How I spent my day...

[mr_teem]

So much for plans. citabria got up early to do some things with her laptop and by time I was up, it had gone south.

Comments

[glenmarshall]

Now that her files have been backed-off, why not try a fresh install of Windows XP? Or maybe upgrade to Linux. It could be a simple corruption issue.

[mr_teem]

I might try that if I can confirm she has all of the software she uses regularly. I've got it in safe mode again now and we'll see if it stays up or blacks out again.

(Upgrading to Linux isn't an option for her machine.)

[laurion]

I agree, it sounds like perhaps corrupt windows or driver files. A fresh format and reinstall can't hurt too much if it is backed up.

[mr_teem]

I went through an install, but not a clean one, already and it's still futzing out in regular mode but has been stable so far in safe mode. I have to see if there's a new NVIDIA driver available first.

[mpgalvin]

i just did something like this for the roomie's laptop. very similar symptoms. step two fixed it here

[citabria]

I have a 17" screen and love it, so repair would probably still be cheaper. Then again, depending on cost, we could explore the combined cost of new plus external screen; I suspect that repair would probably still be cheaper though. Plus, I have no intention to switch to Vista.

Grrrr! To make it worse, Toshiba has no updates for my drivers, and I don't have a laptop-specific XP disk to reinstall from. (Long story, not my fault except that I probably could have called Toshiba at some point to have a set sent to me just in case.)

Teem got the laptop up and running for an hour two nights ago and then several hours yesterday, after doing some software purging, but it ultimately blacked out again. It's so bizarre!