Resolved Laptop screen randomly goes blank on battery power only

Hello all,

Nice to be back here. Your help with any and all issues that I have had in the past has always been much appreciated. My old creaky XP computer (see signature) has served me well, and it is time to say goodbye to it. That said...I purchased a Lenovo Edge 2 1580 laptop (with Intel 520 Graphics) about two weeks ago. It is fast, light, responsive, everything that I would want in a computer...except for one annoying issue: the screen randomly turns off, only when on battery power. When plugged in, it is perfect.

I have made about a dozen calls to Lenovo regarding this issue, and I am about to throw up the white flag and send it to them for repair, but before I do, I wanted to know if any of you folks have had a similar issue. I have updated drivers, BIOS, changed power plans, reinstalled Windows (twice, only to have it update to the present 1511 build both times), but the issue remains. I don't know if it is a Windows 10 issue, An Intel driver issue, or a Lenovo issue.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I have tried everything I could think of, but have run out of ideas.

Thank all of you in advance, and in the future I hope to return any and all favors.

Brad

 

If only two weeks old, I would NOT send it in for repair. I would return it for a full refund and buy a totally different computer. If you wait and 30 days pass, you may have no choice but to send it in for repair.

 

My deadline was 15 days and I missed it. Lenovo was confident that they could help me solve the problem through their tech support. Eleven calls later, it's still acting up. My saving grace is that there is an authorized Lenovo warranty repair center close to my job. I'll bring it there if necessary.

Brad

 

Did you buy the computer directly from Lenovo or from a retail store.

 

Retail store... Best Buy.

 

Did you try to talk to them. I bought a Sony laptop from them and they swapped out that laptop for a new one without any problems.

 

Yes. I was rebuffed. I could try again with a different person if necessary.

 

Wow! 15 days is rip off, IMO. But according this, that is right. You cannot get a refund. So you need to take it back and insist they fix it and make it right.

 

It looks as they WILL make it right for me. After a final call to Lenovo, they authorized me to contact BestBuy for a refund/exchange. It was recommended to me by one of the Geek Squad employees to NOT pursue this model again. Too many issues. So tonight, I am going to exchange this unit for an Acer with similar specs. We'll see.....I'll keep you posted.....

Thank all of you again for your input. I hope that I can help some of you down the road.

Brad

 

Good value for money choice.

On another tech forum I have defended W10 to some like me who use other OS's and just seem to bash it all the time.

I know this is Windows help forum but if you still like XP and I do too only on offline machines now, install in a VM maybe, the memory on your PC is cheap from ebay and you'd need some more for sure, the processor is a weak one but running a Linux distro wouldn't tax it especially a lite version and XP is a lite OS too, only if you need a spare machine for mooching on the net and stuff and buying a small SSD now is cheap as well, makes an amazing speed increase even on an old machine.

On a VM you store everything on an external device or lose it cos when power down It's gone, but every time you start up you get a Windows install as if you had only just installed it, clean as a whistle.

The same on the OS I use as a guest user and have gotten used to storing on a pen drive cos with no admin privileges It's far more difficult for my system to be compromised.

You could also dual boot it as well and keep all your fav progs on Windows XP and still use them offline run the other OS for the Internet and other stuff if you need to, rebooting is a pain but I drink coffee and tea so no probs.

My next lappy will be a W10 machine and I'm fine with that, rolling update has always worked for me, the multiple desktops are brill and It's fast too!

Bootnote:- Forgot how well this site is designed, such a pleasure!

 

Hi Brad, my only comment about your XP system details is - why haven't you installed SP3???? Neil.

 

"Only offline" is the key phrase there and I 100% agree. It is critical to understand AND accept that not only is an XP system with Internet access a threat to the users of that computer, but more importantly, it is a threat to the rest of us on the Internet. Bad guys are very cleaver, many much more so than any of us. And they are targeting vulnerable systems to draft into their bot armies as zombie machines to use to distribute spam and malware, or to participate in DD0S attacks on legitimate sites - all while the compromised computer user is totally unware they are even infected.

So clearly, XP needs to go away! It was a great OS in its day, but that day was nearly 15 years ago! Until I finally replaced mine a few month ago, I took it off line when Microsoft ended support and turned it into a NAS (network attached storage) device. I loaded it up with drives, blocked its Internet access in my router, and used it to back up my other systems, and to stream music through my network. So if you just cannot part with it, I recommend repurposing it like I did mine. And by all means, update it to the latest patches and updates. SP2 is unsafe and cannot be made safe no matter how cleaver you are.

Retiring obsolete electronics before they die is just a fact of life. We've all done it with perfectly good CRT TVs and monitors, VCRs, 8-track and cassette players, phones and more.

 

I haven't updated that signature in years. I had installed SP3 after I created that sig. It will be coming down soon.

Brad

 

Follow up.....the new Acer machine is EXCELLENT. No issues whatsoever, and with the exact same configuration as the Lenovo. How about that?

Brad