T61 display still black after coming out of power save

[dracore]

I have WinXP's Power Management configured to shut off monitor after 10 mins inactivity.

Under normal circumstances, this works fine. What I've noticed is that sometimes if I happen to put the laptop into sleep/standby mode and then I return from it... if I leave the laptop alone for 10 mins the screen shuts off. But when I try to get out of it, the screen remains black.

Windows does not hang. I can press on the keyboard / trackpad and I can hear things being clicked on -- it's just that the screen won't reinitialize. The only way I can get my screen back is to go into standby mode and then come out of it. Only then will the screen re-initialize.

But it seems that once the laptop is in this screwy state, the next time 10mins inactivity comes along, I get the same problem again. I would need to reboot the whole machine if I wanted this problem to stop.

Other things I have noticed... when my screen goes black, I tried to hook up an external monitor and pressed Fn-F7 for monitor out. I can get video on the external monitor but laptop screen still black. I noticed though that my laptop screen flashed briefly (flashed like brief powerup but it really didn't show anything) and goes back into black.

Anyone else run into this problem?

[dracore]

Oh this is for T61 with Nvidia video

[sjthinkpader]

It happens to my T60 sometimes. I would do a Fn+F4, close the lid after the standby LED comes on, then open the lid.

Must be a cost reduced power controller.

[slagmi]

Apperently it's an nVidia driver issue. Seems to happen in XP and Vista both. I first learned of it after installing non-lenovo nVidia drivers on my T61p, and finding that after a chkdsk/reboot there was no display whilst chkdsk was running.

Removed the nVidia drivers and the issue could not be reproduced.

Researching, I found descriptions of additional issues similar to yours. I've had the black screen after sleep a couple of times, but it's rare. I can't make it happen and it hasn't happened in a month now.

If it's possible to reproduce, try to reproduce the issue with just the Microsoft video driver installed. Doesn't matter if it uses Standard VGA or a XP native (Microsoft provided) nVidia driver. Whatever is left after the nVidia drivers are uninstalled.

Definitely one of the weirder issues I've come across over the years !

[bradhs]

I've got this problem and I can reproduce it often. Laptop goes to sleep and comes out of sleep with a blank screen. Only option is to turn it off by holding the power button down.

[jo2008]

Not sure if its the same issue.

I also occasionally find black screens after waking up, but usually it comes on when i move the mouse.

It also happened sometimes that it stayed black, but after logging in via fingerprint, my desktop came on without problems..

[bradhs]

I think I finally resolved it last night after searching for hours. I removed the Active Protection System (APS) that protects the hard drive when you move the laptop around and in case of a drop. Sometimes called Airbag.

Since I replaced my Seagate hard drive with a Hitachi it's been acting weird on startup and resuming from sleep. Now that I removed the APS its came out of standby 10 times without a hitch!

[slagmi]

Interesting, thanks for the info!

[Werkkonen]

Sorry for bringing up a topic this old but..

My T61's display wont light up when returning from standby. After lid open, it flickers a couple of times and then goes completely black with everything working behind it.

I have the delayed lid action -thing on so closing and reopening the lid resolves that issue.

But WinXP with SP3 is the only OS I can make this happen, it doesn't happen in Vista or in any linux-distro I've tried. So any tips on that?