Dell Inspiron 8000 problem

**gimbals** · August 25th, 2004, 03:29 AM

Hi all, my customer has a Dell Inspiron 8000ut.

The problem is that, when running on the power adaptor only, the screen goes dark.

If you remove the power lead and run on battery, the screen is perfect.

I have tried a different power adaptor, updated the Bios, installed the latest driver, dismantled the screen assembly and checked for loose connections but it has made no difference.

The screen is perfect when using an external monitor.

Could the inverter cause these symptoms?

The screen is an IBM ITUX97E

Michael

**NooNoo** · August 25th, 2004, 10:33 AM

Welcome to windrivers gimbal

Wonder if it is something to do with powerschemes in windows? Or does it do it right from boot up?

**gimbals** · August 25th, 2004, 11:17 AM

Hi NooNoo and thanks for the welcome. It does it right from boot up. This afternoon I removed the hard disc, battery, floppy drive and cd drive - it made no difference.

The screen is ok on mains power for the fist few minutes but then goes dark. It is ok on battery.

It works perfectly to an external monitor.

Help!

**tommo666** · August 25th, 2004, 12:10 PM

Could be a faulty voltage regulator on the motherboard, the paths from the battery are differnt than from the ac adptor.

When it's cold, works ok but when it warms up it starts to fail. Try the Dell forums, they oftem have tech support guys lurking there.

**Cross** · September 11th, 2004, 07:02 AM

Originally Posted by gimbals

The problem is that, when running on the power adaptor only, the screen goes dark.

If you remove the power lead and run on battery, the screen is perfect.

Hi Michael,

I've got the exact same problem over here. Tried a lot, but not much works. It does however seem to be heat related. Last years' summer was extreme hot over here (Netherlands) which resulted in a lot of problems. In the fall they disappeared, only to reappear a couple of weeks ago when it got hot again (crappy summer this year).

I don't know if a voltageregulator can be affected by heat or if it can be replaced, but a second battery solved much of my problem.

-Oscar

**sstone** · October 16th, 2004, 05:31 AM

Originally Posted by Cross

Hi Michael,

I've got the exact same problem over here. Tried a lot, but not much works. It does however seem to be heat related. Last years' summer was extreme hot over here (Netherlands) which resulted in a lot of problems. In the fall they disappeared, only to reappear a couple of weeks ago when it got hot again (crappy summer this year).

I don't know if a voltageregulator can be affected by heat or if it can be replaced, but a second battery solved much of my problem.

-Oscar

Guys,

New to the forum and have periodically experienced similar problems with my Dell Inspiron 8000 display over the last few years. Thought it was faulty/broken internal connections, bad drivers, you name it. Usually, it come back, but yesterday the whole thing (eg. normal display panel) went dark & stayed that way. In the past, pulling the battery &/power cable generally toggled things back, but not now. Drives an external display panel fine (on Power or Battery). I would have thought that it had finally given up altogether but at EXACTLY the same time, I've had the same thing happen to my Thinkpad T30 laptop (which has a terrible monitor, but one I have never had trouble with). This seems too much to be coincidence. I am nearly certain it is somehow related to the Multiple Monitors section of "Display Properties", but cannot seem to find the right combination to make either the Thinkpad or the Dell standard displays work. For me, I do not think it is heat related (for me). I'm in Norway now and it's certainly not HOT.

I'm really in trouble here as I've an important client meeting to fly to in 2 days and I need ONE of these Laptops to actually work and not be a Desktop...

Any ideas greatly appreciated
-- Shawn

**jimmm33** · October 21st, 2004, 09:18 AM

It's a long shot but worth a try...

Used a can of compressed air to clean the I8000 out. I have one myself and I sometimes blast air into the fan holes to clean out dust. It may help a bit.

good luck

**njman55** · October 28th, 2004, 08:40 AM

Originally Posted by jimmm33

It's a long shot but worth a try...

Used a can of compressed air to clean the I8000 out. I have one myself and I sometimes blast air into the fan holes to clean out dust. It may help a bit.

good luck

Hello guys, first time to post. Don't know if this will help but I was in a clients Dell 8100 bios yesterday and there was a feature in power management that allowed you to set a different brightness depending on whether you were using battery power or ac. I think that may be what you are seeing.

**PaulJ** · November 15th, 2004, 04:27 PM

Originally Posted by njman55

Hello guys, first time to post. Don't know if this will help but I was in a clients Dell 8100 bios yesterday and there was a feature in power management that allowed you to set a different brightness depending on whether you were using battery power or ac. I think that may be what you are seeing.

The problem is in most cases the LCD Inverter. You can get them for around $ 35. All of my friends that have a laptop have had the same problem at some point in the past. Paul