Laptop Keeps Freezing

Pythia

Hey,

I bought a Toshiba Satellite P205D about a month ago in America. As far as I know it came with an international warranty.

My problem is as follows: About every two days, when I am doing something normal like internet surfing, it suddenly goes black (but still on) and that's it. I've tried leaving it for hours, pressing ctrl alt delete, but the only thing that works is taking out the battery.

I've installed very little onto it so far.

Any ideas? I tried the Toshiba website but I can't find a place to just email them my problem.

Thanks!

jd83

if it blacks out maybe its the screen connect it up to external monitor when it goes black and see if it is working then

Sherifu

Look for clues in the system log.

majiktripp

Strange issue, do you have an external monitor to hook upto it? the next time it goes black try and switch to the external monitor just to see if the machine is still working away and its an LCD / Video card issue or if its something else.
When you say the only thing that works is taking out the battery, does that mean the machine wont turn on until you remove and resit the battery?

jd83

yh i had a problem like yours and it turned out to be the screen it was a lose invertor or something. Mine went black but if you shined a torch directly at the screen you could see the text on screen. Sony fixed it under warranty for me so maybe toshiba will fix for you if it is screen

Pythia

rkm wrote: »

Look for clues in the system log.

Sorry, I don't know what that is. Can you explain?

majiktripp wrote: »

When you say the only thing that works is taking out the battery, does that mean the machine wont turn on until you remove and resit the battery?

Well it's still on when it does this. It's the kind of black where it's still shining black iykwim. So I have to take out the battery to turn it off, then it can start back up.

majiktripp

To turn off the laptop next time , just hold in the power button solid for ten sceonds and it should knock it off, its easier than removing the battery all the time.
Try hooking it upto an external monitor too and see if the output is still displayed when the lcd screen goes black, more of a troubleshooting process before you ring the Toshiba helpline.It does sound like a definate hardware problem though I'm afraid.

To look at your system event logs:
To open Event Viewer, follow these steps: 1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel. Click Performance and Maintenance, then click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management. Or, open the MMC containing the Event Viewer snap-in.
2. In the console tree, click Event Viewer.

The Application, Security, and System logs are displayed in the Event Viewer window

Pythia

The only thing I can find on the systems log is

The previous system shutdown at 20:09:04 on 11/02/2008 was unexpected.

and there's nothing before that for ages.
Boyf has an external monitor so will try that. Grr, it's odd because it happens so infrequently. I wish it was either broken or it wasn't!

Jackz

Pythia wrote: »

The only thing I can find on the systems log is

and there's nothing before that for ages.
Boyf has an external monitor so will try that. Grr, it's odd because it happens so infrequently. I wish it was either broken or it wasn't!

Interweb tip: In future don't mention the Boyf until the computer nerds have finished helping you.

Sherifu

Pythia wrote: »

The only thing I can find on the systems log is

and there's nothing before that for ages.
Boyf has an external monitor so will try that. Grr, it's odd because it happens so infrequently. I wish it was either broken or it wasn't!

Would this have been the same time as one of these black screens?

Pythia

rkm wrote: »

Would this have been the same time as one of these black screens?

Sorry, there's loads of stuff in the log, this is the only thing of relevance. Apart from that it's mainly telling me what things entered the running state, etc.

AlmightyCushion

rkm wrote: »

Would this have been the same time as one of these black screens?

It was most likely when she pulled out the battery and not when the screen went blank.

Sherifu

Pythia wrote: »

Sorry, there's loads of stuff in the log, this is the only thing of relevance. Apart from that it's mainly telling me what things entered the running state, etc.

Ok, have a look in the application log, same place as the system log. Look specifically for errors with red x's, things like application hang or anything like that.

majiktripp

Jackz wrote: »

Interweb tip: In future don't mention the Boyf until the computer nerds have finished helping you.

Yea! Jeez, its like the unspoken Get-A-Nerd to help out rule!

Srsly though, it doesn't look like a problem thats going to be fixed overnight so let us know how it goes.

