hi all, i'm new here and i have a strange proble

[redcloud]

hi all, i'm new here and i have a strange problem on my hands

i was saving a file in photoshop and my girlfriend was moving a fan to face in my direction

strangely, as soon as the air hit me the screen changed to a rainbow of vertical lines. i have my m200 hooked up to a second monitor; the image on the second monitor was fine.

i restarted the computer and the tablets screen was black, then fading in to a bunch of colored lines and blocks of white.

then i did something stupid - as i started to try to troubleshoot the display i set the option to have the second monitor share the display instead of being 2 seperate screens. this made the monitors screen turn black. now i can't put it back because i can't see anything.

tomorrow morning i will have to network it to another pc and get the files off it before all is lost (on my girlfriends mac right now)

has anyone heard of anything like this? was the timing between the fan hitting me and this happening a pure coincidence? WTF?!

if anyone knows what might be going on i would appreciate any input.

thanks!

[WNewquay]

Hi redcloud.

Timing sounds like a coincidence.

Can you start Windows in Safe Mode?

Assuming you see anything on the screen at all, hit F8 several times as soon as you see any sign that Windows is loading. This should get you to a point where you can start in safe mode.

If youm can start in Safe Mode then you probably just need to use System Restore to get back to a point before all the trouble began.

If you can't see anything on the screen while the machine is booting (with and without the external monitor), then it sounds like a hardware problem.

What kind of machine is it?
Is it under warranty?

[redcloud]

i should clarify that the blast of air from the fan also hit the computer, but yes i think it was an odd coincidence too.

it doesn't look like i can start it in safe mode. it is a toshiba portege m200. i believe the warranty is over but i am going to check into it when i get back from work.

so stupid! why did i switch it off dual monitor mode?!

thanks for the help

about the safe mode:
when i start the machine, i see nothing on the tablets screen but i see the windows progress bar thing on the second monitor. i tapped F8 to get into safe mode but the options never came up for me... it seemed that the tablets screen flickered for a bit, but the monitors screen then became a continuation of it and went black and the tablet screen itself stayed the way it's been.

thanks again for the help, i feel like somehow the tablets screen just got shot to ****, but why would that happen like that? my experiences are with things getting messed up over time, not going from fine to all wacked out in an instant.

[BigSax]

You can get the screen back on with the one of the Fn+F# combinations...not allowed to bring my personal machine into where I work and I don't use the feature so I cant tell you which number it is. But it's the one with a picture of a monitor on it. Hopefully you haven't disabled that feature.


But your real problem here is this (I believe). Vertical regularly spaced lines on a monitor are usually indicitive of a failing graphics card, specifially the RAM if i remember correctly. I don't know about the colors of the lines on an lcd screen but with CRT's you will see red and green lines mostly. I just looked up and saw that you said the screen turned into a rainbow of vertical lines. When I have had vid cards fail on me it starts out as 8-15 thin vertical lines on the screen but the system will remain usable, then it will steadily degrade until it becomes entirely useless. The instant total corruption of the display makes me think it is more of an issue with the physica lcd than with the video card.

Hope you are about the warranty being over cause this could be a very costly repair, and something that most likely will have to be done by a factory tech.

[Wcrocker]

It does sound more and more like a problem with the video card. Just a suggestion that may or many not help at all. After shutting the Tablet off, pull the AC plug and pull the battery and let the Tablet sit for a bit (maybe over night.) See if that changes anything after you replug and reboot.

[redcloud]

thanks again guys

i had tried the FN+F5 (or F8, i forgot which one already haha) back at home and it didn't do anything. i really appreciate this input and will be trying everything i can once i get home from work.

if i have to get this repaired, i should use toshiba exclusively right? i heard that with this sort of thing dealing with them is the best way to fix things, even after the warranty is expired. i suppose that is kind of obvious since it isn't a 'normal' laptop

i bought it from them directly too.

[WNewquay]

Hi redcloud,

If this is an M200 (not M205) it probably came with a three year warranty and if it is hardware, I would expect this to be covered.

Yes, I'd deal with Toshiba or one of their authorized service depots. They should be able to tell you which one is closest to you.

[limmerguy]

I thought M200s and M205s came with a standard 1 year warranty? Everyone has the option of upgrading it within the first 30 days of ownership.

[Wcrocker]

quote:Originally posted by redcloud

thanks again guys

i had tried the FN+F5 (or F8, i forgot which one already haha) back at home and it didn't do anything. i really appreciate this input and will be trying everything i can once i get home from work.

if i have to get this repaired, i should use toshiba exclusively right? i heard that with this sort of thing dealing with them is the best way to fix things, even after the warranty is expired. i suppose that is kind of obvious since it isn't a 'normal' laptop

i bought it from them directly too.

I would definitely work with Tohshiba to get what you need taken care of. If you call them they can point you to the closest authorized repair center and I'd go that route if you have the option. Always better to make a face to face relationship in these things than dealing over the phone or via email.

[WNewquay]

Hi limmerguy,

From memory...

The M200 came with a 3 year standard warranty and was customizable on the web site.

The M205 came with a 1 year standard warranty and an external drive. This was basically the preconfigured retail bundle.

quote:Originally posted by limmerguy

I thought M200s and M205s came with a standard 1 year warranty? Everyone has the option of upgrading it within the first 30 days of ownership.