Screen flickering/minimizing on it's on

  • Thread starter Thread starter soulskier
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soulskier

Hello, Both my wife and I have Toshiba Laptops with Vista premium. We both
are experiencing the screen minimizing and switching screens on its on.
Anyone else have this occuring, and have any suggestions? It gets really
annoying. I desensitized the cursor but that did not help any. Thanks for any
advice.
 
soulskier said:
Hello, Both my wife and I have Toshiba Laptops with Vista premium. We both
are experiencing the screen minimizing and switching screens on its on.
Anyone else have this occuring, and have any suggestions? It gets really
annoying. I desensitized the cursor but that did not help any. Thanks for
any advice.
Click to expand...

Either you are both running identical programs that cause this or there is a
problem with the Toshiba preinstalls and/or the Toshiba hardware (if you
both have the same model laptop).

1. The First Question of Troubleshooting: assuming that this situation has
not always existed, what changed between the time things worked and the
time they didn't?

2. If the situation always existed, call Toshiba tech support.

3. If the situation didn't always exist and you can't figure out the answer
to The First Question so you can reverse what you did, try:

a. Updating your video drivers. Get them only from Toshiba for your specific
model machines. Test. If updating the drivers worked, you're done.

b. If updating the drivers didn't work, do clean-boot troubleshooting to
determine what program you installed (or that came preinstalled) is the
culprit.

How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista -
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;929135

Malke
 
Thanks for the advice. The problem has always happened, but is getting
increasingly more frequent.

We have similar models, but not the exact same computer (different processor).

When I spoke to Toshiba support, they had me make the mouse pad less
sensitive.

Is updating the video drivers something that can be done online?

Thanks, SS
 
soulskier said:
Thanks for the advice. The problem has always happened, but is getting
increasingly more frequent.

We have similar models, but not the exact same computer (different
processor).

When I spoke to Toshiba support, they had me make the mouse pad less
sensitive.

Is updating the video drivers something that can be done online?
Click to expand...

As I said, go to Toshiba's website and download the drivers for your
specific model laptops. Install them, even if you think they are the same
ones you already have.

If that doesn't work, since the problem has always existed and is getting
more frequent (indicating a possible hardware issue), insist that Toshiba
tech support repair/replace the machines. Usually software-caused problems
are repeatable and regular.

One way to test if the issue really is hardware or software is to boot with
a Linux Live CD such as Knoppix or Ubuntu. A Live CD doesn't touch your
Windows installation at all but simply runs from the CD. The point of doing
this is that if the behavior exists under Linux, then you know for certain
this is a hardware issue and hardware will not heal itself.

If the machines run fine under Linux and updating the video drivers (in
Windows) didn't help, then do the clean-boot troubleshooting I already
suggested. Toshiba is known for being one of the worst - if not *the* worst
- offenders when it comes to preinstalled OEM cr*p so it is possible that
one of these preinstalled programs is causing the problem. The only way to
find out is to clean-boot and systematically allow one thing at a time to
start, testing after each change.

Standard disclaimer: I can't see and test your computer myself, so these are
just suggestions based on many years of being a professional computer tech;
suggestions based on what you've written. You should not take my
suggestions as a definitive diagnosis. If you can't do the work yourself
(and there is no shame in admitting this isn't your cup of tea), take the
machine to a professional computer repair shop (not your local equivalent
of BigComputerStore/GeekSquad). If possible, have all your data backed up
before you take the machine into a shop.

Malke
 
Malke, thank you very much to taking the time to be so thorough. Here is the
link to Toshiba's page of drivers. Would you mind telling me which one you
think I should download for my problem. Please pardon my inept computer
lingo. Thanks, SS
 
soulskier said:
Malke, thank you very much to taking the time to be so thorough. Here is
the
link to Toshiba's page of drivers. Would you mind telling me which one
you think I should download for my problem. Please pardon my inept
computer lingo. Thanks, SS
Click to expand...

I don't know whether you should download the Atheros or the Intel driver
because I don't know what hardware you have in your machine! Look in Device
Manager and see which you have and then download the latest appropriate
driver. If there is more than one driver listed for hardware, download the
most recent one.

Malke
 
Malke,

Just to confirm I am correct, under device manager it is display adapters I
am looking to update, correct? If not, please tell me what is correct. Thanks
again, I really appreciate it. SS
 
soulskier said:
Malke,

Just to confirm I am correct, under device manager it is display adapters
I am looking to update, correct? If not, please tell me what is correct.
Thanks again, I really appreciate it. SS
Click to expand...

Yes, sorry. I don't know why I was looking at the wireless adapter.

Malke
 
Malke, I tried to update the display adapter from the device amanager and it
said it was up to date.

Would you suggest downloading a different one form the toshiba page I cut
and pasted? Thanks again, Jamie
 
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