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T60 crashes... "black" screen of death

T60/T61 Series
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GoofyG28
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T60 crashes... "black" screen of death

#1 Post by GoofyG28 » Sun May 04, 2008 3:18 pm

Okay, it's not really a black image. The LCD is in fact turned off. This has been happening every several days (at the worst) or so for months now. I would be doing something, and BAM! The screen is off, the hard drive doesn't run, but the light indicators at the bottom of my LCD are still lit (wifi, bluetooth, that Z symbol?, battery, and plug -- all the icons are still on).

The only thing I can do is force a shut down with the power button. It has nothing to do with a specific program or action. It just happens unexpected with no warning.

Could it be my RAM? Or my 160GB Seagate SATA HDD?
T60 - 2613-EKU (custom): Core Duo 2.0Ghz T2500, 15" LG-Phillips LCD, ATI x1400, 2GB RAM, 160GB + 100GB HDDs, fingerprint, 2 x 6-cell batteries, ALPS keyboard, Ultrabay DVD-RW, Ultrabay 3-cell battery, Ultrabay HD adapter, BT, Atheros 11a/b/g WiFi

gator
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#2 Post by gator » Sun May 04, 2008 3:22 pm

What are your system temperatures? Install NHC or some similar program and let us know ... sounds like it might be a heat issue.
Now: T60 2613-EKU | T23 2647-9NU | 600X 2645-9FU | HP 100LX
Past: X31 2673-Y13 | T41 2374-3HU | T22 2647-AEU


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GoofyG28
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#3 Post by GoofyG28 » Sun May 04, 2008 3:24 pm

gator wrote:What are your system temperatures? Install NHC or some similar program and let us know ... sounds like it might be a heat issue.
Nope, definitely no heat issue. Ever since the more recent BIOS firmwares, my laptop runs relatively cool. I don't do anything that demands a lot of resources or CPU power. In fact, right now, my NHC says 45°C. It usually ranges from high 40s to low 60s.
T60 - 2613-EKU (custom): Core Duo 2.0Ghz T2500, 15" LG-Phillips LCD, ATI x1400, 2GB RAM, 160GB + 100GB HDDs, fingerprint, 2 x 6-cell batteries, ALPS keyboard, Ultrabay DVD-RW, Ultrabay 3-cell battery, Ultrabay HD adapter, BT, Atheros 11a/b/g WiFi

gator
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#4 Post by gator » Sun May 04, 2008 3:30 pm

Check up event viewer and see if there is anything funny going on. Are you using aftermarket RAM?
Now: T60 2613-EKU | T23 2647-9NU | 600X 2645-9FU | HP 100LX
Past: X31 2673-Y13 | T41 2374-3HU | T22 2647-AEU


Rules of the road :thumbs-UP:

GoofyG28
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#5 Post by GoofyG28 » Sun May 04, 2008 3:45 pm

gator wrote:Check up event viewer and see if there is anything funny going on. Are you using aftermarket RAM?
What's event viewer? A log saver of sorts?

Yes, unfortunately, I do ues aftermarket RAM. A year ago I got an OCZ chip from NewEgg.
T60 - 2613-EKU (custom): Core Duo 2.0Ghz T2500, 15" LG-Phillips LCD, ATI x1400, 2GB RAM, 160GB + 100GB HDDs, fingerprint, 2 x 6-cell batteries, ALPS keyboard, Ultrabay DVD-RW, Ultrabay 3-cell battery, Ultrabay HD adapter, BT, Atheros 11a/b/g WiFi

gator
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#6 Post by gator » Sun May 04, 2008 3:51 pm

Go to Control Panel-->Adminstrative tools --> Event viewer and choose "System". See if you have any entries with a yellow exclamantion point or a red cross icon at the time of your crashes.

If you are using 2 memory sticks, I'd also suggest running you machine with just one (default one first, afternmarket next) and see if you can replicate the crashing problem. It might very well be a RAM mismatch issue ...
Now: T60 2613-EKU | T23 2647-9NU | 600X 2645-9FU | HP 100LX
Past: X31 2673-Y13 | T41 2374-3HU | T22 2647-AEU


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gaphic2
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#7 Post by gaphic2 » Mon May 05, 2008 2:47 am

I've experienced similar crashes during the last couple of weeks. Screen goes black, no HDD activity.

In my case, it only occurs when I play a video with Media Player 10, but not every time and not always with the same video.

