Laptop Screen Flashing And Blacking Out

[macan]

After a couple of hours use my laptop (Toshiba TE2100) backlight starts flashing on and off rapidly and eventually blacks out. The screen is still functioning just unreadable. This started a couple of months ago and I reseated the connection cables on the inverter which sorted it out for a couple of weeks, however the problem returned and now reseating doesnt seem to help.

I understand, from online research, that the problem is either the FL inverter or the backlight itself but am not sure how to find out which without replacing them alternately. Anybody know or can suggest which is most likely? The computer is nearly 5 years old and functions perfectly otherwise.

Also any ideas the typical cost of an inverter and backlight (14" screen)?

[Guest Reimar]

If is the Backlight you'll need to 99% to change the LCD Screen bcause it's nearly impossible to replace the bulbs! To much expensive you can maybe get a new laptop! And a 2. Hdn. Screen is also quite expensive. Check ity out at Pantip 3. and 4. floor!

[Veazer]

When it flashes on and off, is the 'on' duration just a brief blip and the 'off' duration about 1 second or less? If so, my vote would be bad inverter. Hope that makes sense.

[macan]

When it flashes on and off, is the 'on' duration just a brief blip and the 'off' duration about 1 second or less? If so, my vote would be bad inverter. Hope that makes sense.

Thanks for the advice so far. I hope it's not the screen; if so i'll probably just buy an old monitor and run it with that as i dont travel so much these days anyway.

I was in Zeer at the weekend and the three shops i stopped at all wanted to replace the screen without even looking at it; however I have a friend who was there with the same problem last year, they charged her for a new screen but the problem returned a month later so i guess all they did was tweak the inverter connections, the same as I did on mine, but it cost her 10,000 baht. I went with her when she went back and we made them put a new screen in while we watched over them. None of them wanted to sell me an inverter; i have since found one on ebay for $8 plus postage from USA

The on-off is pretty much like a stroboscope with regular fast flashing, it is still possible to work with but extremely annoying and tiring on the eyes. It only lasts about five minutes before the screen black outs.

The more i read the more mention i see of other power problems associated with loose connections which are highly likely in an old laptop that has done a lot of travelling. THe fact that reseating the connectors worked for a while makes me think it is the inverter (or the connections for the inverter) and that something is happening when the computer gets hot. I dont know anything about backlights but usually a problem light bulb is a fatal problem for it... once it goes, it's gone, never to come back on again!

[Veazer]

When it flashes on and off, is the 'on' duration just a brief blip and the 'off' duration about 1 second or less? If so, my vote would be bad inverter. Hope that makes sense.

Thanks for the advice so far. I hope it's not the screen; if so i'll probably just buy an old monitor and run it with that as i dont travel so much these days anyway.

I was in Zeer at the weekend and the three shops i stopped at all wanted to replace the screen without even looking at it; however I have a friend who was there with the same problem last year, they charged her for a new screen but the problem returned a month later so i guess all they did was tweak the inverter connections, the same as I did on mine, but it cost her 10,000 baht. I went with her when she went back and we made them put a new screen in while we watched over them. None of them wanted to sell me an inverter; i have since found one on ebay for $8 plus postage from USA

The on-off is pretty much like a stroboscope with regular fast flashing, it is still possible to work with but extremely annoying and tiring on the eyes. It only lasts about five minutes before the screen black outs.

The more i read the more mention i see of other power problems associated with loose connections which are highly likely in an old laptop that has done a lot of travelling. THe fact that reseating the connectors worked for a while makes me think it is the inverter (or the connections for the inverter) and that something is happening when the computer gets hot. I dont know anything about backlights but usually a problem light bulb is a fatal problem for it... once it goes, it's gone, never to come back on again!

Try setting the screen on the lowest brightness and then turn the system off for an hour or 2. Then turn it back on and see if it is working at this low setting from a cold start. I had an lcd that would work at lower brightness settings but not full (due to a bad inverter). Once you hit full brightness, it would flash until you let it cool down for a long time. I know it's not a real solution but at least it will help to see if a bad inverter is the cause.