months), because now when I plug in the AC when my battery gets low on power, it seems to take 5-10 minutes before it actually starts charging, before then it just says "Plugged in, not charging." Also, my power plan options seem to be acting wierdly. Normally I leave it on Power Saver option, because I usually just run on AC for doing anything like running games etc. Now, in the options its set that when its running on AC power, to use the high performance options as default, and it seems to, because, for example, the screen doesnt dim on AC power. But some games have a noticable FPS/performance increase when switching from Power Saver to High Performance battery plan options while the AC remains connected. Its as if the computer is running on power saver options (except screen brightness) even though the AC is plugged in. The power plan options are supposed to be overridden by the fact its running on AC power, right? Last edited by DemonLordTyrus; 07-05-2009 at 03:40 PM.

07-24-2009, 06:35 PM	#4 (permalink)
DemonLordTyrus Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 14 OS: Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)	Re: Toshiba, Odd Power/Display Issue Appologies for bumping an old thread, but it seemed pointless to retype information that is already here. So my laptop has been fine now for a few weeks, unplugging it when it reached full charge seemed to stop the display problems I'd been having, that I described above. Suddenly, about five minutes ago, they returned but not in the same way. This time it just went grey with red and green lines running down it, with no warning whatsoever. It was running battery, AC wasn't plugged in, it was drained to around 40% or so, and the screen just screwed up with no warning. At the time I was running on the "High Performance" powerplan, and had only got Internet Explorer, WLM and a PC game running, nothing else. The computer seemed unresponsive to any key presses, though I probably wouldn't have noticed anything change anyway since the display was messed up. I had to hold down the power key until it turned off, then turn it back on to get it to come back. Any ideas?? I'm really worried that this thing is gonna break -again-.

07-24-2009, 07:47 PM	#5 (permalink)
DemonLordTyrus Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 14 OS: Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)	Re: Toshiba, Odd Power/Display Issue (Can't seem to edit my last message) My laptop almost didn't come back on, just now, when it shut down. I think it got too hot (I left it on the chair beside me, its leather so it seems to overheat my laptop even when the fans aren't blocked) and it wouldn't turn on for a moment. When I removed the AC power and pressed the on button, however, it would all of a sudden. The last time I had a similar problem the VGA board ended up being replaced. Before that I'd have an entire new harddrive put in the thing. I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to have to have each internal goddamn piece replaced before this laptop stops developing problems.

07-24-2009, 09:59 PM	#6 (permalink)
la1 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 151 OS: XP	Re: Toshiba, Odd Power/Display Issue if someone has not already mentioned it, it might be the inverter, that would explain the black screen or too bright... the scrambled display not sure If you hook a desktop monitor to the notebook does the external monitor do the same as the notebook LCD ? IF IT DOES, It might be the mainboard, if not, it might be the inverter/ lcd or both.

07-25-2009, 10:09 AM	#7 (permalink)
DemonLordTyrus Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 14 OS: Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)	Re: Toshiba, Odd Power/Display Issue No idea, I'll have to connect it to an external monitor next time the screen scrambles and see whether its both, or just the LCD. I'm pretty much a total n00b when it comes to hardware stuff, so I have no idea what an invertor is :P. Would there be any way to test that myself? Hopefully without taking it apart/taking it in for repair. Thanks.

07-25-2009, 07:12 PM	#8 (permalink)
la1 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 151 OS: XP	Re: Toshiba, Odd Power/Display Issue All LCD's need to be illuminated. They actually use a very thin and long flourescent tude. The inverter takes a dc voltage and inverts it to AC ( probably actuaklly a square wave) to power the lamp. In the early days of notebooks the lamps could go...now adays it is always the inverter. The inverter is usually a small cicuit board below the LCD. You have to remove the bezel. You may want to practice swithing from the LCD to the external.