I think the problem must have started when I installed a new Firegl driver. I've reinstalled the old one, but that hasn't solved the problem. Reinstalling a HDD image from before the changes should fix this, I just haven't got around to that yet.
T60p T7600 15" 4:3 SXGA+ FlexView FireGL V5250 3GB 1x200GB SSD 1x200GB/7200 XP Pro

jimmy274
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#8 Post by jimmy274 » Mon May 05, 2008 8:22 am

It's Radeon driver alright... My system locks only when I play videos and before every video the LCD does 3 short blackouts. Sometimes, it doesn't come back after a blackout and that's the exact same problem you're having. I thought it's a memory problem (not using IBM genuine), but I've ran memtest and GM and everything is ok...

[Curr] X230 2325-Y12 [Curr] T440s [Curr] Thinkcentre M90p
[Ret] X200t 7453-Y1L [Ret] T60 2007-53G
[Ex] T420 xxxx-yyy [Ex] R60 xxxx-yyy [Ex] X60s 1703-WUT [Ex] T41 2373-TG5 [Ex] T23 2647-4RG

o1001010
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#9 Post by o1001010 » Mon May 05, 2008 5:05 pm

if i recall correctly, the latest ati driver fixed something with acrobat reader, if that is what you doing
Thinkpad T60 2613-HDU
1.66 Core 2 2gb x1400-128 Fujitsu 60 14" sxga Chicony TP a/b/g BT

Thinkpad T42 2373-N1U
1.8 p-m 2gb 9600-64 Fujitsu 80 LG 15" Flexview Chicony TP a/b/g BT

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#10 Post by jimmy274 » Mon May 05, 2008 7:08 pm

Dumb-butt Radeon driver! I've been playing Civ4 for some 4-5 hours or so - Perfect, no problems whatsoever! But when I try to open a video for, let's say 10-11th time, it dies on me.
I don't have to tell you that Civ4 is very, very memory hungry game, so it's not memory, it's not Direct3D, it's not overheating, it's something stupid with video codecs - maybe the driver doesn't like K-Lite (I think I've set ffdshow for everything)...

[Curr] X230 2325-Y12 [Curr] T440s [Curr] Thinkcentre M90p
[Ret] X200t 7453-Y1L [Ret] T60 2007-53G
[Ex] T420 xxxx-yyy [Ex] R60 xxxx-yyy [Ex] X60s 1703-WUT [Ex] T41 2373-TG5 [Ex] T23 2647-4RG

Brad
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#11 Post by Brad » Tue May 06, 2008 2:39 am

Since heat does not appear to be the problem maybe your GPU is just plain old failing.

I would call for service if warranty is available.

Brad
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sjhwilkes
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Totally the ATI driver

#12 Post by sjhwilkes » Tue May 06, 2008 11:05 pm

Same was happening for me on my T60p, maybe every 6th time I'd start a video. Power off and reboot, would happen again. Happened for months too it felt like. I re-installed an older video driver and uninstalled and reinstalled presentation director, and touch-wood, it hasn't happened for a couple of weeks...

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#13 Post by jimmy274 » Wed May 07, 2008 9:55 am

It's powerplay issue! I set PowerPlay to Full performance while on AC power and things improved... not to the non blocking point, though, but improved. I think you all should take a look at the T60 "freeze" thread - at the last page there's a description of a Microsoft patch to be imported in the registry. I imported it and black screen hasn't came up since (3 days and counting).

[Curr] X230 2325-Y12 [Curr] T440s [Curr] Thinkcentre M90p
[Ret] X200t 7453-Y1L [Ret] T60 2007-53G
[Ex] T420 xxxx-yyy [Ex] R60 xxxx-yyy [Ex] X60s 1703-WUT [Ex] T41 2373-TG5 [Ex] T23 2647-4RG

Tim M
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#14 Post by Tim M » Sun May 18, 2008 12:49 am

gaphic2 wrote:I've experienced similar crashes during the last couple of weeks. Screen goes black, no HDD activity.

In my case, it only occurs when I play a video with Media Player 10, but not every time and not always with the same video.

