Screen on my notebook goes blank

I have a Toshiba Satellite 5105-S607 notebook. Every once in a while, when I am restarting my notebook, my screen goes blank (doesn't turn on). I have to shut it down and than turn it on again. Than everything turns on as normal without any problems.

Does anybody have any idea why does this happen?

By the way notebook has 512 MB RAM and 40 gigs HD. I have WinXP Pro on it. It has NVIDIA video card.

 

The key may be "_re_start ": check if the problem is at all temperature related.

Laptop displays contain a board that provided high voltage to a gas discharge tube (or several). This requires an oscillator circuit and some form of starter circuit. Even if it runs fine when "on ", if certain components begin to fail it may have a hard time "starting" when hot.

So:
- keep you lappie off for a few hours, or tun it off every night
- start it TWICE cold
- see if problem still shows up with the same frequency when cold.

Also:
- set light level to the minimum you can bear using
- also set power saving so that the video turns off after just a few minutes (NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH 'blank screen" SCREENSAVER which leaves the lights on but shuts the LCD pixels.)
- restart it after a few hours of use, and see if problem still shows up with the same frequency.

If this is the case, you may want to change the display power board. You may save $$$ if you buy it and do it yourself.

It's tricky. Do it if you feel comfortable with cracking open the machine.

You may get an electric shock from a charged capacitor (I am not sure) so do it after leaving it off overnight.

For spares: try
http://www.impactcomputers.com/toshibaparts1.html

I recommend you consider this only if you're off warranty.