Pythia

Ok, there's this, which was last night

msnmsgr (4032) \\.\C:\Users\Rachel\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Messenger\<snip>\SharingMetadata\Working\database_B806_F8CD_6F8_8E1E\dfsr.db: A request to write to the file "\\.\C:\Users\Rachel\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Messenger\<snip>\SharingMetadata\Working\database_B806_F8CD_6F8_8E1E\fsr.log" at offset 99840 (0x0000000000018600) for 512 (0x00000200) bytes succeeded, but took an abnormally long time (18875 seconds) to be serviced by the OS. This problem is likely due to faulty hardware. Please contact your hardware vendor for further assistance diagnosing the problem

And this, which happened after the black out

The target file for the Windows Feedback Platform (a DLL file containing the list of problems on this computer that require additional data collection for diagnosis) could not be parsed. The error code was 8014FFF9.

Sherifu

The messenger error could be something. Run a 'chkdsk /r c:' command from a command prompt(start>run>'cmd'>[enter]).

Pythia

rkm wrote: »

The messenger error could be something. Run a 'chkdsk /r c:' command from a command prompt(start>run>'cmd'>[enter]).

Access denied, you do not have sufficient privileges

But I'm an Administrator of the PC?

Sherifu

start> type 'com'>right click on command prompt and click run as administartor
then chkdsk command above

majiktripp

I don't think Chkdsk will fix this problem. Bluescreens, unmountable boot volumes maybe but the machine cutting out completely to a black screen? Still no harm to give ita whirl.
The Access denied error maybe due to Vista's User Access Control feature (UAC) which may be turned off in the Users section of the Control Panel.

Sherifu

You may be right, but a chkdsk doesn't take long and can't hurt. The bit about write to file took abnormally long time in the error is why I suggested a chkdsk. It may not be the cause of the problem but may reveal some errors on disk, who knows.
As for UAC, I wouldn't advise disabling a security feature.

Tom Dunne

TBH, it might be better if you call tech support, especially since the laptop is so new.

At least that will register a problem with them. Also, if it is a common problem, they should be able to repair/replace it quickly enough.

GoodEnough

If this laptop is under warranty it is best advised to let Toshiba fix it sounds like your inverter is faulty which woul;d happen in transit from the USA, if you let a tech look at it and its something else then your warranty will be useless if the laptop has being opened up.

Greenman

Pythia wrote: »

Hey,

I bought a Toshiba Satellite P205D about a month ago in America. As far as I know it came with an international warranty.

My problem is as follows: About every two days, when I am doing something normal like internet surfing, it suddenly goes black (but still on) and that's it. I've tried leaving it for hours, pressing ctrl alt delete, but the only thing that works is taking out the battery.

I've installed very little onto it so far.

Any ideas? I tried the Toshiba website but I can't find a place to just email them my problem.

Thanks!

So whats the latest???

Sherifu

Greenman wrote: »

So whats the latest???

Got a similar problem?

Overheal

Blue Screen of Death wrote:

This problem is likely due to faulty hardware. Please contact your hardware vendor for further assistance diagnosing the problem

The machines a month old. Thats grossly unacceptable. Contact Toshiba immediately, they will direct you to the nearest location that can help you.

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su/su_gaspLocator.jsp?pf=true

Follow the instructions and click the link for warranty repairs.

GoodEnough wrote:

sounds like your inverter is faulty which would happen in transit from the USA

Elaborate? The voltage inverter? As in the inverter in the power supply? Bought mine in the states and have had no such complication. Laptop adapters are internationally rated to accept any voltage between 100-240 volts and output the laptops power requirement, quite painlessly. All I needed was a simple 3-pin socket converter to run my laptop over here.

Sherifu

I think he meant the screen inverter.

Overheal

I still fail to understand his comment. Theres no reasoning why it would fail as a result of bringing it over from the states.

Sherifu

Parts fail, that's life. Until we hear back from the OP we'll never know.

Pythia

Hey,

sorry I haven't updated this. Much thanks to all who helped out. Well I connected it to an external monitor and it's still all black when I do that. I also worked out it only seems to happen when I have Youtube videos playing.

Unfortunately due to being very lazy, I haven't got onto Toshiba yet!

Pythia

Well I finally rang Toshiba. They got me to flash my BIOS. Will see now how things go...

Thanks for the help here!

AlmightyCushion

That was one long phone call. Make sure to keep us updated.

Sherifu

Whatever you flash, take pics.

Pythia

Seems to be working ok now but we're not due another freeze until tomorrow probably.
The guy on the phone seemed to know what to do immediately after I mentioned what happened and mentioned it was a known problem, so i'm hoping the fix will be it now.