I think the problem must have started when I installed a new Firegl driver. I've reinstalled the old one, but that hasn't solved the problem.
For what it's worth, I just experienced the identical problem on my T42 today. I recently replaced the motherboard as a GPU upgrade and so have switched from Radeon 9600 to FireGL drivers (Omega drivers latest release).
T42(p) 2379-DXU | 15" FlexView, 2.0 GHz, 2 GB, 128 MB FireGL T2 mobo, UJ-842 Multi-Burner, 100 GB 7200 RPM, Dock II
T410 2516-CTO | 2.66 GHz i7-620M, 6 GB, 512 MB NVIDIA 3100m, 160 GB SSD

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#15 Post by Mugrunty » Sun May 18, 2008 10:09 am

Hi, I just thought I would tell everyone that I also have the exact same problem. You're right about how its with videos. Sometimes when opening a folder that has movies in it, the sreen will flicker many times. You're also right about how if your in maximum performance mode, the flicker doesn't happen.
I thought it was funny how you call it the black screen of death, I gave it the same name. It's quite anoyying. The other thing thats dumb is how powerplay somehow keeps going to powersave when I have it set to max performance. The way top fix it is to open ATI CCC, and click apply. I'm waiting for an update or something to fi this. :(
T60 2GB RAM, ATI X1300, 14.1" XGA, T2300 1.66GHz, 80GB 5200rpm Fujitsu, DVD multi-recorder CD-RW, Windows Xp Professional.
X200t 4GB RAM, 12.1" Enhanced Multitouch WXGA, L9400 1.86GHz, 128GB SAMSUNG SSD (lenovo), Windows 7 professional 64-bit

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#16 Post by Tim M » Sun May 18, 2008 10:58 am

I wonder if it has something to do with video overlay settings?
T42(p) 2379-DXU | 15" FlexView, 2.0 GHz, 2 GB, 128 MB FireGL T2 mobo, UJ-842 Multi-Burner, 100 GB 7200 RPM, Dock II
T410 2516-CTO | 2.66 GHz i7-620M, 6 GB, 512 MB NVIDIA 3100m, 160 GB SSD

GoofyG28
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#17 Post by GoofyG28 » Sun Jun 08, 2008 1:04 pm

Thanks for everyone's input, but I fear that for me, it's not the GPU or video related. My 'blackout' can occur at any time with no warning.

In fact, it happened last night. I was just surfing the web, checking email, and BAM! The screen was out (but with backlight), and no HDD activity (even CAPS LOCK doesn't work).

I then, for the first time, pressed Fn + F7. Surprisingly, it rebooted the system. I'm not sure if it was because I pressed it, or the system was in the process of rebooting anyway. In past crashes, I normally force reset by holding the power button.
T60 - 2613-EKU (custom): Core Duo 2.0Ghz T2500, 15" LG-Phillips LCD, ATI x1400, 2GB RAM, 160GB + 100GB HDDs, fingerprint, 2 x 6-cell batteries, ALPS keyboard, Ultrabay DVD-RW, Ultrabay 3-cell battery, Ultrabay HD adapter, BT, Atheros 11a/b/g WiFi

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#18 Post by aaronv54 » Mon Jun 09, 2008 12:30 am

I'm having the same symptoms, it's relatively random, and like you said the screen is black but the back light is still on, but the machine is completely unresponsive.

So far it has happened:
1) Upon opening Outlook
2) Surfing the web (Firefox)
3) Video editing with Premiere Pro
4) Opening Media Player

Quite frustrating.

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#19 Post by amag » Sun Aug 10, 2008 12:35 pm

I had the same problem described in this thread, particularly when watching movies. I think it's related to the ATI video drivers from January 2008- I rolled them back, and I haven't had a "black screen of death" since.

To roll back your drivers, on Windows XP Professional, go to Device Manager->Display Adapters->ATI Mobility.... Right click on the ATI card, go to "Properties", then go to the Driver tab. Just click roll back, and you're done.
Thinkpad T60, 14.1"
2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo
100GB HD

foret37
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Black freeze with an unexpected cause

#20 Post by foret37 » Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:23 pm

I have a T60p and was running Windows XP SP3. I was getting the black-screen freeze (no blue screen), as described above, and could only restart with a hard reboot. This happened about once a day, and usually in association with Windows Media Player (v. 10), but it would happen with other programs as well. I tried everything to solve the problem. including all of the solutions suggested above. I finally determined that the problem was due to two rogue dlls called gopher.dll and ahook.dll, which are loaded by Media Replay Catcher. MRC fails to unload these dlls when it closes. I found that I could get rid of the "black freeze" problem by instructing MRC to not attach to WMP (see advanced settings in MRC). I suspect that there are other dlls that may be causing this black freeze. Unfortunately there is no way to selectively unload dlls, which would help in troubleshooting the problem.

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#21 Post by azpirin » Mon Aug 18, 2008 11:01 pm

Tried rolling back video driver. Nope!!! It still does not work. I still get this error time to time. Very dissapointed. IBM should never sold the thinkpad division to chinks.

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#22 Post by dr_st » Tue Aug 19, 2008 1:32 am

azpirin wrote:IBM should never sold the thinkpad division to chinks.
Hooray to racism and ignorance! :santa:

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